A Dark Room ®

The game was way to short for the price. There's not much more here than how far I got in the web version. I wish there was more content and story. It really did only take me 97 minutes to beat it, and a lot of that was waiting and repetitive actions.

I am spread and oiled for this

Played through the web version for the upteenth time and wanted to support the developer with a purchase. I was pleasantly surprised by the changes in the narrative. Things perhaps a little more subtle in the web client were much more explicit here and I had many moments where I was honestly kind of shocked with the story. It DOES play faster than the web client, but if you don't have hours to play it's a nice change. The Dusty Path map is smaller, and the ending feels a little easier than on the web client. Some people will be turned off by the fire mechanic (you CAN ignore it. after a while you're just playing the game in dark mode) and it feels like the number of tabs is increased, which makes sense since this is a PC version of a mobile port. All in all, I really enjoyed the port. :thumbs-up: from me

An interesting concept with a pleasant design, spoiled by the rudimentary narrative and subpar plot.

Short game, get it on a sale. It's a port of an old web browser game, you can play it for free on the web. It's a great game.

10/10 I fell in love with this game many many years ago. Back when it got released as a free website. After returning to the game every now and then - on the web, the app, and now on steam(!?), I feel like it would only be decent to give the author some credit. The steam edition is somewhat different from the original version. A few bugs here and there, but the new additions are welcome. [spoiler] A thing I found a bit sad (but maybe it's just me), was that the exposition is much more direct on the new steam version. The old version was truely ominous. You'd find meat, fur, scales and cloth etc in your traps. Cloth? you wonder - only to realize much later that you've probably eaten a few humans along the way. I absolutely love this. Here the new edition would in addition write stuff like: "Must push them. Make them work. Through the eternal night. They are slaves." A bit too much exposition in comparison. The workers also change name to slaves in the work delegation menu. The context would have been enough - especially with the builder's reaction to the player's advancement. This is a somewhat consistent style change throughout. "a worrier once more" etc. Some of the mystique disappears with the doubled amount of text popups. Extending thoward the melodramatic in comparison. Another thing are the bugs. I bought 100 bait from a nomad. Appears nowhere. I believe bait was a thing back in the day for the traps? In this edition, it is not. Yet, still for sale. If you pick up a laser, it shows as a carbine. Sometimes when you pick the batteries, it chooses the bolas. Little things like that. Also.. what happened to medicine? Sometimes back in the day, a deciese would run through the town, if you could not cure it. Also fire would burn down the huts - (but this removal makes sense if the builder chooses to dip later in the new story, as she rebuilds the huts) That being saild, I love the way that the builder has a more concise role. It works super well. You want to explore further - but you now feel bad for doing it - yet you can't stop. That dynamic is brilliant. Awesome detail that you can find the old wanderer (from last expedition), and he asks for her. Why the amulet consumed her(?), was not clear to me tho. Yet, great detail that the game is permanently dark after her disappearence. Another little thing I enjoyed in the new addition: In all of the game's history you've been able to wield fists, bonespear, iron sword, steel sword, rifle, laser carbine, bola, grenade, bayonet (or katana now) etc, all at the same time! I always wondered if this was a bug. Like an exploit somehow. Then now when I played the new steam addition, you'll at some point kill a wanderer and it displays something like "You search the wanderer. Within one of his many hands, you find something valuable" (or something like that). My point being - this is the perfect hint that the player might not even be human. This is why he can wield his entire arsenal at once xD I always imagined them being humans from an old space age. This is a fun realization and a perfect examle of the type of brilliant slowburned exposition the author is able to whip together. The new game plus gameplay and ending is also a deeply great addition. I'd kinda wish the builder was around for more of it? Like bonding wise?- instead of her just sleeping for most of it. But i'm just greatful that this is an option. [/spoiler] All in all an awesome game tho. One I often think about and one that has inspired many of my later projects. I can highly recommend. If you refund after completion, I will find you.

I really enjoyed this game. The world building was great. Slowly finding out the world was great. A few minor issues is the UI is a bit broken. When you try pick something up with bolas in your inventory, sometimes you click through the "take" button and click the bolas which was pretty tedious so i ended up never using them. Also- Spoiler. Don't read this, the game is pretty quick. [spoiler]The second ending where you don't build huts felt pretty anticlimactic. The exact same things happen with the builder dying and you leaving the planet so wtf was the point iof not getting slaves. The builder said stuff like "not again" but all slaves did was make the process easier with the exact same outcome so it was pointless. I would prefer if the first ending was a bad ending with the girl disappearing meaning the ship crashes or something.[/spoiler] Anyway still a great game I'm gonna buy the prequel now :)