For once, it is literally 1984.Karma: The Dark Worldgives youa rough awakening in the German Democratic Republic, but the similarities end there.
This isa masterpiece of arthouse cinematographic horror, thinly disguised as a game.Karma: The Dark Worldtries to do something daring and new, and it succeeds handsomely.
The early preview of the game is not perfect, and sometimes, it feels like the game design had to suffer so thatthe cinematic mastery could excel.
But, in the end, the compromises made for the sake of the atmosphere and story are worth it, with a result that leaves the player wanting more.
Corporate Karma
Pollard Studio announced Karma in 2021, withan enticingand confusing premise that takesthe player to 1984 East Germany. In real life, these years were the busiest for the Stasi, thesecret policewhose reach felt all-encompassing.
InKarma: The Dark World, you play Daniel McGovern,an unexplainably Anglo-Saxon roam agentworking for the all-encompassing Leviathan Corporation.
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As a Roam Agent with the Thought Bureau, your job is toconnect with the memories of others to pierce events togetherduring investigations. Before any of that, though, you go through a beautiful and grotesque introductory sequence.
Fast and Confused
This warrants a pause to point out perhaps the biggest problem with theKarma: The Dark Worldpreview: its pacing.
The game followsfrantic storytelling that is so rich in detail that it begs for a breather, butKarmanever gives it to you.
This might be earlier conditioning from playing other detective games, but the story leaves you wishing for a moment to contemplate before moving on to the next expertly craftedhorror scene.
The pace matches the story revealed in the preview, whereAgent McGovern is thrown into a job by a mysterious manmerely minutes after coming to with no idea of who or where he is.
Calibration Fascination
After waking up feeling like he spent the night out with friends and has no recollection of getting home, Daniel McGovern is shocked by the reanimated corpse appearance he now sports.
He has tubes pumping a dark liquid into his arm, open sores all over, and a decomposing blue tint to his skin.His eyes remain gorgeous and full of life, if panicked, which matches the feeling you get in the introduction.
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The most incredible feat of game design in theKarma: The Dark Worldpreview ishow smoothly the game takes you from section to section, including the normally boring tutorial and calibration sections.
You learn the basics of movement and interaction in the hospital roomwithout much hand-holding, letting you piece together elements of the world alone.
What follows is easilythe coolest calibration sequence in gaming, where McGovern sits through an intimidating row of Eastern Bloc office rooms to set up the controls, audio, and visuals before proceeding.
The audio calibration, for example, features a robotic voice named ‘MOTHER’ reading a grim story at a static but tense pace.
It was initially tempting to sit and listen to it to the end, butafter a minute, it began to feel terrifying, prompting a rush to the next section.
Confusing Ambiance
The world-building in Karma: The Dark World is perplexingin many ways.
The idea of a hyper-capitalist corporate Stasi that controls East Germany is fascinating on its own, butsome creative decisions hold back the mammoth effort to set the scene.
The view from the hospital room showsa stereotypical East German suburb, with white parked Ladas and red ones glitching through the streets. Trabants would have been more iconic, but that is nitpicking.
The details around the Leviathan offices havea distinct Eastern Bloc feeling, with motivational posters, art, and a vibe that makes you almost smell the cigarettes through the monitor.
After so much care, it is hard to understand why the creatorschosecharacters that do not feel particularly German.
Maybe the game later reveals some reason why “Daniel McGovern” or “Shawn” are names commonly found in the baby registries a few blocks away from Alexanderplatz in Berlin, butthe preview leaves you wondering.
Art for the Sake of Art
Director Yonghe Wong and the rest of the Pollard team eliminate these little inconsistencies by showingan artistic sense that is seldom seen in gamestoday.
The game runs well on maximum graphicssettings on an RTX 4060 card, but the quality of graphics is never the focus becauseKarmakeeps you thinking of the subject, not the polygons representing it.
After the debacle that was theUntil Dawnremaster, it was refreshing to see a game thatfocused not on how something should look but rather on how the player will perceive itwhile playing.
The art direction is so impressive that it could easily be in a top gallery instead of PC or consoles.
Karma: The Dark Worldis probably what would come out ofa collaboration between Andrei Tarkovsky and post-Konami Hideo Kojima.
Inconsistent Wobbles
When you take a break from contemplating the beauty or feeling frenzied about the story,Karmaleaves you hoping for some polishahead of the release.
Themovement and interactions are inconsistentfor the most part. Some sections leave you fully immersed while your character limpsaway from a monster, while others are awkward and stiff.
A prime example is the otherwise perfect calibration room sequence, where looking down showsawkward, stiff bare feet flapping in and out of view, only visible as Daniel moves forward.
For a game primarily played by observing and interacting with items,Karmarestricts your field of view in bizarre ways.
Standing around in a room,Daniel cannot look more than 45º down, which frustratingly often meant having to take a step back to grab something that is mere centimeters below the interactive crosshairs.
At the same time, the game allows you full 360º snappy movement while crawling through a vent that is barely large enough to crawl through.
Next on Next Fest
Karma: The Dark World will beavailable to play on the October Steam Next Festthat kicks off on the 14th.
The game is not quite ready for release yet, andthe developers are patiently developing itwithout setting a concrete release date.
With enough time and the same amount of love given to the preview, Pollard Studio can put out what has thepotential to be the best cinematic gameseen in years.
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