There are scenarios in video games that have gotten so much attention over the years that they’ve practically become genres unto themselves. Indeed, it’s safe to say that most gaming fans out there have tried at least onezombie,pirate, space ormodern military gameat some point in their career. Heck, some have probably gotten wholly sick of one or more of these.
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Then there are the niche titles, those that dive into situations or subjects players hardly ever see. Paintbucket Games' The Darkest Files is one of these, casting players as a prosecutor in post-WWII Germany tasked with digging into cold cases from the Nazi era. It’s finally got a release date too; those interested will be able to pick it up on PC on March 25.
Unlike, say,the Ace Attorney series,The Darkest Files appears to be taking a much more serious and in-depth track with its subject matter. The stories players will follow and the cases they’ll investigate are, apparently, based on real events. It’s still unclear just how closely the game comes to reality in its portrayal, but it seems that at leastoneimportant character, Fritz Bauer, is an actual historical figure who worked in post-war 1950s Germany as Attorney General in Frankfurt.
The stories players will follow and the cases they’ll investigate are, apparently, based on real events.
Players will actually join Fritz Bauer’s team as the young aspiring prosecutor Esther Katz. Over the course of her work under Bauer, Esther will thoroughly investigate any and all cases she’s assigned to. This means doing everything from interviewing witnesses, to searching for clues, to developing theories and eventually even presenting it all in court.
Players will need to make sure their case is airtight if they want their convictions to stick.
The Darkest Files puts the full weight of its cases squarely on the player’s shoulders. If they hone in on the wrong suspect, misinterpret witness testimony or even make a poor presentation before the judge and jury, then they very wellcanlose their case. Paintbucket Games has prepared several endings for each case, but it remains to be seen how these different outcomes will affect the main ending.
I wonder if the player can mess up badly enough that they could even up sending an innocent person to jail. We don’t know yet, but that kind of potential would definitely raise the stakes, don’t you think?
The entirety of The Darkest Files is shown in the style of silver age pulp comics, albeit with some motion-comic flair and some clever integration of 3D elements. Ifthe most recent traileris anything to go by, it goes a long way towards pulling players in and ratcheting up the drama. Further adding to that is the ability to relive witness experiences through Esther’s inner eye, putting them right in the middle of events as they play out. Though, again, they’ll still have to verify that what they’re seeing is the actual truth of the matter.
The Darkest Files hits PC and Mac on March 25, but those interested can actually try a demoavailable on the Steam pageright now if they want.
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