You awaken in a hospital room plugged into strange machines with no memory of who you are and looking like death warmed over. Most of us would find this situation terrifying, no? That’s why it makes the perfect intro to the demo for surrealist psychological thriller Karma: The Dark World from Pollard Studio.
From the strange hotel room we wake up in we move into a strange facility to undergo “calibration”, and right here I’d like to give kudos to the devs for having diegetic system setting calibration. I’m a sucker for that kind of thing and it does a good job of setting the mind-bending tone I think the devs were looking for. Everything about the world in the first segment feels… Wrong. From the potted plant people to the mysterious old man who gives us an Inception-style kick into the next segment, everything feels finely tuned to set the player on edge and create questions.
After a quick stop in a sunken place surrounded by glowing pillars that feels at home in a Lovecraft novel, we quantum leap into the mind of an office worker named Shawn. And before you ask, no, this part’s not about dealing with the trauma left by the Origami Killer. Instead we find ourselves being chased by a tall humanoid creature with undoubtedly ill intent through an office building that becomes progressively more deranged as we flee further down the rabbit hole. Each chase sequence is bookended by areas where we get tidbits of lore about the world and the sinister Leviathan Corporation, including a brief stint in the real world where we learn that our main character David is an agent of the Thought Bureau, a name that betrays it’s Orwellian nature.
The segment that stuck with me the most is one where we’re forced to repeatedly stamp pages while company policies play on a giant screen, advertising the latest and greatest ways Leviathan Corporation is taking away the humanity and rights of its workforce. As a factory worker myself I can say this part was, as the kids say, “legit me for real, fam”.
Overall, this demo left me with a thirst to see more of what Karma: The Dark World has to offer. The abstract visuals combined with the psychological thriller elements promises to create a unique experience that can only come from developers with an undoubtedly unique vision.
Check out the game’s Steam page here.
Disclaimer: This review is based off the build released for Steam Next Fest and is not based on a final product.