Karma Chameleons
Creepy dystopian bureaucracies. How we love them! Despite now forming 80% of the current news from the USA, they continue to be the stuff of narrative gold. Severance, Marvel’s Loki show, Control and more find so much to discuss by combining the wild inventiveness of sci-fi with the humdrum world of filing cabinets and analogue computers. Karma: The Dark World understands its assignment perfectly. Despite sharing a subtitle with one of the most unpopular MCU films, Karma: The Dark World is undeniably a singular vision.
A first-person psychological mystery with cinematic presentation, Karma: The Dark World is set in Berlin in 1984 in the midst of the Cold War. As on the nose, as that year may be, the game is filled with literary and pop-culture allusions, from literal quotes to visual parallels. Playing as Daniel, an agent of the Leviathan Corporation’s Thought Bureau, players are thrust into solving mysteries for their mysterious employers whilst falling into a spiral of madness. Exploring beautifully rendered environments to find clues to help solve light logic puzzles, the core gameplay loop is a simple but effective way to utilise the excellent setting and visual design of the world.
Fire Walk With Me
From the retrofuturistic old-school computer monitors (think Alien) to the pneumatic tubes used to deliver messages, the world here is incredibly tangible. However, it’s when they release their grip on this reality that things becomes even more interesting. An early investigation goes off the rails when a ghostly vision of the perp leads you into a living nightmare. Quoting the infamous dream imagery of Twin Peaks with its red curtains and chevron flooring, this is an introduction to the very effective and occasionally terrifying horror sequences of the game. However, while its visual touchstones are brilliantly realised, it’s hard not to wish that there was more original imagery here as you can catch yourself more impressed with the homage.
Voice acting is a mixed bag with performances ranging from good to fine, a rare blot on the impeccable presentation. The other audio is terrific at least, it’s definitely a title worth playing with great headphones for full immersion. It’s not a long game but it makes for an entertaining horror rollercoaster with a few tricky side-puzzles that are worth returning for.
We live in a world where real horrors occur daily, where conspiracy and madness have become a reality for many, nations locked into new Cold Wars in everything but name. Karma: The Dark World may not be the escapism you’re looking for, nor the most original horror title of recent memory but it’s a gorgeously realised adventure regardless. Put your headphones on, flick off the light switch and enjoy a rare joy: a nightmare where you retain some semblance of control.
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