Darkwood does not want you to feel safe. Acid Wizard Studio’s survival horror drops you into a forest that has swallowed the land and everyone in it, and it never hands you an answer for free. It scores 8 of 10.
Trailer, via Hooded Horse.
A Forest That Swallows the Soviet Bloc
Darkwood is set somewhere in Poland in the late 1980s. A mysterious forest has engulfed a large amount of land and keeps expanding. A strange plague is ravaging the survivors, killing victims and twisting many into monsters and abominations.
A group called “The Outsiders” — mostly government officials and soldiers — was sent to investigate the woods. They set up hideouts and a tunnel system to get in and out. By the time the game takes place, most of them are dead or evacuated.
The Stranger and the Stolen Key
The prologue puts you in control of an apparent doctor, disillusioned with helping locals and hellbent on escaping the forest. After that, you play as “The Stranger,” a man hunting the stolen key that leads through an underground passageway out.
The cast around him is small and strange: a trader who helps in the prologue, a half-man half-wolf hybrid called “The Wolfman,” a drunk cyclist known as the “Bike Man,” and Piotrek, who is mesmerised by space travel and Yuri Gagarin, and wishes to build a rocket.
Day Is for Scavenging, Night Is for Surviving
Darkwood is played from a top down perspective in a semi-open world. You unlock new areas as the storyline progresses. By day you scavenge supplies, repair doors and barricades, craft items and upgrades at the workbench, and trade or fight with the forest’s inhabitants.
By night you cannot leave the hideout. You lay traps, barricade doors and windows, and defend against intruders until morning. Survive and you gain reputation with the trader. Die during the night and you wake the next morning without receiving any reputation.
Hallucinogens at the Stove
The skill system runs on hallucinogens you “cook” at your stove. Every beneficial skill you choose requires a detrimental skill to also be chosen. The forced bargain is a clean statement of the game’s survival-horror design.
Death carries its own prices. Die while scavenging and you lose half your inventory, marked on the map for later collection. Higher difficulties add lost lives or permanent death.
Branches That Change the Ending
The storyline is shaped by how you react to the requests and actions of NPCs. Aiding different ones leads to different endings, and sometimes influences sub-plots relating to other NPCs. There is no single correct run.
Darkwood released through Steam Early Access on July 24, 2014, and became a full game on August 17, 2017 for Linux, macOS and Windows. Crunching Koalas ported it to consoles.
| Release | Platform |
|---|---|
| August 17, 2017 | Linux, macOS, Windows |
| May 2019 | PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One |
| September 17, 2021 | Google Stadia |
| October 28, 2022 | PlayStation 5 |
| December 23, 2022 | Xbox Series X/S |
A Sequel From Ice-Pick Lodge
In 2025, Hooded Horse acquired the publishing rights for the PC version. A sequel, Darkwood 2, is being developed by Ice-Pick Lodge and published by Hooded Horse under supervision by the original Acid Wizard Studio developers.
The Verdict on Darkwood
Darkwood’s fear of the unknown is its engine. The procedurally generated woods and the surreal terrors that deceive your senses mean the game refuses to explain itself. That refusal is the point, and it is also the risk: players who want a clear thread may stall.
What holds is the day-night loop and the skill trade-off. The forced bargain — one good skill, one bad — is the game’s strongest idea.
The console ports run from 2019 through 2022. That is noise. The PC release and the sequel are the story worth watching.
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