Dark City: Budapest – Review

A stranger’s request brings you to the capital of Hungary to investigate a series of nightmarish attacks. You are then joined by Agatha, a curious partner who provides you with necessary local insights. Are these attacks instigated by a vengeful vampire or do lead to something much more sinister? Find out in Dark City: Budapest.

The talented folks at Friendly Fox are best known for their fantasy extravaganzas, from the enchanting Living Legends series to the imaginative Bridge to Another World games. However, for the past four Dark City gams, the studio has proven to us that they are equally adept at handling darker subject matters in these intriguing, investigative adventures. In Dark City: Budapest, you get to roam the haunting and beautiful streets and alleys of Budapest, propelled by a suspenseful storyline and a set of well-developed characters.

Dark City: Budapest clearly tries to avoid the pitfalls of a cookie-cutter hidden object game, to debatable success. On one hand, the hidden object scenes and the puzzles are quite creative and cleverly integrated into the storyline. The evidence board is also a nice addition and smartly utilized, as far as HOPA gadgets go. On the other hand, for veteran HOPA players, there is minimal challenge offered as well as nothing truly outstanding that is novel for the genre.

Whether you enjoy the gameplay or not, there is no denying the beauty of Dark City: Budapest. Every scene precisely and sophisticatedly crafted that the city of Budapest feels like another character in the game. This level of attention to detail is also carried over to other production aspects, such as cutscenes, soundtracks, and voice-overs.

Dark City: Budapest has a decent length of roughy three and a half hours, plus an additional hour from the bonus chapter. The Collector’s Edition packs all the standard extras, including a strategy guide, wallpapers, screensavers, concept art, soundtracks, videos, replayable hidden object scenes, replayable mini-games, collectibles, achievements, and morphing objects.

Dark City: Budapest’s power lies in its stunning visuals and an intriguing storyline, even if its gameplay is rather mundane.