Dark Fall: The Journal

I can think of few settings eerier than an abandoned railway station and a derelict hotel.  Both have proved to be apt settings for rather disturbing tales in film and fiction and Dark Fall: The Journal shows that they are also perfect settings within an extremely unnerving video game.  The game was released in 2003 and several years on still stands up enduringly well.

The title begins as you listen to your answer machine messages playing and it becomes apparent that all is not well.  Your brother, Pete, is working on a redevelopment project but something is wrong and he is very anxious for you to join him.  Dutifully you head to Dowerton to find out what is wrong, only to find that not only is Pete missing but two others are too: ghosthunters called Polly White and Nigel Danvers.  From the moment you arrive at Dowerton Station it’s clear that things are far from how they should be and being guided by an unseen 11 year old does nothing to allay your concerns.

Without giving too much away it seems these are not the first disappearances at the station or hotel.  Indeed, several people have disappeared over time (including your 11 year old friend).  Most noticable was the disappearance of six people together.  The main objective of the game becomes finding out what happened to the missing people, in particular your brother.

This is a point and click style puzzle adventure that is heavily reliant on two things: an excellent memory and good logic skills.  Oh and a notebook!  Unlike many games, Dark Fall: The Journal does not note the things you find for you.  Therefore you will most likely find that you need to scribble constantly throughout the game noting references, images and numbers that may or may not be relevant further down the line.  In theory, I have absolutely no objection to this – in fact, in some ways it helped me focus more – but in practice my handwriting is illegible after a while of scrawling hurriedly and my diagrams are so far removed from how they should look as to be useless, so I do feel this would have been a helpful addition to the game.

In the most recent release of Dark Fall: The Journal (on the Adventures in Terror – British Horror Collection) a walkthrough has been provided with detailed instructions on how to solve each puzzle.  This is certainly very useful to have in case you find yourself in a bind but I found that for the most part the puzzles were perfectly manageable.  I kept a room-by-room log of objects and unsolved puzzles which helped me recall easily where things were.  Time consuming perhaps but much easier than just moving round aimlessly for hours looking for a particular item.  After all, Dark Fall: The Journal takes place across the station and the hotel and the locations are numerous.  Several hotel rooms, bathrooms, a bar, a buffet, a kitchen, a dining room, the cellar, the attic, station platforms and the station office  will leave you with plenty to explore.

Dark Fall: The Journal is hugely atmospheric.  I’ll hold my hands up and say that I rarely watch horror films and certainly not alone.  Therefore it wasn’t particularly surprising that at times I found the game extremely unnerving.  Fleeting shadows, distorted voices, ethereal lights: all occurred at the most unexpected times.  Like many good horror films, Dark Fall: The Journal is all about suspense.  Some may play it and raise an eyebrow at my cowardice, others may feel the same fright as I did.  Regardless of your position I would argue that the dark abandoned corridors of the hotel, the crumbling facade of the station and the creaking darkness of the attic are wonderfully depicted.  Despite some criticism directed towards the game regarding its graphic quality, I think that the lack of sharpness works as an enhancement at times.  Several parts of the hotel are stuck in the past: it would be wrong to give the title too modern a feel.

Jonathan Boakes, the creator of the Dark Fall games, would no doubt be pleased to know that during the week I was playing through Dark Fall: The Journal I had a dream in which I was in an abandoned hotel.  It was not the Dowerton Station Hotel but instead a figment of my imagination and to the best of my recall nothing actually happened other than that I was there but I suspect it would be enough for him to know that I woke feeling extremely ill at ease.  Nonetheless I continued to play and look forward to progressing on to Dark Fall: Lights Out and the recently released Dark Fall: Lost Souls.  Perhaps that’s truly the mark of a compelling game: to make you persevere down an avenue you would normally avoid because the end result is so ultimately satisfying.

   Dark Fall: Lights Out

Dark Fall: Lights Out was inspired by the mystery of the disappearance of three lighthouse keepers from the Flannan Isle lighthouse in 1900 and, in particular, Wilfred Gibson’s excellent poem ‘The Ballad of Flannan Isle’.  The game sees you playing the character of Benjamin Parker, a cartographer.  Parker arrives in Trewarthan Harbour, Cornwall in 1912 and is asked by local man Robert Demarion to investigate the lighthouse on the island of Fetch Rock: the lamp is unlit and he believes something must be wrong. 

Upon arrival on Fetch Rock Island the lighthouse is indeed in darkness, with no sign of the three lighthouse keepers.  It falls on you to investigate the disappearance of the men and to ensure that the lamp is relit.  In many ways the game follows the typical point and click format with clues to follow and puzzles to complete.  However, Dark Fall: Lights Out is also a horror story in video game format so be prepared for some unexpected events.

