Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder (PC)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 1.5 stars Poor
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 3.5 (1.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Brett Todd
• Reviewed on: 11/28/2007
• Released on: 11/06/2007
• Originally published on GameSpot: Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder (PC) Review

It doesn't seem to have been very long ago that H.P. Lovecraft was a cult phenomenon. But as of late, his stories have become a source of inspiration for a number of recent games. And this has generally been a very good thing--that is, until Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder. This point-and-click adventure from Zoetrope Interactive may loudly proclaim its debt to Lovecraft through press releases and goofy character names, but the actual game is a lackluster mystery in which you solve problems by taking turns playing grad student and scavenger hunter. Even though plot points have been ripped off from classic Lovecraft stories such as "The Call of Cthulhu" and "The Shadow Over Innsmouth," and stereotypical drivel about ancient cults and a horrible family secret is front and center, this game is as scary as a moldy piece of bread. Everything here is a dreary recitation of adventure-game procedure, totally predictable and totally boring.

Its pedestrian plot is a major drag. You play Howard E. Loreid, a British cop looking for a private investigator named Loath Nolder who has apparently just escaped from a mental hospital. This private dick is the main suspect in the murder of amateur archaeologist Clark Field, so you're trying to track down Nolder while at the same time determining if he could actually be a killer. As is par for the course in these Lovecraft yarns, you're soon crawling around in dank wells, researching sinister cults, having weird prophetic dreams, and apparently going mad with the strain of all this forbidden knowledge.

Although all this sounds sufficient (if also spectacularly hackneyed) on paper, Zoetrope doesn't do anything with its setup. Aside from eerie noises and the protagonist going wacko due to nightmares, there aren't any thrills and chills here. Loreid just doesn't seem all that concerned about his crazy nocturnal fantasies or the possibility of winding up in the nut house. The game's acting and dialogue is usually good, but there is barely even a hint of tension in this character's voice. He muses over hallucinations and possibly losing his mind with all the deadly seriousness of a guy trying to decide between having the ham and cheese or the BLT for lunch. This is one down-to-earth lunatic. Loreid also seems like more of a bookworm than a detective plumbing the occult, given that he spends most of his time nosing through books and manuscripts. Trying to spot the Lovecraft references (catch that Kingsport-brand radio?) that the developers have sprinkled through the game is about all that will keep you awake at times.

Poor mechanics make Darkness Within even more of a test of your patience. Instead of being left alone to read texts for hints and to hunt down objects needed to open drawers and the like, you have to actively collect clues through activities such as underlining passages in documents. These clues are gradually collected in a list in the inventory screen, where you drag them into boxes and click on a gear icon to get Howard thinking. If you've combined the right clues, you're rewarded with a new clue, or the ability to do something in the game like access a new location. For example, if you're searching through documents to find the numbers needed to open the lock on a briefcase, you can't simply pick out the clues yourself and spin the right digits. You have to identify and then underline hints in the docs first, which in turn generates clues on the list that you combine to generate the necessary numbers.

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  "A game for thinkers."

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  "So boring I had to delete it after 20 minutes of play"

  by heartsinbrc on July 20, 2008

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