Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 06/Jan 00:24

Darkway: Murder of King Mere – Review

With Darkway: Murder of King Mere, indie developer Ekpap is giving us a glimpse into a dark fantasy universe populated by anthropomorphized dogs that he has been developing for over a decade. For all intents and purposes, Darkway feels like an entry point for bigger things to come, but whether or not that will effectively happen likely hinges on the success of this murder mystery. We have a penchant for underdogs -pun not intended- so take our review of Darkway not just as a look at a regicide story, but also at the potential of this world as a whole. Story The king has been murdered. It’s not exactly a shocking revelation, as it’s right there in Darkway’s full title, but then again, this is a whodunnit and not a “what happened?”. As the apprentice of the master detective (MD) Drake, you’ve been summoned to the City of Ink to find the murderer. Drake’s previous apprentice, Oleander, now a full-fledged detective in his own right, is already on the scene and has even fingered a culprit: the king’s brother, August. However, both MD Drake and several of the city’s inhabitants believe that Oleander is wrong. It’s up to you to figure out the truth about who murdered King Mere. The writing is easily Darkway’s strongest element. The narrative is driven by a sizable cast of characters, each of whom feels like a fully fleshed-out individual. Their attitude towards the apprentice is shaped not just by interactions and favorability -we’ll get to that- but also by their values, needs and views. Throughout your investigation, you really do feel like an outsider, as the townsfolk aren’t exactly hiding their distrust towards you. Without going into spoiler territory, their reasons for distrust are often justified as their interpersonal relationships and histories provide plenty of plausible scenarios that could label them as the killer. In Darkway, figuring out the truth feels like handling a scalpel. It requires care and precision, and you can’t just go in bluntly accusing anyone -instead, you’ll need to carefully consider what to ask who. Graphics The City of Ink and its inhabitants are brought to life through striking visuals. Monochrome character sprites are juxtaposed against a fully realized voxel-style 3D cityscape. The moonlit city itself is coated in browns and greys, contrasting against the warm orange glow of lit torches and flickering candles. The city is as much of a character itself as its inhabitants are, its narrow corridors and high towers contributing to the story’s unsettling atmosphere. As for those inhabitants, while the sprites themselves aren’t the most detailed, the hand-drawn portraits seen when talking to them make up for this. We’d say these add a lot of personality to the cast, but in truth, the personality is in the dialogue, and the portraits only reinforce the characters. Darkway isn’t the most technically demanding game, owing to those low-res visuals, and performance was more than adequate. Sound Given that Darkway is a small indie title, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that the game was fully voiced. The quality of the voice acting is uneven, as is the sound quality, but given the scope of this passion project, it’s a small miracle that this a feature in the first place. We can only laud the game for this. The game’s soundtrack fares better in terms of crispness, but it does get repetitive after a while. Sound effects and ambience are kept to the bare minimum, although this does fit with the game’s overall atmosphere. Gameplay Ekpap has cited Disco Elysium and Planescape Torment as sources of inspiration for Darkway’s gameplay. We can certainly see the similarities when it comes to the core experience, but there is more to the game than just being a carbon copy of those aforementioned titles. Where Darkway’s DNA overlaps is in its core experience, which sees you wander around the city and talk to residents to gather information. By making dialogue choices and piecing together overlapping clues from different conversations, you should be able to deduce the truth about the central mystery. What makes Darkway stand out is its favorability system. You’ll need to gain the trust of the townsfolk in order to dig below the proverbial surface. Most of the time, this is done by performing simple, fetch-quest-like favors, which will net you favorability points. These points unlock specific dialogue choices, allowing you to pry to get new information. However, favorability isn’t a static value. Prying to get info will actually lose you some favour with the character in question. It’s a risk-reward mechanic, where you’re effectively cashing in favour. We found that it was best used to get rid of any lingering doubts, rather than pry early on. Where Darkway effectively nails the murder mystery angle, it does have one major shortcoming. Navigating the City of Ink is frustrating, in more ways than one. The city’s multi-level approach makes navigating it a pain, especially since you only have a mini-map and can’t consult a full-screen map. Not only that but controlling the Apprentice simply doesn’t feel right. Climbing ladders in particular is awkward and clunky, and we found ourselves falling down more than once, trying to reach particularly tricky spots on the higher levels of the city. The fetch quests that are part of the favorability system do require you to run all over the place, so unfortunately, you can’t exactly bypass this part of the game. Despite the initial hostile attitude of the townsfolk, there is no combat in Darkway, nor is there a way to meet your untimely demise -at least not as far as we’d found. That doesn’t mean that there is no way to “lose” the game, however. If you wrongly convict three people, it’s game over. That said, the story doesn’t change over the course of a second or third run, so any knowledge you’ve gained for yourself in a prior attempt gives you an edge in subsequent ones. The game does have two possible endings, so a second run is definitely warranted. Needed too, we’d say: while the €7.79 price tag is low, Darkway is a short game. Our first run took us roughly three hours, whereas the second one was a lot shorter, owing to the knowledge we’d built up. It’s a matter of quality over quantity, however, and here’s hoping that this first glimpse in the Darkway universe isn’t the last one. Conclusion From the lore, which goes back over a decade, to the voice acting, which is of mixed quality, Darkway has “passion project” written all over it, in the best way possible. We can’t reasonably hold Darkway to the same technical standards as the titles it takes inspiration from, as it inevitably pales in comparison. However, you shouldn’t dismiss the game because of its smaller scope. Darkway manages to surpass its limitations, mostly thanks to its excellent writing and its unique and well-executed favorability system. If you’re a fan of murder mysteries, we urge you to pick this one up. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.