The Heart of Darkness Reviews

[h1]The short version[/h1] Performance: no crashes, or performance drops, just found like 2 or 3 "out of bounds" tiles Lore: 9/10 Story: 8/10 Gameplay: 6.5/10 Setting: 7/10 Overall visuals: 6.5/10 H patch CGs: 5.5/10 My rating: 7.85/10 The best part of this game is the writing. The story and the mystery of the sanctuary and the Darkness are great. With that said, [i]this is a really, really dark world[/i] full of tragedies that have happened and that you may see for yourself.. and the game will force you to watch, where the only choice you will have is to continue, or skip whatever is presented to you.. Again, this is really dark and tragic... but also disgusting and at times revolting. So below are the tags for what you are getting yourself into with this game.. [spoiler]NTR (both Netori and Netorare), lots of Rape, bestiality... and just watching those acts[/spoiler] And remember... "The truth won't make you happy." ESPECIALLY not in this game. [h1]The Review[/h1] As others have pointed out, this game is similar to Black Souls, however comparing The Heart of Darkness to Black Souls is like comparing David to God... and God has no chance against Grimm.. I mean Alice!... I mean what? Nevermind. Point is, go play Black Souls, it is infinitely better than this. However, this game is a good entry point, since it is not as complicated and developed as Black Souls. [h2]The Writing[/h2] I already mentioned that it is the best part, specifically the lore scattered around the sanctuary, revealed through dialogue, the biographies of the shadow souls and most of the NPC quests/stories. Considering how simple the premise of the game is, basically to go clear a dungeon and kill the cursed saintess, they have done really well. The mysteries kept me going all the way to the end. There is also quite a bunch of world building going on here, that I have.. partially enjoyed, considering what came after.. And the very few and extremely far between wholesome moments and interactions felt truly precious, in a world as tragic and horrible as the one in this game. The story and characters really drive home how grave the situation really is and the deeper you go, the more Grimm it becomes. Unfortunately the NPCs in the town don't really have much to say, once you exhaust their dialogue, most of them will just repeat their last lines when you talk to them again. Even if you will go deeper their dialogue won't change. Which is a shame, as it would have been nice to have some "closure" to some quests that way. And... [b]THE MC DOESN'T ACTUALLY DO THE INTERACTING HERE MOST OF THE TIME[/b], unlike in Black Souls. Where you not only get a lot of choices, you can also choose "light and dark" options too. [i]... Here, you are just forced to watch.. With few exceptions.[/i] A bunch of concepts and character are either inspired, or straight up ripped from the soulsborne games, not just Dark Souls, but also Bloodborne. [h2]Gameplay[/h2] The gameplay loop can be rather repetitive, level up, craft and or equip better gear, kill floor boss and repeat until final boss. There are side quests and items to discover, but there aren't that many of them. However, I did not really notice that, since I was so immersed in the mystery, world building and theorizing about what is actually happening in Hailard and the Sanctuary. You can only have up to 2 active allies/shadow souls with you at any given time. Also, levels are capped to 10. With the right combination of shadow souls and levels, the game can be really easy. There is barely any quality of life here... bonfire teleporting is from DS1, where you have to teleport to the main hub area and then you can teleport to all other bonfires. On top of that, there is no return to bonfire item in this game.. You can only save in 1 single spot of the game, but you can load a save at any time. Which is probably an attempt at being "hardcore", but is just a time waster. Crafting certain items can get really grindy, unless you get to the point where the merchant sells them all, but that is at the end of the game, or find another merchant who sells them. Getting later levels can also be rather grindy, but not as bad as getting the rare crafting materials. If you want to take screenshots in this game, remap the default f12 key, since that resets the RPGMaker session. The game gets minimized if you alt tab, or do anything on another screen. There is also no way to put the text window down.. but that is a pretty rare feature in RPGMaker titles. [h2]Visuals[/h2] The map, the art assets and character sprites are fine, some are even nice, but nothing too crazy. No AI to be found here. The level design can be a bit confusing at times. H patch can be found on the Kagura website, once you find the game find a tab named "patch", there you can download it for free and without registering. However... the H-scene Art is kinda mid.. even though some of it is just grotesque.. [h2]Music and sound[/h2] The music is fine, sometimes even really good and at times it even hit me like a truck. On the flipside, there is a distinct lack of sound effects here. [h1]In conclusion[/h1] If you still want to go for it, then I recommend steering clear from the following: [spoiler]Bed time stories CGs. Get the lore and then skip. Aleine's quest........... DO NOT KILL THE CRUZ KNIGHTS![/spoiler] The above are light spoilers, but I urge you to at least check the spoilers, since I absolutely hated them, even though I couldn't look away. I recommend using a guide for each floor, before you leave for the next. If you decide to get this game, then know this. "The truth is not an answer." [i][strike]And Alice is not here.[/strike][/i]

I won't do this the disservice of comparing it to Black Souls, as I wanted to be fair judge it based on its merit. However even still on its own it just seems hollow (pun unintended). I know this is supposed to be a dark fantasy souls-type game, but I think they vastly misunderstand the whole concept of dark fantasy or of the specific flavour bleak flickering hope in a souls-like, and ends up being just a prime example of Grimderp instead of Grimdark. Rather than being out actually tragic circumstances, much of the characters and setting seem be just malevolent for the sake of being unironically malevolent, instead of having actual nuance. Even the "maiden" character seems to be just outright evil with no obvious motivations for doing so (like openly telling you on multiple occasions she thinks somebody being trapped in a eternal nightmare is funny, with no subtlety).Furthermore whenever something bad is happening in front of you the game just has your character just sit there and let it happen, let you're just on some sort of haunted house ride, railroading you from one terrible thing to the next with ability to intervene (or even [i]show[/i] you even recognised it happening). Maybe this leads to a plot twist later that explains [i]why[/i] your character seems so apathetic to seeing people violated in front of them, as they are called "silent will", but the gameplay is not interesting enough to make me want to continue as it seems a very bogged down RPG with little to it and too easy.

Excellent game with a tremendous sense of identity, albeit one that is highly referential of FROM software's fantasy games. Combat is enjoyable but a bit on the easy side, the real appeal of this game is the atmosphere and exploration, and a genuine commitment to dark fantasy that is reminiscent of Fear and Hunger. The H content is good, though entirely static. The best part of this aspect is the "bedtime stories". My only real complaint is that the artist draws male anatomy in a pretty unappealing way. Absolutely recommended to anyone who isn't triggered by SA in their dark eroticism. If you wanna see what George RR Martin's writings he doesn't actually show anyone are like... play this. :D