Dark Scavenger (2014)

(2,5 stars)

Dark Scavenger is a weird little game in which you play through text adventures and JRPG-style battles. It has its own unusual style and setting, with all kinds of alien creatures and weird items. While i really liked it at first it gets progressively more annoying to find the right type of item (size/kind/type) in your inventory. Some symbols or colour-coding would've helped a lot. The balance is also rather wonky, i would've liked a more forgiving difficulty setting. It also just a tad too random for my taste. Still, its originality is to be praised. I can't think of any other game where your weapon deals more damage to people with their mouth wide open or people standing on one leg.

I bought this game on a whim for $1 or something, on steam.

What can I say about this game. It's certainly very unique, it's a little gem. The game is very simple, but it has a lot of heart. Basically you play the role of a "Dark Scavenger", one who travels the universe collecting junk and "crafting" it into useful items, with the help of your 3 buddies. The story is that your spaceship it out of fuel, and thus you land on this bizarre planet in the hopes of finding something to fuel your ship. Disaster soon follows as you become embroiled in the politics and battles on the surface.

Basically you wander around this planet fighting baddies. As you go through, you pick up a variety of junk. Each piece can be converted into a Weapon, Item or Ally. Your strange companions give you a variety of cryptic clues as to what item you may get, but you won't really find out until you craft the piece.

The interface is very simple, and it's almost more like an interactive story than a game. The game is very forgiving and it's not particularly difficult, the only time you'll die is if you accidentally forget to drink your health potion.

The highlight of this game is really its style. Firstly the art style is really cool and unique, the monsters and aliens and stuff are all hand-drawn and weird, very reminiscent of Gazillionaire Deluxe. The narrative and events of the game are absurd and comical and similar to the writings of Douglas Adams. There's a bunch of memorable characters and by the end I had a real attachment to many of them. By the end of the game you have a huge collection of all the junk you've crafted throughout your journey; many cool items and some items are completely worthless. The game definitely has huge replayability.. what would have happened if I'd turned that Mysterious Jar of Radioactive Worms into a weapon instead of an item? Would it have become some sort of kooky crossbow? It's also worth mentioning that there's a couple branching paths and alternate outcomes that draw the player back for more replay value.

Ultimately it's a cute little game (I completed it in about 6 hours) and it's very much a casual experience. Definitely worth a look if it sounds appealing to you.