This review originally
appeared on Adventure
Lantern. Our sincere thanks to Ugur Sener for allowing Just Adventure
to share his review with our readers.

Howard
Loreid wakes up to find himself in a small cottage. He has no recollection
of leaving the mental institution or arriving at this place. He looks
around the room in a daze, trying to piece together what might have
happened. Are the cottage and the bed he is lying in real or is this
yet another lucid dream? A letter on the bedside table only raises
more questions. Apparently, Howard has been brought here for his own
protection. Who is seeking to harm him? Why is he in danger? The letter
asks Howard to take a train to the town of Arkhamend. Perhaps there
he will finally find some answers. Perhaps the gloomy town will finally
provide an ending to his relentless nightmare.

Developed by Zoetrope Interactive,
The Dark Lineage is the second and final chapter in the Darkness
Within series. Starting out as a deceptively simple police investigation,
the first game had explored detective Howard Loreid’s encounter with
the supernatural and struggle to cling to his sanity. The second installment
focuses on the detective’s ancestry. In a town plagued by bizarre
experiments and unholy rituals, Howard tries to stay alive and discover
the truth about his family. With its interesting storyline and innovative
3D engine, The Dark Lineage starts out as a promising game. Unfortunately,
a series of problems ultimately keep the game from reaching its full
potential.

Like
the original game, Darkness Within 2 is inspired by the work of H.
P. Lovecraft. Themes of insanity, hidden knowledge, and unknowable
terrors appear throughout the adventure. The decrepit buildings you
explore, the strange contraptions you have to operate, and the ominous
sounds ever present in the background feel very appropriate. The locations
are rendered with great attention to detail. The game makes good use
of lighting and shadow effects to create a gloomy atmosphere.

Unfortunately, it would
be a stretch to call The Dark Lineage a horror adventure. There is
certainly a depressing and mysterious tone about each environment
you explore. However, Darkness Within 2 lacks the tension and the
sense of danger that was conveyed very effectively in the first chapter.
Whether you were wondering what monstrosity could be found at the
bottom of a well or trying to wake up from a hellish nightmare, the
original game could create and sustain a feeling of suspense. The
Dark Lineage does have a compelling mystery that should keep players
interested, but it lacks the original game’s scariness. Part of the
problem is that Darkness Within 2 creates a lesser feeling of isolation.
During the majority of the first game, Howard was alone. This sense
of seclusion greatly augmented the atmosphere. After all, there is
something spooky about entering a house all by yourself after you
have just read a journal entry about all the dark and mysterious things
that took place in the building. In the second game, Howard has more
opportunities to talk to other characters. While this may be appropriate
given the game’s story, it does take away from the atmosphere. The
eeriness gets significantly diminished when you enter an abandoned
building immediately after talking to a friendly innkeeper.

A
second issue is with the animations. At several key points in the
game, you will be presented with images that are clearly intended
to be scary. Yet the graphics seem to fall short during these moments.
The animations that are supposed to be frightening look a little too
cartoon-like to be anything but mildly startling. Howard’s heavy breathing
and exclamations are not a substitute for inadequate imagery. It is
a shame that these few animations don’t deliver in a game that otherwise
boasts beautiful graphics. While continuing the storyline from the
previous game, Darkness Within 2 introduces several new features.
The most prominent change is the new 3D engine. The original Darkness
Within was a point-and- click adventure game played from a first-person
perspective. Moving the mouse changed the direction Howard was facing.
It was not possible to move freely through the environment. Instead,
the locations were divided into nodes. Players navigated between the
nodes using the mouse and interacted with various objects. This system
has been discarded in Darkness Within 2.

The
3D engine used in The Dark Linage gives players significantly greater
freedom of movement. The WASD keys are used to walk around the environment.
Howard can jump over obstacles and crouch to take a closer look at
objects on the ground. The left mouse button is used to interact with
objects. Howard can open doors, pick up inventory items, or use various
devices. In addition, several larger objects can be pushed or pulled.
For instance, Howard can pull a chair to access drawers or push away
a cabinet that is blocking his way.

At the surface, the features
of the 3D engine help enhance the gameplay experience. It is initially
entertaining to have the opportunity to truly look at every nook and
cranny of a room. The idea of moving larger objects to reveal clues
is interesting. However, the actual implementation in The Dark Lineage
leaves something to be desired. Sure, many rooms contain pieces of
furniture you can push or pull. Unfortunately, you rarely gain anything
from your redecoration efforts. Moving furniture does not necessarily
help you solve puzzles or spot inventory items. Similarly, crouching
down to see the floor or jumping on top of things to investigate higher
surfaces is usually fruitless. Of course, since the occasional puzzle
does require you to find a small hotspot on the floor or move an object
out of the way, there is an obligation to perform these actions in
every room. In the end, what should have been great features lead
to unnecessary tedium.

