It's a well kept public secret the stealth genre has fallen by the wayside in days of modern gaming. We could debate why, but that goes beyond the scope of this review. DARK mixes stealth and vampires, seemingly a match made in heaven. I also have to report it sadly has some complications that could have perhaps been avoided with additional polish.

Enter Eric Bane – a fledgling vampire with no idea who's who and what's what. He stumbles his way into a local club called Sanctuary where, surprise surprise, people in charge are also vampires. There he meets Rose & company who show him the ropes, and former develops love interest hints, but there's a major problem on the horizon – unless a newly made vampire takes the blood of whoever made him he unavoidably turns into a mindless ghoul. This sets Eric on a path of tracking down his maker... or a powerful enough vampire to substitute his mysterious benefactor's blood. Game will then proceed to bait you multiple times with what could be the vital blood while not really explaining how this society works if you must drain your creator. Or do you? That's certainly what's expected of you, and targets hardly offer a reasonable alternative, but do you just need a taste?

That's the gist of the story, but as you'd expect it's not ALL straightforward. Especially if you pay attention to developments within missions and locate all the PDAs containing tidbits of info. In fact, I'd argue story is extremely bare-bone because DARK wants nothing else but to shuttle you from level to level with regular “talk to Rose” intermissions. It becomes a predictable loop. Until the game pulls a rug from under you. Speaking of which, characters. Aforementioned Rose and our protagonist are essentially the only ones with, and I say this loosely, character as few others exist to be slain or break the routine of talking to the club manager herself. Story is not really the main draw here and it exists to give you something to do. I was especially annoyed by this because you do get couple of chances to talk with detestable bosses you want to kill personally, but game squanders it when I would've even welcome info dumps. Even the big reveal towards the finale fell flat because game failed to materialize any connection with me, although to be perfectly honest I think I was frustrated for other reasons.

Those “other reasons” would have to be gameplay itself, level design and progression. I have to bone to pick with each and every one of them to certain extent.

Make no mistake if you went into DARK with different expectations because this IS a stealth game through and through. Despite some powers available you should not go head-to-head with enemies for one very simple reason. Unaware takedown bonus is worth triple the experience you get for kills, on top of undetected level completion bonus. This touches upon the very nature of stealth games and reliance on save abuse which I admit willingly being guilty of in this case. Why? Because bodies don't disappear by default and you can't always hide them perfectly. If you get detected where the alarm is raised not only have you foregone your bonus, but all enemies also alter their patrols and will almost certainly find the bodies which in turns further prolongs their “alarmed state” throwing off entire level setup. It becomes a necessity to 100% stealth in order to avoid this outcome and by god does DARK make it difficult.

It's shocking to me just how poorly executed stealth elements are for a game that makes them its primary concern. Light indicator? Sound indicator? Neither exists, although you have your option of crouching to reduce noise/visibility. I think the core problem here is DARK employs sticking to cover and avoiding obvious environmental noise makers as substitutes for the above. For example, staying in cover gives you absolute directional invisibility as long as guards' line of sight is broken. How far said vision reaches is up in the air and something you learn to gauge with time while taking into account affecting skills. Adding Eric's ability to teleport over short distances with no cost other than time, and directly into cover, you quickly learn stealth dynamic is somewhat off-balance.

Here is where you would perhaps expect from me to raise issue about level structure and you would be only half accurate. For all the re-skinned variety of corporate corridors I was surprised by how much you're NOT forced into strictly linear sequences. There is always some freedom in how you go about confined levels and it usually depends on what repertoire of powers you've cultivated. For example, during the first two levels I had the idea of beating the game using only starter abilities until I realized I was A) growing immensely frustrated and B) limiting what the game allowed you to do for no reason other than my own obstinance. Level layouts with plenty of chest high covers and turns to duck into combined with “Batman Vision” letting you see enemies through walls means you always have increased awareness edge. What enemies have, however, are absolutely crapshoot routines where they require you to get close to initiate them and turning on a dime without warning. This is especially noticeable because there ARE couple of situations in the game where enemies work effectively. Like one sequence where you have two guards covering each another while being just close enough you can't silently off one without alarming the other. There should have been more of those.

Speaking of powers – invest in powers. You think teleporting alone would be a game changer, but when you realize you can get super speed, kill guards from range and instantly destroy their body, activate invisibility mode, etc it truly turns the game into a cakewalk. These upgrades will naturally cost you experience and yet considering I had almost ten points leftover by the end I can safely say you will get everything. Playing the game as intended and getting undetected bonus will make the majority of your free experience on top of locating PDAs easily traceable with your vision mode. How do you activate powers? Well, some are passives and always there, but active ones cost blood and you get that from draining enemies. This takes time and makes loud noise until you put some points in making your unlife easier. I did like how the game manages to eventually make this into an obstacle by throwing armored or non-human enemies in your way and limiting feeding capabilities. Can't say it was ever a problem even with only four blood points, though. Four quickslot limit was a bigger issue as I outright ended up forgetting about the other powers I couldn't slot. Thanks, gamepads.

Looking at screenshots you've already realized DARK loves two things; color purple and neon. This never changes and you have to get accustomed to it. Game also puts it to good use when the need to telegraph something arises. It is a 2013 release with a middling budget coming from developers who didn't really have prior stealth experience so don't expect to blown away by visuals on technical level. In fact, I'd say janky animations permeate the game. Pairing those with some level geometry results in deadly situations where our protagonist gets stuck and is promptly ventilated. I did like one specific track evoking just a tiny whiff of that other well known vampire game. It also emphasizes just how understated the rest of the soundtrack is, but they may not be a bad thing in a stealth game.

Final Thoughts and Rating?

Someone who's really, desperately hungry for a stealth game with modern concessions might form a more favorable impression, but in my opinion DARK's biggest problem is how questionable every element on display really is. Stealth games must by necessity be tight as they're ultimately as simple as they come and sum of their parts. Token story and characters airing on the side of merely existing, overpowered protagonist poorly counter by puzzling absence of some basic stealth features, and general shoddy production are all major strikes here. Ultimately a frustrating game where the two saves limit becomes a hindrance with overly long level where checkpoints are far apart. This newly made vampire's tale to discover his origin did not click with me. Not even Geralt of Rivia's voice changed that.