Dark Corners Mod for Unreal Tournament 2004 Dark Corners review

[page=What is Dark Corners?]

Horror game designers have thought of nearly every enemy conceivable so far: From zombies to aliens to bugs to...things. It seems gaming’s most twisted minds have thought of everything. But have you ever fought darkness itself?

Stairway to Hell

Back in 1992, Alone in the Dark pioneered the horror genre for video games. These games were a test of wits, awareness and intelligence as players tried desperately to escape from dire situations. Resources were limited. Forces beyond your control rendered you helpless. The inevitable conflict loomed over you as you tried to survive. These core compnents made the horror genre one of the most shocking, immersive, and intense in gaming.

If it is done well.

Dark Corners is an Unreal Tournament 2004 mod that puts a somewhat innovative spin on the survival horror genre. Whereas many horror games have something lurking in the darkness as the enemy, here the darkness itself is your foe. Lost in a haunted mansion, surrounded by shadows, your only weapons are a flashlight and a handful of flares.

The gameplay revolves around moving from point to point, trying to stay in the light as much as possible. The instant you step into the darkness, a light meter begins to diminish. If it goes out, you die.

At first, the aura of fear is convincing and pervasive. Panic mounts as the small circle of illumination from a flickering flare slowly dies. When a room plunges into darkness, you'll frantically wave your flashlight along the wall, looking for the light switch.

The blur effect is pretty sweet

These aren't the jump-scare tactics of Doom 3, but the psychological fear of, well, F.E.A.R. You know the enemy is coming and you know what it is, but you just can't be sure what trick it will pull next.

Unfortunately, this novel concept is often implemented in a substandard fashion, robbing the game of it's fun and ruining many potential scares.

The tension present in Dark Corners fades out—along with the fun—through sheer repetition and predictability. Patches of darkness come in two sizes: those that need flares and those that don't. There is a consistent formula at work here: Wait in a small circle of light for your life meter to recharge, throw a flare in front of you, run forward, recharge, run, throw, repeat until the end. The patches of darkness are always just small enough for you to run across or just big enough to require a single flare. It's just as interesting as it sounds.

[page="As scary as a dead monster"]

This is what you see when you die. Don't ask me what it is.

Remember the movie Darkness Falls? There was a scene in the movie where a candle was slowly dying, diminishing the last light source keeping the darkness at bay. There was a pressing sense of urgency--the characters had to do something or else they faced certain doom.

There is nothing like this in Dark Corners. Every light source is permanent; every trick is reused. You have all the time in the world to work on the puzzles, and when lights actually do move in the environment, they are spotlights that never die out and move in slow, set patterns across the floor.

This lazy pace just erases any sense of dread the game might have had going for it. Anybody that has seen a horror movie knows that the pursuit of the heroes by the villian creates much of the fear. If your villian just sits there, like in Dark Corners, it is boring. You might as well be fighting a dead monster.

There is also no consequence to dying in Dark Corners. Checkpoints are placed closely together and death has no lasting ill-effects. Instead of the dramatic fadeout of Resident Evil or the view of your marine's final seconds of life in Doom 3, when you succumb to the darkness here, your character screams and the screen flashes with weird images. This is similar to those internet sites that tell you to stare at the screen at turn up your speakers all the way. If that's the kind of thing that scares you, then there is plenty to be scared about in Dark Corners. Otherwise, it's terrifying the first time and annoying every time after that.

I'll make it...but just barely. Notice the light timer in the lower-right corner

At least the presentation is decent. Lamplight makes artful patterns along the floor and light streaks between the mirrors. Except for a somewhat out-of-place basement area, the overall aesthetic holds up very well and the creepy mansion looks pretty nice, if a bit angular. Well-designed menus and load screens prevent the atmosphere from ever letting up. A bit more environmental interactivity would have been appreciated, though, and conceivably could have added layers of depth.

As would be expected, the lighting engine is great. The darkness is rarely the encompassing blackness of Doom 3, instead suggesting what is there without entirely revealing it. It’s a shame these hidden objects are never that interesting.

The sound is good but not great. The sounds of the player are mostly muffled and don’t add or subtract anything from the game. The whispering voices in the background, threatening you with death, are certainly creepy for a bit. Instead of being representative of anything actually in the next room, a la Doom 3, they are just a canned effect.

[page=Brain Dead]

Iron Maiden Says:
Have you ever been alone at night
Thought you heard footsteps behind
And turned around and no one's there?
And as you quicken up your pace
You find it hard to look again
Because you're sure there's someone there

Maybe this leads out of here...

In Dark Corners, there never is anyone there. There is nothing chasing you. The lights won’t ever go out and, as long as you stay under a lamp, nothing bad will happen. There is no tension, no apprehension and no fear.

The ending is also a big letdown. So, you know, spoiler alert.

The game doesn't even attempt to throw you for a loop with a hook or a twist at the end. Voices whisper in the background, tension builds for the big climax, but nothing ever happens. There should be some sort of confrontation with the evil force. There should be something climactic, but, instead, you just walk out of the mansion. That's it. There isn't even an ending cinematic.

Did they have to meet a deadline and just ship the game out without being completed? Has this been intentionally left open for a sequel? Or maybe the developers thought an abrupt and unfulfilling ending was what they wanted to convey.

The premise for Dark Corners has a great deal of potential—with the right level design and the right enemies, the mod could have been excellent. But, instead, the presentation cannot hold up boring and forgettable gameplay that does little more than waste three hours of your time. Some adventure gamers might enjoy Dark Corners, but if you are looking for a terrifying, white-knuckle experience, you will be sorely disappointed.

(+) Great lighting effects
(+) Good overall ambience

(-) Not scary at all
(-) Puzzles are uninspired
(-) Hugely underwhelming ending