The Darkest Woods

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Wake up in the woods with an empty bag, one bullet and something watching.

Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux
Stores: Steam
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (80% of 51 reviews); 85% from 48 ratings on Game Jolt
Players: 1
Controls: Mouse only: click choices, objects and your bag.
Made by: Team Support (Vasily Laschuk and Ameline Reed, known as Martadello)
Released: 2015

Get it on Steam Game Jolt (original 2015 free version)

What frightens You wake among dark trees with a headache and an empty bag, and find your way to an abandoned hotel where supernatural things wait; the grim black-and-white scenes hide grinning faces, bodies tied to trees and a pale woman in a shed, with jump scares, sudden noises and death at any moment.
Content: jumpscares, loud sounds, death, dead bodies.

The Darkest Woods is a point-and-click horror quest in the style of old Flash horror games. You wake in a dark forest with an empty bag, find your way to an abandoned hotel and try to survive what lives there, choosing actions from text, using items and saving often, since death can come at any moment.

About The Darkest Woods

The Darkest Woods was made by Vasily Laschuk, who programmed it, and Ameline Reed, known as Martadello, who made its graphics, music and voices. They sign their work as Team Support. It came out free on Game Jolt in 2015 for Windows, Mac and Linux, and in June 2018 the team released it on Steam, where it lists English, French, German and Russian (the Game Jolt version is English and Russian).

You wake up among the trees. Your head hurts, it is cold, and the bag beside you is empty. Adventure Gamers sums up what follows: lost and hurt in the woods, you are beset by supernatural creatures and find your way to an abandoned hotel in the middle of the woods. Every scene is a grainy black-and-white image built from photographs, so a grinning face in a top hat, a body roped to a tree or a pale woman beside a crying pram look all the more wrong.

You play with the mouse. Most actions are text choices, and you also pick up objects, look closely at things and use what is in your bag, sometimes in a hurry. The store gives fair warning: one bullet can save you or trap you, your actions can lead to a dead end, and there is no autosave, so you save yourself.

The makers say they wanted to bring back the horror Flash games and early quests they remembered, a story you feel without expensive graphics. Jay is Games found it a throwback to games like Scare Dare and The House, full of jump scares, unsettling noises and a cryptic story told slowly, and good at keeping you uneasy with movement at the corner of your eye. A sequel, The Darkest Woods 2, followed later in 2018.

It suits players who remember Flash horror like Exmortis and want something short of a modern horror game in budget and length, but not in nerves.

How to play The Darkest Woods

Buy The Darkest Woods on Steam for Windows, Mac or Linux, or download the original free version from Game Jolt.
Read the narration at the bottom of each scene and click a choice to act.
Click objects in the scene to look at them or put them in your bag.
Open the bag to use items, sometimes quickly when something happens.
Save often from the menu; there is no autosave.

Screenshots

A grinning man in a top hat with one wide eye looms in a black-and-white forest, a small doll sitting on a bench behind him

A pale thin woman stands in the corner of a wooden shed beside an old pram, with narration that crying comes from it

A body roped to a tree beside a brick wall in a dark forest, with the narration The body smells rotten

A dim room lit by a flashlight with writing scrawled over the wall above a stained bed and a small box

An old framed portrait of a man in a cravat whose face is a rotting, grinning skull

The Darkest Woods Steam art: a shadowy figure with glowing eyes over a dark house in the woods

Tips

Think before you fire: the store warns that your one bullet can save you or trap you.
Keep several saves, since a single action can leave you at a dead end.
Keep the bag open so your items are one click away when you need them fast.
If the story confuses you, the store hints that the answer may be in a chest.
Do not be afraid to start over; the store says so too.

Questions

Is The Darkest Woods free?

The Steam version is paid. The original 2015 release is still offered free on Game Jolt by its makers.

Who made The Darkest Woods?

Vasily Laschuk did the programming and Ameline Reed (Martadello) the graphics, music and voices, as the Game Jolt page credits them. They sign as Team Support, listed on Steam as teamsupport.

Does The Darkest Woods autosave?

No. The store reminds you there is no autosave, so save often yourself.

Is there a sequel?

Yes, The Darkest Woods 2, set in an old, empty psychiatric hospital ward, came out on Steam on 16 November 2018.