In The Darkside Detective, there’s much more to reality than meets the eye. Our protagonist, Francis McQueen, is a detective in the town of Twin Lakes. He’s not just an everyday detective, though, as he is one of two men in control of the Darkside Division at the local precinct. As you might guess from the name, their focus is somewhat more supernatural than the rest of the force. For whatever reason Twin Lakes often finds itself entangled in strange, occult mysteries which only McQueen and his sidekick Officer Dooley can resolve. Well, it’s actually more like McQueen solves all the problems and Dooley just tags along for some comedic backup.
The Darkside Detective is a 2017 video game developed and published by Spooky Doorway. It was released on 27 July 2017. A limited run of 5,000 physical copies for the Nintendo Switch was released on 26 September 2019. Where cultists crawl, where demons dwell, where the occult occults?.ahem. That's where you’ll find Detective Francis McQueen, the lead investigator of the criminally underfunded Darkside Division. When evil darkens the doorsteps of Twin Lakes City – hell, even when it just loiters around shop fronts or hangs out in shady alleyways – he’s there, ready to investigate the cases that. The Darkside Detective is a micro-adventure game with a distinct art style and charm. It’s being developed for PC & Mac, and consists of a series of humorous bite-size investigations into the occult and extraordinary.
The Darkside Detective is a brilliant point and click adventure. Although the game only six has six cases, which to the perfect player can be completed in under half an hour for each level. This short but very sweet game keeps players on their toes. The Darkside Detective (2017 Video Game) Plot. Showing all 1 items Jump to: Summaries (1) Summaries. Join The Darkside Detective, Francis McQueen, as he investigates.
The Darkside Detective is a point and click adventure which focuses on our Darkside Division heroes through six distinct cases. Each case focuses on one key problem and takes place in a different part of the city. Although there are a few references to past cases later on, they aren’t really connected in any serious way. As such, the game carries on the storytelling style of a “monster of the week” TV show such as The X-Files. You get to know and enjoy our detective/officer duo but don’t necessarily see their relationship grow across the span of each case file. With that said, cases are locked at the start and only unlock once you complete the preceding one.
If you’ve ever played a point and click game before then you know generally what to expect. Players are free to be totally nosy as they explore each location, clicking on and picking up all kinds of items. Fortunately, unlike point and click titles of yesteryear, every item will have a use at some point. Once used, it’ll magically disappear from your inventory to keep things from getting too cluttered. Puzzles also all generally make sense. Sure, some stretch what would actually work in “real life” but aren’t particularly difficult to suss out. There is no in-game hint option, but listening to what characters say about items typically lends a hint about what to do next. As far as adventure games go, this one falls into a generally easy difficulty category. Even so, given how close Dooley sticks to you, he would have been the perfect vehicle for hint-keeping.
Not everything in The Darkside Detective is a breeze. There’s a bit of backtracking at times which feels a little annoying. Though, to be fair, no level is particularly large which means there’s not too far to backtrack. On the other hand, some may be disappointed by how confined most levels are. It might also annoy some players when items that are obviously needed can’t be picked up before the necessary event is triggered. Cases generally come in at about the same length (aside from the first one which feels more like an introductory chapter than anything else). In total, the game will likely take most players anywhere from three to eight hours to beat depending primarily on how much effort it takes to figure out puzzle solutions.
The writing in The Darkside Detective is cute and often humorous. Although it never quite comes across as laugh out loud funny, there are certainly moments worthy of a chuckle. Despite all the creepy, otherworldly goings on, it’s just another day full of misadventures for McQueen and Dooley. Alongside item-related puzzling, there are also a handful of other puzzles to solve. These often come in the form of puzzles where the player must manipulate tiles to create a route from a start to end point. For example, swapping pipes around to get water flowing through, or connecting cables without overlapping them. Most of these puzzles aren’t particularly challenging and don’t add much value to the overall experience. It would’ve been nice if there were an auto complete option, regardless.
