Dark City: London – Review

4 Friends Games is slowly, but surely becoming one of our favorite HOPA developers. Dark City: London is this prolific developer’s latest project and it certainly does not disappoint. The game takes you back to Victorian era London, just before the unveiling of the Big Ben. However, the ceremony took a twisted turn when a headless ghost appeared and threatened to burn the city to the ground. Can you find out who is behind this evil plot and save London?

The premise of Dark City: London might not sound very exciting, but the delivery definitely is. The game takes you inside the mind of the great detective – from collecting clues and interrogating suspects to deducting hypotheses on the evidence board – everything is done hands-on through clever interactions. The storyline develops at such an excellent pace that leaves room for tension, while not being stale. Never before have we been this engaged in a detective casual game.

As mentioned, Dark City: London takes detective gameplay to a whole new level. This is also done through the game’s innovative gameplay that perfectly combines challenge and creativity. Every single action, every hidden object scene, and every puzzle are there for a purpose, which is to advance the storyline, and not just to prolong the length of the game. The hidden object scenes are extremely well-utilized, all of which are multi-layered and entertaining. The puzzles could have been more complex, but we do appreciate the new concepts and twists.

Moreover, Dark City: London excels in the production department. All the scenes are beautifully drawn and wonderfully rendered, the animated cutscenes are impressively high-budget, and even those pen-and-ink style cutscenes are sophisticate. Audio wise, the exceptional soundtracks add to the suspense of the game, while the voice-overs are top-notch and breathe life into the characters.

For us, Dark City: London came in at around the four hour mark, and the equally-enjoyable bonus chapter took around one hour to complete. Other features in the Collector’s Edition include a strategy guide, concept art, wallpapers, screensavers, soundtracks, videos, replayable hidden object scenes, replayable mini-games, collectibles, achievements, and morphing objects.

We can’t wait to see what 4 Friends Games has in their pipeline for us next, but if it’s remotely as brilliant as Dark City: London, we know that it’s going to be an instant purchase.