Despite
the significant changes in the interface, Darkness Within 2 does retain
some features from its predecessor. For instance, the inventory system
will be familiar to those who played the original game. The inventory
is accessed with the right mouse button. Items are displayed in boxes
along the top portion of the screen. Arrow buttons are available to
scroll to the left and right. The ‘magnifying glass’ icon can be used
to bring certain items up for a closer view. The ‘brain’ icon is used
to review important clues and combine inventory items. As players
proceed through the game, ‘thoughts’ will get added to Howard’s inventory.
These ‘thoughts’ may come from discovering important items or reading
key documents. The inventory screen can be used to combine these ‘thoughts’,
allowing Howard to make deductions about his investigation.

The idea inventory is
another feature of The Dark Lineage that could have been better implemented.
Maintaining short summaries of all the important clues is certainly
helpful. If you step away from the game for a while, these notes can
provide quick reminders as to what you were doing and help you avoid
backtracking. The thought combinations on the other hand do not work
quite as well. The majority of the combinations you attempt are not
accepted. You may think of ways two clues are connected, but chances
are Howard will disagree. By the time you visit a few locations and
accumulate a significant number of clues, trying to join items from
your thought inventory becomes little more than a pointless exercise.

In
addition to the inventory screen, Darkness Within 2 features research
puzzles that are similar to the ones found in the previous game. These
puzzles allow players to underline full sentences or phrases in documents.
If the underlined portion is relevant to Howard’s investigation, a
new clue gets added to the thought inventory. If you don’t want to
bother hunting down the important lines, the game also features an
option to automatically search documents for clues. However, there
are a few hidden clues that can only be found if you take the time
to conduct the research manually. These puzzles are great at helping
players focus on critical portions of documents. They force you to
catch the important details that might otherwise get overlooked.

Another player-friendly
feature of Darkness Within 2 is the hint system. At the beginning
of the game, players are given the option to choose one of three difficulty
settings. In the ‘standard’ mode, hints are offered as soon as they
become available. Players also have access to the automatic research
button. In the ‘detective’ mode, hints are only offered if the player
has been stuck for a while and manual research is required. The hardest
setting is called ‘senior detective’, where no hints are available.
In the ‘senior detective’ mode, the game also hides the counter that
indicates how many clues are available in a given document. After
making their initial selection, players have the option to make adjustments
during the game. The options menu allows players to change how hints
are delivered and whether or not automatic research should be available.

The
availability of three difficulty settings and the customization options
are certainly a nice touch. However, it is worth noting that the hints
you receive may not be particularly useful. While The Dark Lineage
is not overly difficult, the game does have a couple of fairly obscure
puzzles. You’ll need to read a few documents, find the right inventory
items, and rely on your deductive reasoning skills to get past many
of the challenges. A few more direct hints could have alleviated some
potential player frustration. Darkness Within 2 is a rather short
game for a commercial release. My first playthrough took a little
less than seven and a half hours. The game does include a number of
secrets and Easter eggs, which may provide some replay value if you
miss some of them during your first attempt. You can find these by
solving extra puzzles that are not essential to the story. A scorecard
presented at the end of the game tells you how many of the secrets
you were able to find. It is worth mentioning that the game has more
than one ending as well. Nevertheless, no amount of extra content
is replacement for a richer storyline with more locations to explore,
characters to meet, and puzzles that matter to the plot.

The conclusion of Howard’s
adventure is particularly disappointing. Sure, the central storyline
gets resolved and you will have an idea about what happens to the
main characters. The developments in Darkness Within 2 also explain
the conclusion of the first game. But The Dark Lineage does not provide
answers for a number of questions raised during the course of the
adventure. Granted, there isn’t anything wrong with a vague ending
that leaves a few things to interpretation. Every single question
does not need to be answered with immaculate detail. Yet when the
box itself says this will be the final installment in the series,
it seems reasonable to expect a more satisfying conclusion.

Overall,
Darkness Within 2: The Dark Lineage feels like a missed opportunity.
Here is a game that has all the elements that could make a great adventure.
There is an interesting mystery surrounding Howard and his family.
The gloomy town with its dark history makes an enticing place to explore.
The graphics are excellent and the interface has promising features.
A couple of devious puzzles show the Zoetrope team knows how to provide
a challenge. The hint system and the ability to customize difficulty
options are great ways to make the game accessible to newer players.
Unfortunately, despite all the positives, a number of issues significantly
detract from the overall experience. The game ends too soon with too
many questions left unanswered. The thought inventory and the ability
to move larger objects turn into chores rather than adding depth to
the game. It might explore some dark themes, but what is supposed
to be a horror adventure fails to be scary. The Dark Lineage could
have been a truly great adventure. It is still worth considering if
you think you can overlook its issues. However, it might be best suited
for those who enjoyed the original game and would like to see the
conclusion to Howard’s story.

System Requirements:

• Windows® 2000/XP/Vista/7
• 1.5GHz Intel® Pentium®
  or equivalent
• 512 MB RAM (1GB for
  Vista)
• 256MB DirectX® 9.0c
  compatible video card
• 4X speed PC-DVD-ROM
• 3 GB HD space
• DirectX® 9.0c compatible
  sound card