Dark
Review
Some vampires should stay in the dark
by Quinn Levandoski
reviewed on PC
These Vampires Suck
I was really excited when I found out I’d be reviewing Realmforge Studios’ stealthy vampire RPG Dark. I’d written a preview for the game a few months ago, and while I had some concerns about a few things at the time, I was confident that if nothing else it’d be a great way to kill some time with an arsenal of awesome powers. I mean come on, throwing aside the vampires of recent teen fiction, who wouldn’t want to hop in to the head of one of history’s most famous paranormal creatures? Super strength? Transformation? Heightened senses and reflexes? I want all of those things. Unfortunately Dark never did the one thing that should have been the easiest given its basic premise. It never made me feel cool. Realmforge Studios found a way to make vampires suck in more than the way they’re supposed to.
Dark’s story revolves around a man named Eric Bane who, at the game’s opening, finds himself awaking from a blackout in a noisy club. While this probably isn’t a situation foreign to some of the more adventurous among us, things get interesting when he’s told that not only is he a vampire now, but that everyone in the club is as well. Eric’s day is made even worse when Rose, the club’s owner, calmly informs him that if he doesn’t drink the blood of either the vampire who turned him or a powerful older vampire his mind will degenerate until he’s a feral animal. That might not sound completely terrible, but it never really goes anywhere. Most of the game consists of Eric trying to get the blood he needs, but that driving force falls short due to the fact that they never really give me a reason to care about Bane. To be honest it was quite the opposite; I found myself at best indifferent to most of the characters in the game, while at worst wishing I could shadow-punch them in the face like I did so many generic guards.
Communication Breakdown
Speaking of characters, what I found to be easily the most offensive part of the game were the conversations with other people. The game is filled with some of the worst voice acting I’ve ever heard. I will say that the main character, voiced by Doug Cockle of The Witcher fame, does a good enough job. I wasn’t wowed, but I wasn’t really let down either. It’s all downhill from there though. I understand when a game has some of the more obscure NPCs questionably voiced, but two of the first vampires players meet in the game (and who are a continuing presence) made me want to rip the speakers off my wall and beat my ears with them like a crazed chimpanzee. One speaks like he’s fresh off the set of Jersey Shore (Hey bro! Whoa, sick bro!), and the other literally sounds like she is reading her lines for the very first time. I realize that vampires are cold, often detached creatures, but that doesn’t mean they need to speak like a high school student recording an audio book for extra credit afraid that showing any emotion at all will make them look lame in front of their friends. When telling someone the life they knew was over and they need to find one of a small number of vampires or face damnation as a mindless ghoul I don’t think it’s too much to ask to sound at least attentive. Also, I don’t normally comment on lip syncing, but I have literally seen more accurate syncing in dubbed kung-fu movies. I wish that was hyperbole, but it isn’t.
5.0
fun score
Pros
The vampiric powers are fun and the game doesn’t stray from being a stealth game.
Cons
Laughable dialogue writing and animation, frequently clunky controls, uninteresting characters.
