Darkwood

Lore & Background

Darkwood is set somewhere in Poland in the late 1980s, where a mysterious forest has engulfed a large amount of land and continues to expand. Many people are trapped, and a strange plague transforms victims into monsters. A group called 'The Outsiders,' mostly government officials and soldiers, was sent to investigate but most are dead or evacuated by the time the game takes place. The prologue follows a disillusioned doctor searching for supplies, then switches to 'The Stranger,' who seeks a stolen key to escape through an underground passage. Other characters include a trader, a half-man half-wolf hybrid called 'The Wolfman,' a drunk cyclist known as the 'Bike Man,' and Piotrek, who is obsessed with space travel and Yuri Gagarin.

Reader's Guide

Darkwood's significance lies in its deliberate avoidance of jump scares, instead building tension through its day/night cycle, crafting system, and permanent consequences for death. During daytime, players explore a semi-open world, scavenge supplies, repair barricades, and craft items. At night, they must defend their hideout from intruders using traps and barricades. The game features multiple storyline branches based on player choices, with two main endings and subplots influenced by smaller actions. Death while scavenging results in losing half of one's inventory, marked on the map for later recovery; higher difficulties impose harsher penalties including permanent death. The game switches to a different map in its second chapter, locking previous regions and introducing new gameplay elements. A sequel, Darkwood 2, is being developed by Ice-Pick Lodge and published by Hooded Horse under supervision by the original developers.

Did You Know?

• The game was first released through Steam Early Access on July 24, 2014, before its full release on August 17, 2017.
• Darkwood is advertised as 'being scary without having jump scares.'
• The game was ported to consoles by Crunching Koalas and released for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One in May 2019.

Development & Release Journey

Darkwood's path to completion was notably long. Acid Wizard Studio first made the title available through Steam Early Access in late July 2014, giving players an early window into what would become a full survival horror experience. Nearly three years later, on August 17, 2017, the finished game launched simultaneously for Linux, macOS, and Windows. The title's reach expanded well beyond PC: Crunching Koalas handled a console port that arrived for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One in May 2019. Google Stadia players gained access on September 17, 2021, while the next-generation PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions followed in late 2022, landing on October 28 and December 23 respectively. The game's publishing landscape shifted again in 2025 when Hooded Horse secured the rights to publish the PC version, signaling a new chapter in Darkwood's commercial life and setting the stage for its upcoming sequel.

Gameplay Design & Philosophy

Darkwood distinguishes itself in the horror genre by advertising itself as frightening without relying on jump scares. The top-down perspective frames a semi-open world where new biomes unlock as the narrative advances. The core loop revolves around a strict day-and-night rhythm: daylight hours are for scavenging supplies, reinforcing the hideout's doors and windows, crafting upgrades at the workbench, and even cooking Hallucinogens at a stove to unlock skills—though every beneficial ability must be paired with a detrimental one. When darkness falls, the player is locked inside and must fend off intruders using pre-placed traps and barricades. Surviving the night earns reputation with a trader, unlocking pricier goods; dying costs half the inventory, which is flagged on the map for later retrieval, while higher difficulty tiers introduce permanent death. The narrative branches based on how the player responds to NPC requests, ultimately leading to two distinct main endings shaped by accumulated choices.

Setting & Characters

The story unfolds in late-1980s Poland, deep within the Soviet Bloc, where an ever-expanding forest has swallowed the surrounding land and trapped its inhabitants. A bizarre plague ravages the survivors, killing some and mutating others into monstrous abominations. A group called The Outsiders—government officials and soldiers originally dispatched to investigate—had established hideouts and a tunnel network, but by the game's start most have perished or been evacuated. The playable cast is small but vivid: The Doctor, a disillusioned medic desperate to flee; The Stranger, who seeks a stolen key to an underground escape route; a helpful Trader; The Wolfman, a half-man, half-wolf hybrid; the inebriated Bike Man; and Piotrek, a space-obsessed dreamer fixated on Yuri Gagarin who aspires to build a rocket. The prologue follows the Doctor as he interrogates the unconscious Stranger, but control soon shifts to the Stranger, who must escape, navigate the Dry Meadow, and ultimately confront the Doctor at a train wreck before descending through an armoured door into Chapter 2, where the tunnel no longer leads to freedom.

Legacy & the Road to Darkwood 2

Darkwood's influence extends well beyond its initial release window. In 2025, Hooded Horse acquired the publishing rights for the PC version, a move that reshaped the title's commercial trajectory and set the groundwork for what comes next. Most significantly, a sequel titled Darkwood 2 is now in development at Ice-Pick Lodge, with Hooded Horse acting as publisher. The original Acid Wizard Studio developers are overseeing the project, a supervisory role designed to preserve the creative vision that defined the 2017 original. Looking at the full arc—from a Steam Early Access build in mid-2014, through a full PC release in 2017, console ports in 2019, a Stadia launch in 2021, and next-gen versions in 2022—the game has steadily broadened its audience across PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and cloud platforms. The decision to entrust a sequel to a new development studio while keeping the original team in a guiding role suggests confidence in both the franchise's staying power and the design language that made its dark forest so memorable.