Darkwood

About Darkwood

Darkwood is a survival horror game by Acid Wizard Studio. It spent years in early access on Steam and came out in full in August 2017 on Windows, Mac and Linux; ports to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch followed in May 2019, with PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions later. Hooded Horse now co-publishes the PC version, and Crunching Koalas handles the console releases. You wake in a ruined land swallowed by woods somewhere in the Soviet Bloc, with no memory of how you got there and one goal: get out.

The game is seen from above, but you only see what your character faces; everything else stays dark and muffled. By day you roam the forest, its swamps and its abandoned farms, picking up planks, nails, rags and stranger things such as mushrooms and meat to refine at your workbench. The people you meet are few and odd, they trade and give dark errands, and they are often at odds with each other, so your choices change who survives and how the story ends. There are no quest markers: you read notes, listen, and work out the woods yourself.

When the sun goes down you have to be back in a hideout. You barricade doors and windows, set traps, refuel the generator, and sit in the dark listening. Some nights something tries to break in; some nights strange events happen in the house instead; and some things that visit cannot be beaten with weapons at all. Combat is clumsy and costly on purpose, from swinging a plank to firing a rifle, and weapons break. As you go deeper you can take mutations, such as turning invisible while standing still, but each one brings a weakness too.

The makers describe it as slow-burn, atmospheric horror without jumpscares, and that is how it plays: the fear comes from the sound design, the narrow field of view and the dread of the next night. It suits players who like games that leave them alone to learn, and can stand losing progress to their own mistakes. There is an easier setting with unlimited lives and a Nightmare setting with permadeath, and the map is rearranged each new game.

How to play Darkwood

1. Pick a difficulty: unlimited lives for the story, or Nightmare for permadeath.
2. Leave your hideout at dawn and search the woods for planks, nails, fuel and anything you can use or trade.
3. Use the workbench in your hideout to craft and upgrade weapons, traps and tools.
4. Head back before sunset, refuel the generator and barricade doors and windows.
5. Survive the night inside, then follow notes and talk to the people of the woods to find a way out.

Tips

• Watch the clock in the corner; being caught outside after dark is usually fatal.
• Keep fuel for the generator; a lit hideout is safer than a dark one.
• Block doors and windows with furniture and set traps where creatures come in.
• Do not waste durable weapons on fights you can walk away from.
• Read every note and listen to dialogue carefully; there are no markers to show you where to go.

Questions