Dark Fracture: Prologue

About Dark Fracture: Prologue

Dark Fracture: Prologue is a free, stand-alone opening chapter of Dark Fracture, a first-person psychological horror game by Twisted II Studio, published with Feardemic. It came out on Steam for Windows on 25 August 2020, and the same prologue can be downloaded from the studio's itch.io and Game Jolt pages. The full game was still listed on Steam without a release date when this page was written.

It is set in the late 1990s, in a forested part of the northeastern United States, at a body farm: a research facility where bodies are left to decompose for study. You play Edward, a solitary man haunted by a tragic past who gets through each day on his medicine. One night on the midnight shift a chain of disturbing events starts, and the place around him begins to change.

The night begins with ordinary tasks: fetch this, find that key, go to the locker room for your medication. Then the horror builds. A sanity meter falls as strange things happen, and taking your pills brings it back up, but the pills are few. Light is scarce too: players mention a lighter that something keeps blowing out and a camera whose flash gives only a brief look at the dark. The store says the paranormal events do not always happen at the same moment, so a second play is not quite the same.

The look draws on the paintings of Zdzislaw Beksinski and the biomechanical work of H. R. Giger: blood-streaked corridors with arms reaching out of the walls, and a vast ribbed otherworld that may exist only in Edward's head. The store warns of strong language, gruesome content and scenes that may affect people with photosensitive epilepsy.

The prologue has no saves, so it is meant to be played in one sitting, and players report that some achievements do not unlock. It suits players who like slow, realistic first-person horror about a worker alone at night, such as The Mortuary Assistant, and the Giger-like dread of Scorn, and who want a free taste before the full game.

How to play Dark Fracture: Prologue

1. Get it free on Steam (Windows), or download the prologue from the studio's itch.io or Game Jolt page.
2. Set aside up to an hour: the prologue has no saves, so play it in one sitting.
3. Start your shift and follow your tasks around the body farm, picking up keys and items as you go.
4. Watch your sanity meter and take your medication when it falls; the pills are limited.
5. Use the light sources you find to see your way through the dark parts of the facility.

Tips

• Do not waste pills early; players say once they run out, your sanity drops faster.
• Light candles where you can; your lighter can be blown out and the camera flash only lights the room for a moment.
• The game can freeze if you switch windows, and there is no save, so avoid alt-tabbing.
• Events are not always at the same moment, so a second play can surprise you again.

Questions