The works of H. P. Lovecraft have been an inspiration for many games, and while some of them take full advantage of his writings and successfully fill you with an unknown fear, others simply fall short of this goal. Unfortunately, that is the case with Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder, the first in a series of three games.

Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Noah Loader is a classic adventure game with a 360 degrees panoramic view. You use the mouse for everything from collecting clues and examining everything around you, to moving your character in Myst style. You take control of Howard E. Loreid, a detective assigned to investigate a murder suspect by the name of Loath Nolder (weird name, I must admit). The game begins in an insane asylum, where Howard is committed, making you wonder how he ended up there. The story will slowly unravel itself and Howard will remember the past events that lead to this. Is Howard actually mad and belongs here, or did something actually happen to him during the course of his investigation?

The chase for Loath Nolder will take you to a number of dark and eerie locations, true to the universe that Lovecraft has created. Victorian mansions with dust covered rooms, intricate tunnels hidden below the old houses, an ancient well in the basement, everything is obscured by shadows. In fact, the omnipresent shadows and the chilling unidentifiable noises are the elements that will slowly induce fear in your soul. Even though there are no monsters in this game, and you have no weapons with which to defend yourself, every shadowy corner will make you feel uneasy. As impressed as I was with the game when I started playing, I couldn`t overlook some irritating details that severely took from the pleasure of playing. I will get to each of them soon enough...

During the course of the game, you will come across an unusually large number of documents and books. I liked the fact that you actually have to read all of them, to discover clues. Let me explain: most of the books or documents that you find have a number of clues and hidden clues. To discover these, and allow Howard to make a mental note (I will get to this soon enough), you will need to underline certain passages that you think are important for your investigation. If you underline a correct passage, Howard will comment on it. This process is pretty vague however and you will often find yourself having no idea as to what you`re supposed to underline. Only when searching for the last clue in a book, the one that will allow Howard to finally think about something you`ve already thought of, will you realize how stupid this is.

 

 

 

 

Darkness Within brings a new method of analyzing clues which was advertised as a "Unique Inventory System", or better said, the "Thinking Screen". The "thinking screen" is where Howard keeps track of all the clues that you collect from books, dialogues and so on. However, you can`t progress in the game unless you use the thinking screen to make Howard understand some things that you already know. For example, in the beginning of the game, you are taken to Loath Nolders office to investigate, looking for something the police might have missed. You have pictures from their search and must now look for something different. One quick look at the pictures and you will notice that a painting was moved. You`d think that was enough to allow you to move the painting and search for clues, but instead you have to use the thinking screen to analyze the pictures and only then are you allowed to continue. This is a problem that plagues Darkness Within from the start to the end.

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