Dark Matter

Недоделанный 2.5D шутер в космическом сеттинге, бегаешь 3-4 часа по коридорам ищешь ключи, стреляешь в жуков, крафтишь патроны и аптечки, появляются жуки побольше и игра заканчивается, потому-что у разрабов резко закончилось финансирование, даже баги не успели пофиксить. Купить по скидке и убить 4 часа вполне сойдёт, русификтор на игру есть.

норм

Das Spiel ist deutlich besser als erwartet. Hat seinen Unterhaltungsfaktor.

Heute wird gebächert

Dark Matter is a 2.5D sci-fi survival horror adventure developed by InterWave Studios and published by Iceberg Interactive that sets out to merge the exploratory structure of classic Metroid-style games with the oppressive atmosphere of space-bound horror. The premise is immediately familiar yet promising: you awaken alone on a vast, derelict spacecraft, its corridors swallowed by darkness and crawling with hostile alien organisms, with only fragmented logs, a snide AI companion, and your own growing arsenal to help you survive. From the outset, the game positions atmosphere as its primary weapon, using shadow, silence, and isolation to create a constant sense of unease as you inch through abandoned labs, engineering decks, and maintenance tunnels. The narrative in Dark Matter unfolds gradually through environmental storytelling, text logs, and intermittent dialogue from the ship’s AI, which serves both as a guide and a source of unsettling commentary. Rather than delivering a tightly scripted story, the game relies on implication and mood, encouraging players to piece together what went wrong aboard the vessel and why the alien infestation has spiraled out of control. This fragmented approach suits the setting well, reinforcing the feeling of being a lone survivor in a place that has already fallen. However, the story’s impact is dulled by pacing issues and a lack of strong narrative payoff, with major revelations often feeling underdeveloped or abruptly delivered rather than carefully built toward. Mechanically, Dark Matter blends side-scrolling exploration with light survival elements and straightforward combat. You traverse interconnected areas, unlocking doors, backtracking with new tools, and gradually opening up the ship’s layout in a way that clearly draws inspiration from Metroidvania design. Combat focuses on ranged weapons, with different ammunition types and upgrades that add some tactical consideration, particularly when dealing with tougher enemies. A notable idea is the emphasis on light and darkness: enemies are more aggressive in illuminated areas, encouraging players to manage their light sources carefully rather than simply flooding rooms with visibility. In theory, this creates tension and forces deliberate movement, but in practice the mechanic is inconsistently applied and rarely reaches its full potential. Where Dark Matter truly shines is in its visual and atmospheric presentation. The game’s lighting system is its strongest feature, casting long shadows and creating stark contrasts that make even familiar areas feel threatening. The art direction leans heavily into industrial sci-fi aesthetics, with flickering lights, rusted metal, and bio-organic alien growths clinging to walls and ceilings. Sound design complements this visual mood effectively, using ambient hums, distant mechanical noises, and sudden audio cues to keep players on edge. For extended stretches, the game succeeds in selling the fantasy of being alone in a hostile, failing machine drifting through space. Unfortunately, these strengths are undermined by a range of design and technical shortcomings. Movement can feel stiff, platforming lacks precision, and combat encounters often become repetitive rather than tense. Enemy variety is limited, and while early confrontations benefit from the game’s atmosphere, later sections rely too heavily on similar encounters without introducing meaningful mechanical evolution. Crafting and upgrade systems exist but feel shallow, offering incremental improvements rather than transformative changes that significantly alter how the game is played. As a result, the sense of progression is muted, and exploration can begin to feel like a chore rather than a reward. The game’s troubled development history also leaves a noticeable mark on the experience. Upon its original release, Dark Matter was widely criticized for feeling incomplete, most notably due to an abrupt ending that cut the story short just as it seemed poised to escalate. Although a later update added a cinematic conclusion to provide some closure, the overall structure still bears the scars of an unfinished vision. This context helps explain why so many elements—story arcs, enemy design, and gameplay systems—feel as though they were conceived with greater ambition than what ultimately made it into the final product. Community reception reflects this uneven execution. Many players praise the game’s atmosphere, lighting, and sci-fi horror tone, often noting that it succeeds in short bursts as an immersive experience. At the same time, just as many criticize its lack of polish, shallow mechanics, and limited replay value. The consensus tends to frame Dark Matter as a game with strong ideas and a compelling mood, but one that never fully coalesces into a cohesive or satisfying whole. In the end, Dark Matter stands as an intriguing but flawed entry in the indie sci-fi horror space. It offers moments of genuine tension and striking visual design that hint at what it could have been, especially for players who value atmosphere and exploration over mechanical depth. However, its repetitive combat, uneven pacing, and sense of incompleteness make it difficult to recommend without reservation. For fans of space-set horror willing to overlook rough edges—particularly at a steep discount—it can still provide a moody, memorable journey, but it remains more a glimpse of unrealized potential than a fully realized classic. Rating: 5/10

( STUNNED UPDATE: Wow, instantly loved the main masterful voice acting like a ship AI. Finally goggled and he is D. C. DOUGLAS, no less ! Legion in Mass Effect. Resident Evil's Albert Wesker, Star Wars Jedi Survivor's Rayvis, so many other high caliber games. Now I must play them all: Guarantee of a rich story. ) --- Expected a modest though interesting game, found a really epic extended scifi dungeon crawl metroid campaign. The story is very well done, based on messages but specially I love the voiceover of the actor doing the AI character, so on point and sensitive, adds so much to the atmosphere ! It had intrigued me so much, had to come back, got obsessed and had a blast. In a way it reminded me of fine times with Alien Romulus crossed with Unepic =) --- Important !! Use always the Escape, Menu, option "save game" to save anywhere, anytime, as much as you want, very good ! You get to keep every save at C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\37834242\251410\remote. But there is danger in saving in save points ingame only, eventually they stop working, and seem to keep 1 save only. But again, no real need of using them, and using escape, save by menu, reactivates their function at least for a while. Tough nothing indicates if ingame save points saves where successful so be sure to use the menu saves !! --- Help for the interested: C.E. hints so older gamers like me (70 y.o.) can finish and fully appreciate this unique game. Fullerene pieces, scrap, and medkits and ammo made with them, etc, at workstations, 4 Bytes. Health is FLOAT, simple values, full value 100.0000. Then you can freeze the value. Same with stamina, full value 7.5000, Float, etc. Sadly addresses change in different areas, have to find them again in each area. ( No such problem with array of bytes noped instructions, but advanced knowhow required, not for here ) Good luck !

I enjoyed this game, I doubt its for everyone but I found the AI narration to be rather captivating and the story is a good one. Nothing blow your socks off kinda, but it was worth the price. The ending was meh but not disappointing