Dark Fall: The Journal

About Dark Fall: The Journal

Dark Fall: The Journal was written and made almost single-handedly by the British designer Jonathan Boakes, who later wrote The Lost Crown, and it first came out in June 2002. It's the first game of the Dark Fall series. Today THQ Nordic sells it on Steam and GOG for Windows, in English, and the GOG copy also has Russian voices and text.

It starts with a message on your answering machine. Your brother, an architect redeveloping an old railway station and its hotel, asks for help in a frightened voice, with talk of a disappearance and strange whispers behind him. You take the train out to Dowerton and find the station and the Station Hotel deserted. Back on the night of April 29th, 1947, the guests and staff vanished, and the place still looks as if they only just left.

You explore in first person, one still view at a time, in the manner of Myst. The story is told through what was left behind: newspaper clippings, diaries, letters and computer files. You can't carry the papers off with you, so you'll be keeping your own notes. Puzzles lean on logic and observation, and they get obscure. GameSpot's 2003 review felt the game put too much weight on them. Two student ghost hunters left their cameras running in the hotel, and what those caught is part of the trail, along with a Ouija board you type your questions into.

The horror is almost all atmosphere and sound. Phones ring in empty rooms. Footsteps cross the floor above, a boy's voice greets you when you arrive, and lights go out one after another down a corridor. Nothing ever jumps out to kill you. If you want a slow, eerie ghost story and no chases, this is the kind of thing to look for.

It suits fans of Myst-style adventures and British ghost stories, and players of Barrow Hill or The 7th Guest who want something quieter. Be ready for its age, though. It runs at 640 by 480, most of the time is spent going through one hotel room after another, and there is little reason to play it twice.

How to play Dark Fall: The Journal

1. Buy Dark Fall: The Journal on Steam or GOG and install it on Windows.
2. Click to move between first-person views of the station and hotel, and click objects to look at or take them.
3. Read every journal, letter and clipping, and note down names, dates and numbers yourself.
4. Use what you learn to solve the logic puzzles that open new rooms.
5. Listen carefully: sounds and voices point to where the story goes next.

Tips

• Play at night with headphones or the speakers up, as the maker suggests.
• Keep a pen and paper beside you. You can't carry the papers and books you find, and many puzzles depend on details from earlier documents.
• If you are stuck, go back over rooms you have already seen, as new events change them.
• The cursor tells you what you can do: an arrow where you can move, a magnifying glass where there is something to look at closely.

Questions