Game: More Dark
Genre: Action, Puzzle, Arcade, Platformer
System: Nintendo Switch (also on PS4, Xbox One PC)
Developer|Publisher: HugePixel | Ratalaika Games
Age Rating: EU 16+ | US Teen
Price: UK £4.99 | EU€ 4,99| US $4.99
Release Date: November 27th, 2020
Review code provided with many thanks to Ratalaika Games
Hell is out of Control
More Dark is a humorous take on the underworld with cute retro pixel graphics. The Lord of the Underworld has gone on holiday leaving his daughter Evilina in change. Unfortunately, prisoners of the underworld have escaped and need recapturing. Of course, Evilina doesn’t solve this herself and instead gets her little hell goblins to do the work instead. It’s a silly premise but does the job.
Fire and Puzzles
You enter single-screen levels with the goal to take out all the prisoners on-screen by jumping on their head. There is usually some mild puzzle-solving like pushing blocks and using one of three abilities you unlock to tackle each challenge. Once complete you then need to reach the exit in one piece.
You do need to make sure you think solutions through. Often it is easy to take out the prisoners on screen but if you don’t plan your escape in advance you may find yourself just sitting in a room until you decide to just kill yourself with the ‘x’ button to restart. If you get hit once, you explode in a red pixel explosion, which I would say is funnier than gory.
The game will also mock your failure by keeping track of your failure count in the top left of the screen. There is no loading and you can restart levels instantly making this game feel not as hellish as it appears.
Arcade Moments
The puzzle levels take up the meat of the experience but after 14 levels you hit a boss room which usually plays out like a mini arcade game inspired by classics like Breakout and Space Invaders. These little mini-games were a fun deviation from the puzzles it is just a shame there are so few of them. The puzzle levels are fairly straight forward to solve. I only really hit a brick wall towards the end of the game where I needed to walk away to think things through.
Hell Hath No Fury
More Dark has simple retro graphics and sounds that tread familiar territory. The background music tries to create the dark and creepy atmosphere off hell but it comes across as quite forgettable. It’s another game I’ve come to define as a coffee game: a short simple experience you can probably finish in a few gaming sessions with a good drink but you’re unlikely to come back to it once the experience has concluded.
Conclusion
More Dark may be based in hell but this experience ends up being a simple puzzle game that will keep you busy for a few gaming sessions before moving on to something else.
Short and sweet with a few arcade games to break up the puzzles. A decent coffee game at a cheap price.
Final Verdict: I Like It