The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark

As someone that just got the first game because of the sale, this is an easy recommendation. There are some things better and a few worse but if you enjoyed the prequel you probably already know whether you'll be getting this. A major improvement is length, cases are longer. Total playtime is around twice as long, around 7 hours and thats /before/ the 7th case has been added. That means each case is roughly twice as long, with more puzzles, screens and items to interact with. But it should be said that means this is a more complex game and players that enjoyed the simplicity of the first game may prefer the prequel. Perhaps its a bit nitpicky but the biggest problem I have is the writing. This is subjective but I've never been one to enjoy meta-callouts and unless I'm mistaken, there was none of that in the first game. So its mostly more of the same and besides it being a tad meta in places I don't have many gripes with it. There were a few times where a puzzle or a clickable were less intuitive than I would have liked but thats par for the course with P&C games. Spooky P&C are my weakness but they are few and far between making this an easy 5/5 in my opinion.

Do you get new adventures of Detective McQueen and Officer Dooley in the slightly cursed city of Twin Lakes? Yes. But you get more than just that. - Cameos of beloved characters from the original Darkside Detective! - Scary clowns! - Real Irish mythology!* *Not exactly real. - A real butler!* *Very real. - Puzzles that, while being ridiculous, actually do make sense when you think about it! - Funny things that make you laugh! - Me, Rick Brickman! I, Rick Brickman, recommend that you play this game, Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark, starring me, Rick Brickman! And also McQueen and Dooley.

The Darkside Detective 2 continues where The Darkside Detective 1 left off, and you are strongly advised to play the first part before playing this one, or you might feel a bit lost in the story. The second installation of this game is exactly the same as the first part, just more of it: The cases are a bit longer, but still as easy and as punny, and the minigames are so trivial and short that they could have just as well been left out. If you enjoyed the first part and don't mind playing more of exactly the same, this game is for you. if you expected the series to evolve... you will be disappointed. I'm a bit torn because clearly it's not worse than the first part, but it also fails to improve on it, and I think there were many small things that could have been improved.

A continuation of the first one, which plays and looks the same. If you are new to the series, play the original first -then you'll enjoy this one a lot more. Cases are longer, 30-60 minutes, still featuring the same goofy X-Files vibe with pixel art, and logical puzzles. Characters and events from the previous game are featured prominently. I have finished 3 of the 6 available cases, and I think they are as good as the original's (except that game's last case, which was so weak I forgot about its ending, which happened to be this game's starting point). The first case is OK, although the ending, an elimination process that should have been straightforward, was made impossible due to awful UI and depending too much on secondary information, some of which might be only available to players which still had the first game fresh on their minds; they included it only for story purposes, and it sort of works in that way, but it ruined the first case for me -just read a walkthrough when you reach it. The second case was better, and the third was AWESOME! Technical note: while on a break during the second case, the game patched itself. Some time later, I restarted playing -since I had just accomplished something when I stopped playing, it was only when I resorted to reading a walkthrough that I realized all the items in my inventory were gone, but my progress remained, forcing me to restart the case. No biggie, but these things shouldn't happen. This game is for people who just want to have fun with a wacky story and characters while solving approachable puzzles and playing simple minigames. Despite some small flaws (and the occasional blunder like the first case's ending and patch troubles) it succeeds, and the awesome third case makes it a 4-star. I have yet to play the other three cases, but I'm already a satisfied customer.