Chris InglisKarma: The Dark World is a first-person psychological thriller developed by Pollard Studios and published by Wired Productions. The game launched on March 27 and delivers a visually stunning descent into an alternate 1984 East Germany, a world gripped by the oppressive control of the Leviathan Corporation. Pollard Studio’s foray into the psychological thriller genre creates a compelling atmosphere, reminiscent of Orwellian dystopias. I found it also shared similarities with Bloober Team’s >Observer_, particularly in its exploration of subject minds and the heavy sense of technologically driven dread.
The opening sequence of the game cleverly integrates system configuration settings into the story. You are asked to sit down at a station to interact with three screens, and this adjusts the brightness of the game. The next screen adjusts the audio levels, and other options becomes an unsettling introduction to the game’s world, blurring the lines between the settings we play with prior to actually playing a game, and merged into the game’s reality. This ingenious design choice sets the stage and immediately immerses players in its constant sense of being watched and controlled.
You are playing the role of Daniel McGovern, a retro-cognition specialist capable of diving into the memories of the deceased. These memory sequences are reminiscent of >Observer_’s brain-hacking segments capturing surreal and disorienting journeys into the human psyche, filled with symbolic imagery and fragmented stories. The psychological horror themes explored in these segments, dealing with trauma, guilt, and the fragility of memory, resonate strongly and are heightened by the oppressive setting.
The visual design is excellent with its stark architecture, pervasive surveillance tech, and a general sense of decay, are rendered with breathtaking detail throughout. The game’s use of Unreal Engine 5 creates a sense of unease, enhanced by a haunting soundtrack. Karma: The Dark World excels in building a claustrophobic and unsettling environment, where the line between reality and hallucination is constantly blurred, and where the player feels the weight of a controlling power.
Gameplay mechanics are quite linear with exploration and puzzle-solving within memory sequences, though the puzzles themselves have some great twists and require thinking. You will need to collect clues from scribbled writing on pieces of paper, images captured on surveillance cameras, voice recordings, and other environmental clues to open locks and progress through areas. Some are clever and while some are simple, but they never felt too easy or out of place, and matched the tone of the scenes you come across.
Like in >Observer_’, I found it tense and stressful when inside the memories of a deceased person and the tension and horror increases to the point where you just want the sequence to end. The use of sound, heavy breathing, grunts from a monster behind you, and the disorienting effects of the environments around you all work together to create a heavy sense of unease. There was one scene that genuinely made me jump and gasp which doesn’t happen often. It is very well done, as is the emotional depth of the voice acting. You can hear the fear in their voices, and the repeated monotone voice of those in charge drones into your mind.
Overall, Karma: The Dark World is an excellent and immersive psychological horror experience that I kept wanting to know what happens next. The puzzles are a mix of complexity but still have that positive feeling of forward progression once solved, and there were a couple of genuinely scary and tense moments in the game. The sound design and the voice acting are superb and really made you feel their fear and added to the tension. I highly recommend the game for fans of the slower paced psychological horror genre.
This review utilised a Steam key provided by blah and Karma: The Dark World is available now on Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store, Xbox and PlayStation.
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