Kinda don't know what to say or how to begin this review. It's without a doubt one of the best horror games your shekels can buy on the market to date.

Don't let the top down perspective fool you, you're gonna be clenching hard when night time rolls around, in truth after first 2-3 in game nights I knew this is something special. Darkwood absolutely knocks it out of the park when it comes bleak and depressing atmosphere, building tension and crispy sound design.

Game is split into day and night cycles, explore the map and gather the resources during the day and hunker down, barricade in and pray for that morning sun to rise before all your insides are on the outside during the night. Morbid curiosity is what keeps you going despite the obvious threats lurking in the woods, you don't have a choice you must scrounge up supplies wood, nails for barricades, gas to keep the generator running and light up your hideout, materials for weapons and traps to help you defend yourself, to survive the next night and this is genius design it all ties into each other you have to have a mental list of things to do or check out during each day because those precious daylight minutes are burning up fast and every night things get more and more intense.

Artwork during the conversations with NPCs is gorgeous to look at. When it comes to the story of the game I ain't gonna pretend that I got most of it multiple playthroughs are needed if you want to absorb it all. Moment to moment gameplay is what kept me going. The game is also a bit longer than I expected with multiple difficulty options even permadeath mode, multiple endings and a game map which rotates every playthrough preventing you from getting too comfortable with your surroundings.

Sound design is yet another aspect of the game that is absolutely superb here, you can hear every crunch of a branch under your foot as you run through the forest, every bolt of lightning roaring above, every raindrop hitting the roof of your hideout, every thud of someone walking in the next room as you are cowering in the corner, every shriek of some deformed monstrosity slumbering toward you it's not something I'm capable of getting across in text you have to experience it, indeed it is not the question of "Should I try this?" it's me asking "Why haven't you?"

quirky physics puzzle game that makes you feel more frustrated than satisfied when completing a puzzle.
the core idea is being given a puzzle/condition to solve and you're meant to create objects with your cursor to solve the puzzle, essentially a sandbox puzzle game.
you have to be a little imaginative and have to have a good understanding on the physics engine in order to complete puzzles, which can make or break whether or not you will enjoy this game.
this game expects a lot of experimentation and trial and error to figure out puzzles. a lot of the time it just feels like you're throwing shit at a wall until it sticks.

i think my main issue with the game is the insane difficulty spikes. one level will be like "move this ball into the red area" and then next next puzzle will be "kill god". maybe it wants me to come back to it later but cmon.. shouldn't you be teaching me how to use the tools in the game, instead of expecting me to come back later once i've learned more? not a big fan of this design choice, i think it's just poor player experience.
do i like this game? not as much as i'd like to, as someone who loves puzzle games, but i think it's a cool concept that proves to be fun sometimes. i think in given time i'll come accustomed to the physics engine and puzzle design and eventually enjoy the game

So so good. Incredibly scary game with a super intriguing story and really engaging exploration. There’s many unpredictable turns the game goes in and a lot of choices you can make which leads to different endings. Game goes on for a fair bit longer than I expected; took me 16 hours to beat and I could easily see someone reaching 20 hours on first playthrough. I still have a lot of questions but I like that a lot, I think especially during the game the mystery of what the fuck is going on just leans into the horror even more. I wasn’t too sure I’d like it when I originally looked into it but it completely surpassed my expectations, I recommend checking this out especially if you are into horror games.