DARQ

DARQ's impeccably precise art direction is sheer delight. Models, animations, color schemes, and lighting all perfectly capture the hazy physical world of walking dreams. Equally delightful are the twist-able world and wall-walking mechanics. There were many moments in which I stared in awe at the transformation happening on the screen.

The gameplay is less exciting. Puzzle games stand on the quality of their puzzles, and in this case they are ... just OK. Some are trivial, a few are poorly indicated, and far too many involve lots of backtracking. The worst offenders are the time-trial puzzles, which involve you dying, the game reloading, and then you repeat that cycle again a few more times. Does anybody enjoy these exercises in frustration?

Note that this is a relatively short game, even with the free DLC that adds two extra levels. Honestly, they could have been fully integrated into the game. I guess the game was just released before these levels were completed.

Another more petty criticism is the utter lack of narrative. It makes the ending feel not like closure but just an arbitrary stop.