The story or narrative that surrounds In the Dark is not one that I expected. I mean it’s a puzzle game, how much of a story can there be right? Well to my surprise it’s a rather intricate and detailed one. So as the story goes, you play as Captain Ikalo Pann of the Star Leviathan. Answering a distress signal from a ship that is orbiting a nearby planet, and finding that there are no signs of life.
As the captain and crew board the ship, they come across a computer console that displays a series of puzzles. The puzzles must be completed before all of the ship’s systems fail and Ikalo and the crew perish.
As a puzzle game, In the Dark seems simple enough; a series of buttons are lit up on the console and you need to hit them in the correct order to put them out. As simple of a concept as it seems, there is a lot of challenge to it. When a puzzle presents itself, the buttons will randomly light up and then settle on a specific sequence. It will then give you a par for each puzzle, similar to a game of golf. The par on a puzzle is the number of moves it will take to complete the puzzle and get a perfect score.
For those who have played the game Lights Out or similar games, this game will feel very familiar to you. Lights light up on the board and you have to put them out in the correct order. Failure to do so will result in other buttons lighting up and taking more time to solve the puzzle.
If you complete a set of ten puzzles, it will unlock the next set of puzzles, with each puzzle and set getting much more challenging than the last. Once a puzzle is completed, you can choose to move on to the next puzzle, replay the puzzle in the event you want to try for that perfect score, play a random puzzle, go to the level select screen, or quit the game. Playing a random puzzle will give you a completely random puzzle to play with an unknown par.
By completing a set of puzzles and/or getting a set of puzzles on par, you can unlock color palettes. Unlocking color palettes will not only change the colors of the game, but in some cases will change the way the game looks. Play the game with a neon look, monochrome, or with a fantasy look. With twenty palettes to unlock, there are plenty of unique ways to play. It’s important to note, the palettes are only available to use if playing the game that supports playing GameBoy Color games.
Graphically, In the Dark is impressive for a puzzle game. The story is told using animated cut scenes and dialogue that are rather impressive for a game running on a Game Boy Color. Impressive not only in the way it’s presented but also for the fact that you would expect something like this from an adventure game or role-playing game, not a puzzle game. Menus take up a small amount of screen real estate and are to the point with options that are easy to read and understand. Whether playing the game with the standard green color or one of the amazing bright colors used in the color palettes, the colors in the game really stand out and make for a great experience. With regards to the performance, the game plays exactly as you would expect a game on the system to play if it was released during its life cycle. Menus are snappy, the animated cut scenes and screen transitions are fast and smooth and aren’t a hindrance to the gameplay or player at all. Control response is solid with no delays in the timing, falling right in line with the manipulation of the light puzzle manipulation.
The sound in the game is well…it’s sound. I completely understand there are limitations of the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, but the sound effects could have been better. So when you select menu items or are manipulating the lights of the puzzles, it sounds like you’re stuck in traffic or watching a nature documentary. It sounds like a bunch of cars honking at one another or a group of geese honking as they soar through the sky. I would have liked to see them use a less harsh-sounding effect for this. Maybe a higher-pitched one or a softer one instead of what ended up in the game. Now it’s possible that those were tried and they couldn’t get it to sound quite right, but I can’t imagine it sounding worse than what they went with.
The music in the game sounds very good in comparison. It sounds upbeat and fun, making you feel really excited to jump into this challenging puzzle game. The only downside to the music is that it’s not playing during the puzzle-solving. It’s only available in the main menu and the cut scenes. I would have liked to have it playing while puzzle solving and omit the random puzzle element if it would have taken a sacrifice to allow the music to play while solving puzzles.
So great choice with the music, totally opposite when it comes to the sound effects. Thankfully there are sound options to turn both the sound effects and music off and on. I might suggest either playing this game while listening to your favorite music instead of the sound effects and music offered in this game.
As of writing this review, the game is only available digitally through the game’s developer over on itch.io. The game was previously available digitally and physically through BitmapSoft but has been discontinued.
In the Dark is a fantastic puzzle game that takes a familiar logic puzzle game and offers a unique experience on the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. The game offers a staggering one hundred puzzles spanning ten sets with the option of playing randomly generated puzzles. That coupled with the unlockable palettes the game has a lot to offer. I would recommend picking this game up if you’re a fan of logic puzzles and looking for a challenging experience.
A review version was provided
In addition to writing articles, Ryan Byers also creates content for his YouTube channel called "Obscure Games and Consoles", collects video games, and dabbles in video game development.