Dark Fall: Lights Out also has another unexpected twist: certain images act as a doorway to another time.  This becomes apparent in the early scenes of the game when you examine your journal and find that you are transported back to events of the day before.  This time travel is a frequent occurrence in the game and will see you playing in several settings: the distant past, 1912, 2004 and the distant future.  Despite my initial scepticism about this aspect of the game, it is actually something that works very well and allows you to revisit certain locations in different time periods, building up a fuller picture of the history of Fetch Rock Island.

The previous Dark Fall game (Dark Fall: The Journal) was extremely atmospheric and relied heavily on suspense and creating a permanent state of eeriness.  Dark Fall: Lights Out has stayed true to this formula and in many ways manages to be even more atmospheric.  Shadows moving across the stairs, the sounds of doors creaking, knocks or footsteps and the regular whisper of voices all occur frequently to keep you permanently on edge.  I cannot stress enough the importance of playing with the sound on, not only to enjoy the full atmosphere of the game but also to ensure that you hear any whispered hints that might be passed on by the spirits within the lighthouse.

On the recently released Adventures in Terror – The British Horror Collection the game is bundled with a walkthrough.  This is always a useful tool but I found that the majority of the puzzles in the game are perfectly manageable if you approach them logically and as long as you’ve taken note of anything important.  As with the previous Dark Fall game, a notepad really is a necessity: the game does not log things of note; you are expected to do it yourself.  Given that it can be very difficult to decide what’s relevant and what isn’t, you’ll probably find yourself taking a great many notes but it’s certainly easier than trying to recall all the facts off the top of your head.

The recent release of Dark Fall: Lights Out (both alone and as part of Adventures in Horror – The British Horror Collection) was of the Director’s Cut Edition and Jonathan Boakes readily admits in the accompanying walkthrough that some elements dropped from the original version have been reinstated to ensure better puzzles and a more atmospheric quality to the game.  I never played the original version but I can certainly vouch for this being an excellent game with a good range of puzzles.  It’s well thought out and structured and flows at a good pace.  It is hugely atmospheric, at times particularly unnerving and there are certainly several moments designed to make you jump.  It’s certainly a worthy successor to Dark Fall: The Journal. 

   Barrow Hill (PC)

Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle is a mystery adventure game from Shadow Tor Studios, recently republished by Focus Multimedia.  I played this several months ago initially and really enjoyed it and I’m pleased to say that it has not lost any of its charm over time.

After your car breaks down, you find yourself at Barrow Hill in Cornwall on the eve of the Autumn Equinox and it’s clear that all is not as it should be.  Abandoned cars, a near empty service station and a gibbering attendant are all that greet you after you leave your car in search of civilisation.  From the outset it’s clear that not everything is as it seems.  As you talk to the petrified service station attendant and listen to the worried radio presenter, Emma, the beginnings of an involved and unnerving mystery show.   As you can’t leave the area, the only way forward is to solve the mystery and find out what’s happening.

So follows a very challenging and involving adventure game, which will see you scratching your head in bafflement, jumping out of your seat at odd moments and severely tempted to check behind you and make sure you are still alone!  Despite the age range of the game (7+) it can be very unnerving.  Families playing together will probably find that a good dose of laughter and a tongue in cheek approach to the scary moments help to reduce any nerves but I’d be wary of letting younger children play alone.  That said, I have one of the worse dispositions known to horror and can well imagine a bemused 10 year old saying “When’s something scary going to happen?” as I cower behind my seat.  Weigh it up for yourself but aside from anything else, some of the puzzles can be challenging and younger players may need some help with some of them.

As a typical adventure game, Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle requires you to explore, use objects together and solve puzzles.  There are several locations to visit, including the service station, the radio shack and an excavation site.  Some of the puzzles can be very difficult and at times you need to be thinking several steps ahead in order to solve a problem.  However, this is a game in which metaphorically pounding the pavements will be the ultimate key to your success.  From the beginning you are given quite limited guidance about what you need to do and so the only way to progress is to explore and try and figure it out for yourself.

Thankfully, the game provides plenty of clues along the way so you just have to keep an open mind to everything around you and try and take a very logical approach to the game.  If you find a note asking someone to deliver a meal to ‘Room 2’ at the service station, the logical approach is to go have a look at Room 2.  Lo-and-behold, you find some objects to help you on the way.  The fairly linear structure of the game means it is quite easy to keep track of what you should be doing next, rather than constantly going off on a tangent.

The graphics of the game are good, with many scenes being clear and very detailed, making it very easy to find most objects.  The sound effects are well chosen with some creepy and at times disturbing dialogue, radio transmissions and noises cropping up throughout the game.  The story, as it unfolds, requires a little leap of faith in your imagination but it is generally well considered and ensures a good mystery that will leave you guessing until the end.

All told, Barrow Hill: Curse of the Ancient Circle is a great adventure game which deserves a great score.  Given that many games with this genre would retail at upwards of £20.00, the game is excellent value at just £9.99.  Really, given everything on offer here, I can’t see how you could go wrong...

**Reviews by Donna Haw**