The Darkest Files

The year is 1956 and although the devastation of the Second World War ended 11 years earlier with the defeat of Adolf Hitler's Germany, traces of the Nazism and evil he spread across Europe still remain hidden. Many of the murders and crimes committed by Nazis at the time were cancelled or otherwise hidden, and some Nazis who had been convicted were instead released on false charges when Hitler came to power. In a country, in a Europe, and in a world licking its wounds after a devastating war, there was still much to be done and this is where The Darkest Files picks up.

Our main character is 30-year-old Esther Katz and she has just got a new job as a prosecutor as the game begins, tasked with trying to solve two of these particular unsolved murders, in a quest to help witnesses and relatives get justice. To have a chance of succeeding in this, you will be given several tools at your disposal such as interrogating suspects to build a case that will then hold up in court. It is certainly not an easy task to have to stand against the Nazism that still exists in the country, especially as a woman in a male-dominated industry.

Our first murder to solve is that of a man whose death during the Second World War was declared necessary by Nazi Germany when he was accused of tearing down a flag with a swastika on it and replacing it with a white flag in a bid for peace. His wife was there when he was abducted from their home by Nazi soldiers and when we question her she gives a completely different version of the story. Instead, she explains that the perpetrator was their son, but as the son was not at home, and the parents did not want to reveal their son's whereabouts, her husband was instead abducted and imprisoned without charge and eventually murdered in the cell he was held in. The soldiers responsible for this were not even questioned by the ruling Nazi hand and this is just one of so many similar cases that were never fairly resolved during the horrific war.

The Darkest Files is based on two real murders spread over two acts, but only our main character Esther Katz's name is real, while the other characters' names have been changed to the game's version of events. Through Esther's eyes, we witness a very dark and carefully chosen plot that immediately grabs hold and refuses to let go of that grip through at least the entire first act of two in the roughly seven hours it took to get through the entire game. Esther's voice acting is fortunately also really good, and the way she interacts and reacts to various objects around the Berlin workplace where she works is reminiscent of the way Max Caulfield interacts with the world around her in Life is Strange.

Of course, since the office where you work is where you'll spend 99% of your time in The Darkest Files, it's extremely important that it's an interesting place to be, and fortunately the developers have definitely managed to convey that. You really feel encouraged as a player to take your time with the game, and luckily the voice acting from the other characters in the game is also relatively good, minus our boss who tries to sound so bloody tough that it just becomes comical and can't really be taken seriously. Interacting with your other colleagues is also an important part of the game, with Paula the secretary being a personal favourite.

The developers Paintbucket Games' self-published games also usually have a very distinctive and unique graphical style but quite often it can look far too blue-greenish where nothing, not even the person you are interrogating for example, is in focus, which makes the person blend in with the surroundings which unfortunately detracts from the look. However, what never fades in the first act is the murder mystery itself and the tools the developers have given you to solve it. A very good example of this is when you interrogate all three soldiers who are supposed to have been responsible for the abduction and murder of the man we are trying to solve. It is your job as a prosecutor to question them one by one and discover if and how their stories differ from each other, and if so, push harder to get closer to the answer, to who is really responsible for the murder.

Once you think you have the answer, it's up to you to put the pieces together one by one via a mini-game that will then be taken into court where you have to be able to stand up for the investigation you have come up with. Luckily, or rather unluckily as it would turn out for me, the first two soldiers completely agreed with each other after questioning them about the events surrounding the murder. They believed that it was the third soldier I had not yet questioned, who had shot and murdered the man who was being held against their will, and when it was his turn to be questioned I pressed him hard on this. He was nervous, changed his story several times, and presented his innocence in a disjointed manner that left me feeling crystal clear in my prosecutorial work and ready to piece together the various phases of the murder and present it to the court.

Despite being developed by a very small indie developer on a tight budget, The Darkest Files is very complex and dark, not only in its theme, but also in the way Paintbucket Games ties the story together in the final stages of both acts. This concludes when you are in court and although our job as a prosecutor is to be tough, you will also be grilled just as hard. Especially if you are not well prepared. If you haven't reached the right conclusion, it will become apparent extremely quickly and everything will collapse like a house of cards before your eyes. This is where I have to admit defeat to the developers and make some kind of footnote in life about never seeking a career as a prosecutor in the future.

In court, you present the five different phases of the murder as you believe it took place and present your evidence to substantiate these phases based on documents and interviews you have conducted. Much of my position, as already mentioned, was based on the fact that two of the soldiers' stories were completely consistent with each other and both of them blamed the third one whose story changed several times. Done and dusted, was my feeling at the time, especially as I pass through the first three phases of the trial with no counter-accusations. But it is when we reach the fourth that reality catches up. The third man and the soldier's lawyer presents a counter to my case and claim, and without going into detail on his counterclaims because of spoilers, I quickly realise how wrong I have been and how refreshingly difficult and complex the game actually is. With my tail between my legs, I notice how the case slowly but surely falls apart and it is precisely here that the greatest strength but also the greatest weakness lies in The Darkest Files.

It's a huge strength in that you can finish the first act after the trial and even if you didn't succeed, it's not game over. It made me hopeful that the second act and the next murder case would possibly be affected and be even more difficult as I did not succeed with the first murder. But no, both Esther and her colleagues treat the situation as if you passed the first murder case no matter what which was disappointing, and then none of it is ever mentioned again through the rest of the game. Maybe it's too much to ask for this level of detail from an indie studio, but at the same time, at least a little variety here would have been desirable in a game that is ultimately only seven hours long. It may not be the end of the world but it would definitely have created a greater reason to want to replay what is ultimately only two murder cases at your disposal. Unfortunately, the disappointment is even greater when it turns out that the second act and the murder case is almost identical to the first. Both in terms of set-up, theme, and conclusion. Fortunately, things went better in court the second time around but it was definitely a sleepy and repetitive second half of the game that could have been skipped or completely redone. At the same time, there is still so much to appreciate if you only look at the first half.

The Darkest Files is ultimately something I still recommend. Games set during the Second World War are nothing new, but something set just after its end and with the premise of solving murders as a prosecutor is something more unique. Especially from a self-publishing small indie developer who should be applauded for the way they tackled this theme and told it. It's dark, it's exciting, and at the same time difficult which is hugely appreciated. At least during the first act, which is reason enough to play through to experience something new, and I'm very excited to see what Paintbucket Games will develop next.