The Dark World: KARMA Steam Charts & Stats

Heavily inspired by 1984, Karma takes place in an Orwellian world where you play as an agent of the thought police uncovering a mystery. Gameplay is mainly a walking simulator with some puzzle and horror elements but by act 3 it is mostly walking. I like how they play with different sets and visuals, sometimes you're just walking, other times you're a paper plane or a ball in a maze. This is very much a narrative game and it is visually stunning. Full of surreal imagery, it's hard to think of a game more striking than this one throughout its relatively short playtime. The soundtrack and designs are also great. I do think the story gets a little too trippy and melodramatic at least for my tastes but it's still very compelling. I liked all the characters. It is one of those games that you would call art. I reccomend this to anyone into narrative games, dystopias, stunning visuals, and 1984.

Pretty good. Some cool art, weird, confusing, maybe just a little too long.

This is one of the best games I've ever played in my entire life. It was so beautiful, dark and emotional. I was fully immersed and didn't want it to end. I wish there was more games like this, I found the experience very unique.

I have to agree with the other reviews. This game is more than just a game, its an experience with great story telling and twist. However, It is a little buggy with the audio delay in the cut scenes.

The voice acting was amazing. The atmosphere? Cinematic. Storytelling? Master class. Graphics? On point. But the ending… it felt like the story suddenly took a left turn at Albuquerque when I was expecting it to go right — and it never explained why. I was left with so many questions. I don't want to go into any details about why I feel this way because I don't want to take away your experience from the game. Do I recommend it! FxxK yes! play it, experience it..... I give it a 9 out of 10.

The game is great when it comes to the Graphics, Performance, Audio, Gameplay (walking sim), Writing, Jump Scares, Horror setting/World building ext... I also didn't experience a single bug. However the story itself is convoluted. Even after finishing the game and reading community discussions and explanation videos, I'm still confused, and it doesnt seem to be just a me issue. After somewhat understanding the general core of the plot, I do like it, in fact I think its a fascinating story, I just wish they explained it better in game. There will be loose ends that won't make sense/be explained, at least until a sequel comes out. If you're okay with that, then play this game, you'll have a great time!

Hidden gem. This game is a masterclass in thriller storytelling with stunning visuals. Highly recommended, even if you don't like horror games

KARMA: The Dark World is a game that refuses to be easily categorized. It presents itself as a psychological horror experience, but beneath that surface lies a carefully layered narrative exploration of control, identity, memory, and systemic oppression. Set in a surreal, dystopian world loosely inspired by the East Germany of the 1980s, the game throws the player into a disorienting landscape where the real and the imagined constantly blur. You play as Daniel McGovern, a Roam Agent who dives into the memories of suspects on behalf of an ominous organization known as the Leviathan Corporation. Rather than a traditional investigation, each memory becomes a labyrinthine dreamscape where time folds, logic dissolves, and the boundaries between past trauma and present manipulation collapse into something deeply disturbing. What immediately stands out about KARMA: The Dark World is its visual and atmospheric ambition. Built using Unreal Engine 5, the game is visually stunning in a deeply unsettling way. Environments drip with heavy symbolism—endless sterile hallways, flickering fluorescent lights, surreal body horror imagery, and grotesque figures that shift subtly as you pass by. These memory-diving segments are not only visually rich but psychologically dense, often requiring you to piece together meaning from environmental clues rather than explicit exposition. The game’s design emphasizes discomfort: scale is distorted, familiar rooms bleed into nightmare logic, and every space feels like it’s watching you back. The beauty of its presentation only amplifies the unease, creating a constant sense of dissonance between aesthetic elegance and thematic darkness. The gameplay is deliberately subdued, focusing on exploration, light puzzle-solving, and environmental storytelling. There are no weapons or traditional combat; instead, the fear comes from vulnerability and disorientation. Puzzles are integrated naturally into the environments, often requiring players to observe carefully, decipher cryptic patterns, or interpret symbolic cues. While they are generally intuitive, a few lean heavily into abstract logic, and some players may find themselves stuck not due to difficulty, but due to the dreamlike inconsistency of the world. However, this inconsistency is clearly intentional, as the game values mood and thematic cohesion over rigid mechanics. It’s less about solving puzzles in a conventional sense, and more about aligning your perception with the fractured mental states you explore. Sound design is used to remarkable effect. Every creaking floorboard, murmured voice, and distant echo is calibrated to increase tension. The musical score shifts subtly to mirror your descent into deeper layers of memory, often disappearing entirely at key moments to leave you isolated with only ambient noise. The voice acting, while sparse, carries emotional weight, especially in scenes where Daniel begins to question not just the memories of others, but his own. The game excels at manipulating sensory perception, frequently using silence and distortion to heighten its more surreal sequences. Audio is often a cue for unseen horrors, and many of the most effective moments rely not on visual jump scares, but on the tension of what you hear—or don’t hear—just around the corner. Narratively, KARMA is both ambitious and intentionally opaque. The story is delivered in fragments—through environmental details, scattered documents, cryptic conversations, and symbolic visuals. It touches on themes like government surveillance, the commodification of identity, collective guilt, and personal loss. While some of the allegorical storytelling is powerful, there are moments where the game leans a bit too heavily on its inspirations, particularly from Orwell, Lynch, and Nolan. These influences are clear in everything from the design of the Leviathan Corporation to the dream-logic structure of memory dives. While evocative, this homage-heavy approach occasionally makes the narrative feel familiar rather than revelatory. The third act, in particular, feels rushed, introducing complex emotional stakes and new ideas too quickly to fully develop them. Some players may find the ending ambiguous or unsatisfying, though others will appreciate the lingering questions it leaves behind. Despite these narrative stumbles, KARMA: The Dark World succeeds in creating a complete and memorable atmosphere. It's the kind of game that lingers after you’ve finished it—not because of plot twists or high-stakes finales, but because of the way it makes you feel. It's oppressive, contemplative, and often emotionally raw. Its depiction of psychological trauma is uncomfortably honest, and the way it externalizes inner turmoil into playable spaces is one of its greatest strengths. There are no easy resolutions, and that’s part of what makes the experience resonate. Rather than give answers, it encourages introspection, asking players to confront difficult themes without offering moral clarity. KARMA: The Dark World isn’t a game for everyone. It lacks conventional thrills, has little replay value in the traditional sense, and demands patience and attention. But for those drawn to narrative experimentation, surreal horror, and meditative worldbuilding, it offers a deeply engaging and often haunting journey. It's a debut effort that prioritizes mood and message over accessibility, and while it doesn’t always hit the mark, its originality and conviction make it stand out. In a genre filled with predictable scares and formulaic design, KARMA dares to be unsettling in a quieter, more psychological way. It doesn’t want to entertain as much as it wants to disturb, and in doing so, it earns its place as a memorable—and unnerving—entry into modern interactive storytelling. Rating: 9/10

I played it twice in a row because it was awesome. You have to watch the post credits to understand the seemingly random series of events you've just gone through. But then, I recommend replaying the intro (or the whole game) again. You'll understand much much more. Highly recommend :) Go play the Enigma Machine / Mothered / Echostasis trilogy (in order) if you enjoyed this game.

very visually stunning game with only a few instances of having to run for your life. i prefer games like this. story is cool, the game is just really pretty to traverse. only about 6-7 hours long, i recommend playing it all the way through in a few settings; i waited a month between and forgot the story, so picking up where i left off was a little confusing