In an instant, he hears the screams of his loved ones, chasing them into the dark woods to find his wife in pieces and the faces of his children staring back at him through the red-tinged rear window of a van.That lone scene set the premise for, at least at first glance, an intriguingly built strategy game that's not just dark in tone, but in practice. Light is precious in 2Dark. It's choked and contained in each room, casting shadows over anything that isn't in direct line-of-sight.
2Dark is a careful balancing act of finding items to grant you access throughout each killer-themed level and staying out of sight and sound.
Using your Zippo lighter, or a flashlight (though batteries deplete quickly), helps you navigate the darkness, but it also gives you away. The darkness then becomes your ally, hiding you from prying eyes, but sound also betrays you, as its visual ripples spread and draw the attention of anyone in earshot.“
2Dark is a careful balancing act of finding items to grant you access throughout each killer-themed level and staying out of sight and sound. In the first level, Smith's TV sprang to life as a news report of the third child abduction in a year occurred near the Gloomyditch Amusement Park. Wouldn't you know it – there's a homicidal clown on the loose.
After discovering a secret room in Smith's home – where the hidden artifacts of his obsessive 17-year search for his abducted children Sandra and Martin are tacked all over the walls – I set out for the amusement park.
Seconds after entering, I fall in a hole and die. The text 2Dead scrawled in blood appears. Cute.
Now out of bullets, I switch to the crowbar and try to fend off the second henchman. He stabs me to death.
My second attempt is actually successful. I found a child, whimpering in a back room, his cries emitting loud blue circles. I take him with me and reverse my steps back toward the exit. The problem is his cries alert a pair of henchmen, mumbling about needing to practice their carving skills. They rush me, shouting about how they're going to practice on me. I kill one with Smith's old revolver, sending all six shots into him. Now out of bullets, I switch to the crowbar and try to fend off the second henchman. He stabs me to death.“
The crux of the experience, having to save a certain amount of children in each level, is also its knowing difficulty. Each child is different. Some cry and wail, like the boy in the amusement park. Some just want to play and wander off. And some children suffer from Stockholm Syndrome, not wanting to leave the side of the killers that took them. In each case, items can be cleverly employed to bypass obstacles on the way to them, to subdue or convince, and to escape with them.But 2Dark is hard. Very hard from my all-too-brief 30 minutes spent skulking through its disturbing sets. Fortunately you can save your progress. You just pull out a smoke and light up. But be warned: saving too often causes Smith to cough unpredictably, sending those familiar blue circles of sound rippling toward the dangers of the dark.
2Dark is full of these little touches that I find fascinating. For all its dark, depressing, disturbing imagery and dirty noir presentation, I want to go back. I want to help Smith find the kids, and his kids, and solve the mysteries of Gloomytown. And you can too, later this year, when 2Dark is released on PC, Xbox One, and PS4.
Check out IGN's GDC Hub for everything coming out of GDC 2016. Brandin Tyrrel is an Associate Editor at IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @BrandinTyrrel.