Review pixelcrypt 2/5 · Mar 27, 2026
Sigh… wasted potential
If you had asked me what I thought of Darkarta around the 3 hour mark, I would’ve said it’s one of the greatest HOPA’s I’ve ever played. But then… it lost everything that made it great.
This is one of the highest reviewed games on Big Fish, and for some good reasons. The puzzles in the beginning were outstanding, every …
If you had asked me what I thought of Darkarta around the 3 hour mark, I would’ve said it’s one of the greatest HOPA’s I’ve ever played. But then… it lost everything that made it great.
This is one of the highest reviewed games on Big Fish, and for some good reasons. The puzzles in the beginning were outstanding, every single one was unique, the perfect level of challenge, original, and just so fun to solve. It also had a perfect amount of backtracking and complexity, as well as a refined and painterly art style - everything I look for in the genre.
And then… seemingly another dev team took over. The last half of the game is just so rushed, with boring and monotonous puzzles, an extremely linear flow, and the corniness of the story really takes center stage.
I wish I could recommend it, and I would do so if you just want 3 hours of amazing HOPA gameplay. But as a complete game? No, skip it