Allgraf have released its latest side scrolling sandbox game, Darkout, which in some ways resembles Terraria and Minecraft.
The instant vibe you get when you start Darkout is what the hell do I do now? Particularly after you enter your player’s name, your planet’s name, your worlds name and so forth. You immediately get thrown into a world with no sense of direction.
With no knowledge of what to do or how to play, it proves as a real learning curb mainly because there is no tutorial. Your only tutor is the pressing of random buttons hoping that you can master its controls within a few minor seconds, which isn’t the case.
There is no inclusion of a storyline so you’re lost to understand what the overall game is about, however by the looks of the cover art it might have something to do with a power ranger that’s somehow wandered into a dark forest and is being rescued by a UFO’s beam up device from wild skeletal bird men, but usually first guesses are a major fail.
So while you’re progressing through the game and trying to understand gameplay controls you can’t help but get sucked into thinking is this another version of Re Logic’s Terraria but incorporated using some imported elements from Minecraft? Particular the whole gameplay mechanics resembles Terraria and the significant importance of the games mining and crafting elements resembles Minecraft in some way.
DARKOUT CONTROLS
Darkout’s controls are an extreme learning curb as I said previously. There is no inclusion of a tutorial as I also previously stated but thanks to the recently built Darkout Wiki there is a brief run down on controls. At first they look like a tough climb and they are, but after a few epic fails controls start to tighten and becomes second nature.
DARKOUT GAMEPLAY
To understanding Darkout itself and its overall concept, it’s best described through its main gameplay elements; mine, salvage, explore, build, craft and survive.
MINE/SALVAGE
Mining and salvaging is an essential piece of the game as all the below are. It is where you gather all the foundations for what you’re going to build and are the small keys that will lead to greatness as well as survival. Although mining is fairly simple to achieve in the game gaining resources particular rare resources are much more of a challenge, as they require more mining time and a much more better mining tool, which open you up to attack from shadow aliens if not careful.
EXPLORE
Darkout’s vast world is so massive and packed load with useful resources that can be crafted into handy objects that can assist you in your play through. As well there are also useful items stored in treasures chest on ground and underground, which may prove worthwhile in finding. But be warned cheap deaths are included in the game, while exploring walk carefully or you might walk off a cliff and fall to your death or drown in a pit full of tar. If you’ve built a house nearby then you will respawn there, if not you will have to respawn to another location and have to back track to the point where you died.
BUILD/CRAFT
From the useful resources you come across in the game they can be used to build houses, mansions, weapons etc. which tends to be a center point for addiction. Running around and wanting to upgrade your art deco into art greatness or a peashooter in a devastator does tend to have all your attention focused on piecing together those great things, however you cannot build anything spectacular without either a furnace or a machine called a Recombinator, which is the core for building, without it you pretty much can’t build anything.
RESEARCH POINTS
From each object you create weather it’s building a crappy shack, or a massive mansion, or building an arsenal of ass whooping weapons, you receive Research Points. Research Points can be gained from mining or crafting, which will later enable you to unlock further research recipes, which will also unlock further more advanced research recipes.
SURVIVE
Darkout is filled with weird aliens that love throwing what looks like their waste extract at you. To make matters worse they can respawn. The respawning of enemies can be a real pain mainly if you’re still in the process of collecting materials for your art deco and they kill you. Fortunately you can build yourself ass kicking bow’s and gun’s using what you find, however that can prove a nuisance as some enemies require some strategy to kill, for instance some enemies turn a particular color, which makes them vulnerable to another attack that kills them. Your real best friend in the game is light. The light completely stops the enemies respawning ability and completely keeps them away, which is really your most relied weapon of defence. As well once your awesome solitude of fortress is completed it will keep those nasty’s out.
VISUALS
Darkout’s visuals are gorgeous! If I had girlfriend I would want her face to be this shiny, well maybe not. The intertwined combination of using dark ambient background colors and the glowyness from certain environmental objects such as plants really uplifts the overall look of the game.
REPLAY VALUE
Well since Darkout is an unending game there is so much to do; resources to collect, more items to find and refine, art deco to complete, dying ,re-spawning and having one more crack at it all in the name of getting a particular resource that is the cherry on the icing, which does tend to get boring and straining but never enough to stop you from playing.
Darkout Review {rating}
Besides some minor bug issues, annoying cheap deaths and the non-inclusion of a tutorial, it’s a very addictive game once you get the gist of things. Particularly the building, mining, research point accumulation, salvaging and just wanting to have the ultimate house and equipment tends to keep you up at night, particularly when you say “I’ll’ll go to sleep after I get this,” which you tend to use until you realize it’s 6 in the morning and have an exam in 3 hours, well in my case.
Overall Darkout is an “EXTREMELY” addictive game. Fantastic and entertaining.
