Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder Demo

Lovecraft is regarded as one of the most influential horror writers that ever lived, thanks to all of the nightmares he’s caused throughout the decades. Since modern technology now allows for much more vivid ways to express art, his work has the potential to terrorize yet another generation. Thus, movies and video games can be extremely effective at causing a few panic attacks here and there, as long as they are made right.

Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder is a point-and-click adventure title that tries to portray Lovecraft’s work in a way, but without directly referencing to it in the story and without copying any of the actual writings. Instead, this aims to be a new experience with a familiar theme, while the puzzle elements have been integrated to make the entire thing a tad more challenging as well.

As such, the story talks about the murder of a man by the name of Loath Nolder, who happens to be interested in the occult. Naturally, you play the detective who comes to investigate the deed, only to find that things are much weirder than their appear. Soon, strange things start to happen and you slowly begin to lose your mind, what with all the traumatic experiences you go through as the investigation progresses.

Gameplay-wise, there’s nothing out of the ordinary to get you out of your comfort zone. Moving is done by simply clicking on the direction you wish to go, while certain objects can be either observed or picked up to store in your inventory. A lot of reading is involved as well, because the notes and the books you find along the way make up a large chunk of the overall story.

The visual chapter deserves a mention as well, because the designers did a phenomenal job at portraying some of the most amazing environments. Not only are the locations filled with detail and a lot of interesting artwork, but the post-processing effects do a spectacular job at relaying the proper atmosphere. Unlike in most point-and-click adventure games, the camera can be rotated 360 degrees.

Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder is a tad too weird and lacking in jump scares to appeal to casual horror fans, but it should hit the spot for those who know what Lovecraft is all about. Hence, if you are up for a bit of anguish and despair, don’t hesitate to give this a try.