One of the strongest aspects of The Darkside Detective is its visuals. The pixel art doesn’t attempt to mimic any real retro systems and instead offers us lanky, faceless people and ghosts. This style complements the story perfectly and somehow the faceless characters don’t come across as creepy once you get used to them. Each character also remains easy to distinguish thanks to the game’s writing (and each character’s specific outfits/locations). Then there’s the soundtrack by Ben Prunty. You might know him for his work on FTL. The tracks here are all very evocative of a supernatural scenario and sound downright great.
There’s one major disappointment to be had with The Darkside Detective and that’s the fact that it ends before it seems it should. Ignoring the first case which lasts only ten to twenty minutes, it seems we barely get to know the citizens of Twin Lakes before being ushered off into the credits. I personally expected second group of cases to unlock after completing the initial six. With that said, a few additional cases released via DLC – or an eventual sequel which is suggested after the credits – would definitely help alleviate this feeling of being left hanging.
Closing Comments:
The Darkside Detective is a charming point and click adventure with a taste for the sillier aspects of horror. Expect to see references to 80s and 90s pop culture while solving cases alongside the Darkside Division’s finest. It’s not the sort of game likely to stump players with inane item puzzles and that’s a good thing. Some changes could have been made to further streamline the experience, but it works well enough without them. Hopefully this is not the last we see of McQueen and Dooley.
Version Reviewed: PC
Title: The Darkside Detective
Platform: PC (reviewed) Developer: Spooky Doorway Publisher: Spooky Doorway Release date: July 27th Tl;Dr: A fantastic retro point and click full of self referential humour. Price: Not revealed as of writing Family Focus:Click here for more information. Darkside Detective Guide
For the last few minutes, I have been poking Detective McQueen in the face; he is begging me to stop, and is complaining about his spleen hurting. At the same time, I am watching the ghost of Terry Pratchett enjoy a good game of chess. I have recently been playing The Darkside Detective, the soon to be released game by Spooky Doorway, and I have had one Hell of a time (pun intended).
This brilliant supernatural point and click puts players in the nice fitting shoes of Detective Francis McQueen. The sole detective on the underfunded and underappreciated Darkside Division, in the spooky city of Twin Lakes. We follow him on six different cases, as he and his bumbling sidekick, Officer Dooley, investigate ghostlygoings on in the city. The story ranges from run ins with an otherworldly train, to a full on Gremlin invasion, and I have to say, it is brilliant.
Naturally on these investigations, McQueen needs to get to the bottom of these goings on; to do this he will need to solve many puzzles and even craft different items to help put a stop to the ghoulies. These puzzles usually are simple affairs; find the key to the door, use the coin on the machine, throw water on the inter-dimensional portal to hell, that kind of thing. But sometimes they can be a little bit too obscure. For example, on one level I was given a key and told to go to the roof; only problem is there wasn’t a door to the roof! It was a good few minutes of blind clicking before I realised that I actually had to use the key on a window to get out.
Difficult puzzles aside, what really shines in this game is the dialogue and also the humour that comes with it. The majority of the interactions in The Darkside Detective are brilliantly written and incredibly funny. One notable stand out for me included watching the ghosts of H.P Lovecraft and Edgar Allen Poe duke it out over whose books are scarier, and I did crack a wry smile over a game of eye spy with a otherworldly and downright demented granny.
The game is also full of brilliant references from all over the “geeksphere.” There are angelic statues that dare you not to blink, talk of a rag tag group of ghost hunters, and also a certain purple tentacle with bright green suckers. If any of those references ring true to you, I can tell you that this is the game for you! Plus there are a great deal more which I am not revealing yet!(For the record it was Doctor Who, Ghostbusters and The Day of The Tentacle).
The Darkside Detective is a brilliant point and click adventure. Although the game only six has six cases, which to the perfect player can be completed in under half an hour for each level. This short but very sweet game keeps players on their toes. I heavily recommend The Darkside Detective especially because it made me chuckle at the many jokes. references and silliness that this game gives.
The Darkside Detective Demo Walkthrough
ADDENDUM: Since writing this review Spooky Doorway have actually patched out the inventory issue and also have added a button to allow players to skip dialogue!
The Good
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Family Focus – The Darkside Detective.
As of writing no rating for The Darkside Detective has been revealed. The jokes and theme however is more orientated towards older gamers because of adult references and language.
Disclaimer: This review is based on a review code of the game provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
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