Dark and Deep is an upcoming indie horror and mystery adventure and the creation of solo developer Walter Woods. A conspiracy podcast is the starting point for the adventures of Samuel Judge, with an aesthetic inspired by the black and white ilustrations of 19th century artist Gustave Doré for a good part of the textures found in-game. The playable build we tried shows some potential in terms of narrative and immersion, but there’s an obvious rawness to the gameplay and technical aspects that hints at the indie origins and which could undermine the overall effort and immersion.
Tin Hats and Magical Frames
Dark and Deep is that kind of horror adventure where you start without knowing much about the protagonist’s surroundings and intentions. Stuck in the back of this van with a dead body, suddenly it drives off a cliff as a mysterious girl stares from a distance, slow-motion to lend this scene a bigger impact. From here, it’s a deliberate struggle to grasp any hint that could help us make sense of what is going on, as you walk through long corridors with creepy shadows following you close, find your way through caves by using embers of light to light the road ahead and activate strange machines, and use magical picture frames to reveal hidden photographs or fend off demonic creatures.
Throughout the adventure, conveniently placed desks with a working computer are scattered around, the perfect opportunity to take a breath from the linear exploration and listen to the latest podcast update. Eventually you catch up on some chatting with a friend that comes with a risky proposition for you both to ditch your boring and underwhelming lives and win big, a plot point that keeps you guessing and interested in finding out more.
Magical picture frames are an inherent part of the gameplay, of which there seem to be a total of four in the final version – we could try two of them in this preview build. They serve different purposes, one of them revealing hidden items and the other to spot and eliminate demons. Think of these as character abilities that you need to use at certain points in each level, otherwise there will be no way to progress. Frames also glow when they have a new message, more hints that Samuel has a backstory which we are trying to make sense of.
There are some platforming sections as well, at the risk of falling into the water and being devoured by another ungodly creature. The attempt at balancing narrative, action, and puzzle elements is evident, but not all of these areas are enjoyable to play, with things such as the ember shooting seeming too slow and robotic, and the demon framing a little bit lacking in terms of feedback. Things that can still be improved before release, but that at this moment aren’t exhilarating to experience.
Framing Horror
First impressions of Dark and Deep aren’t terribly exciting, the indie roots clearly showing through issues where you can clip through the map when using your picture frame, or an overall outdated look and asset reuse that starts to get tiresome after the continuous walks through the black and white caves and corridors. The introduction of Gustave Doré’s art style is a debatable one, the stripes in place of regular rock textures not quite an exciting sight, and the rest of the “reality” world feeling somewhat bland and uninspiring in visual terms.
When you get out of the caves and into your work building, these graphical limitations are still noticeable and not very enjoyable, but there was this intriguing and eerie feeling as we were finally making some progress in the narrative. Alas, the playable build ends right there, a mysterious man donning a suit awaiting your arrival at the entrance, cutting short any expectations of delving deeper.
Dark and Deep could be ranged into the same category of horror as the Amnesia and Silent Hill series given its eerie and surreal narrative, but for now we’re holding back on our excitement. It’s always refreshing to see the vision and work of a solo dev coming to life, but it didn’t feel that gripping given the gameplay and technical limitations that get in the way of the tale being told. Hopefully this may turn out to be a slow burner and gets more exciting later on, but for now, Dark and Deep’s overall quality remains as elusive and cryptic as the deer that suddenly decided to crash into our windshield several times.
MP1st was given access to a preview build of Dark and Deep for our hands-on session. Dark and Deep is launching for PC in August 2024.