Dark Fall: Lost Souls

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 December 2009, with a wider release in April 2010. Darkling Room now sells it on Steam and GOG itself. 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.

You're never quite alone. Texts from someone called Echo turn up on the phone with warnings, and Amy's own voice asks if you're still looking for her. The ragged vagabond Mr. Bones, the man suspected of taking her, hangs over the whole case. Puzzles run from piecing torn posters back together to fitting fuses so a dark room lights up. Some of them can kill you if you get them wrong, but the game puts you straight back to try again. The store page also promises a Ouija board and twisted party games like Blind Man's Buff and Statues.

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

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

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.
• If a puzzle kills you, don't panic: the game sends you back to the start of it for another try.

Questions