When the Darkness comes

About

When the Darkness Comes is a short but intense adventure game that drops you into a shifting, glitchy digital realm filled with abstract environments. Over about an hour, you move through surreal spaces that blend dreamlike visuals with unsettling themes. A narrator starts things off with dry humor but the tone quickly darkens as you explore places like broken factories, underwater ruins, and floating crystal forests. The gameplay is minimal, focusing on wandering and reacting to the environment rather than solving puzzles or fighting enemies. The contrast between whimsical visuals and the game’s bleak undertones is striking. Its use of distorted landscapes and abrupt tonal shifts creates a memorable, if brief, experience. While not action-packed, it leans into atmosphere and pacing to unsettle players. Some find the abstract approach confusing, but fans of experimental narratives praise its bold direction. The short runtime means it’s over quickly but the strange imagery sticks around.

Storyline

Taking around an hour on the first play-through, "When The Darkness Comes" feels like you’re wandering around a glitchy hard drive full of abstract dreams and beautiful nightmares. The narrator initially makes it feel like a comedic game, but it soon starts to take a darker tone as you travel down the bizarre broken rabbit hole that explores the darkest themes of the human mind. From a Factory to underwater, from a crystal forest to an Angel sanctuary, or from a dark metro to a white desert, When the Darkness comes offers a multitude of digital landscapes that will activate your senses and imagination.