Horror puzzle Psychological horror Haunted house

Dark Fall: Lost Souls

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Five years after Amy vanished, the Inspector goes back to Dowerton Station.

Platforms: PC
Stores: Steam, GOG
Price: Paid
Rated: Mixed on Steam (61% of 272 reviews); Metacritic 75 (8 critics); 3.9 out of 5 from GOG players
Players: 1
Controls: Mouse only: click to move and interact; the Inspector's phone in the inventory bar holds the torch, saves and messages.
Made by: Jonathan Boakes (Darkling Room)
Released: 2009

What frightens On the anniversary of a girl's disappearance, the inspector who failed to find her returns to a ruined railway hotel where something evil and hungry hides in the dark; bloodied rooms, the voices and memories of the dead, a phone torch as the only light and sudden frights.
Content: missing child, blood, jumpscares, disturbing imagery.

Dark Fall: Lost Souls is a first-person point-and-click horror adventure by Jonathan Boakes, the third Dark Fall game. As the disgraced Inspector who never found missing schoolgirl Amy Haven, you return to the derelict station and hotel at Dowerton on the anniversary of her disappearance, where something is waiting in the dark.

About Dark Fall: Lost Souls

Dark Fall: Lost Souls was made by Jonathan Boakes's British studio Darkling Room and published by Iceberg Interactive, first as a download in November 2009 and in shops in 2010. It goes back to the setting of the first game, Dark Fall: The Journal: the railway station and Station Hotel at Dowerton, abandoned since 1947 after a string of disappearances.

Amy Haven went missing five years ago, and the police inspector in charge never found her. His career is gone. On the anniversary, with local teenagers saying they have seen the girl, he goes back to the ruins one last time. The buildings have rotted since his first visit, and GOG's page warns you never to turn your back on the darkness: something evil, unknowable and hungry lives there.

It plays in first person, one still view at a time, with a cursor that shows where you can walk, what you can take and where an item is needed. The Inspector's mobile phone holds the save menu, text messages and a torch, and light is your only weapon against the dark. You physically handle the scene, read papers left behind, and step into the memories of the dead, their own nightmares, to learn what the Dark Fall really is. Nothing is written down for you, so you keep your own notes.

This is the most openly frightening Dark Fall, with more blood and sudden scares than the slow ghost stories before it. Critics praised its atmosphere and sound (Adventure Gamers named it best first-person adventure and best sound of 2009) and complained of obscure puzzles; Steam players are split. It suits players who know The Journal or like dark, puzzle-heavy adventures such as Barrow Hill and Darkness Within.

How to play Dark Fall: Lost Souls

Buy the game on Steam or GOG and install it on Windows.
Click to move from view to view through the station and hotel; the cursor shows where you can go and what you can use.
Open the Inspector's phone to switch on its torch, read text messages and save your game.
Pick up items, combine them in the inventory bar and use them where the cursor turns into a wrench.
Write down codes and clues as you find them and re-read documents when a puzzle stalls you.

Screenshots

Dark Fall: Lost Souls screenshot: missing posters for Amy Haven pinned to a wooden fence at night, asking Have you seen this girl

Dark Fall: Lost Souls screenshot: the brick front of the Station Hotel lit by lamps under a night sky

Dark Fall: Lost Souls screenshot: a hotel hallway and staircase with blood smeared on the walls and papers strewn on the floor

Dark Fall: Lost Souls screenshot: an old television shows a man at a table ringed by staring eyes, with the subtitle She came to no harm

Tips

Save often from the phone: the game has no autosave.
Use the torch in every dark corner; some objects and clues only show in its light.
The difficulty can be changed from the phone if a puzzle stops you for too long.
Play with headphones: sound design is what critics praised most.

Questions

Do I need to play the earlier Dark Fall games first?

No, but it returns to the station and hotel of Dark Fall: The Journal and brings back some of its characters, so players of that game will recognise more.

Is Dark Fall: Lost Souls scarier than the other Dark Fall games?

Most critics found it the scariest of the series; it has more blood and sudden scares than the slower earlier games.

Is Dark Fall: Lost Souls on consoles?

No. It was only released for Windows and is sold on Steam and GOG.