The time has finally arrived to dive deep into conspiracy and journey once more down the rabbit hole that is `Dark and Deep`. After the terrors, I faced in the early access preview, I was eager to see what developer and publisher Walter Woods had on offer.

Before we dig into everything version, 1.0, here is a quick recap for those who may have missed the preview. A conspiracy podcast drags you into a hauntingly illustrated world of mystery and terror. Revealing the secrets and horrors that lurk within with the help of mystical frames given to you by a strange observer. I still can’t shake the feeling as if I’ve been travelling a multiverse, as if I’ve been placed in a world within a world, within a nightmare.

Play as Samuel Judge, a loyal fan of the mysterious conspiracy podcast Dark and Deep. Samuel is plunged into a dark and dangerous landscape, and you must help him survive. You are not alone. Unravel the mystery by listening to the podcast episodes and getting to the bottom of the conspiracy.

This is quite a gripping story. I could not help but once again begin to form my conspiracy theories while I played. At one point, I even thought that perhaps I was going a little crazy with the theories.

Traversing the game world and searching for the truth is not easy. Horrors await in the shadows and will stop at nothing to steal away your light. A mysterious observer watching out for you on your journey aids you by giving you mystical frames that help you reveal hidden elements and fight back against the horrors that lurk in the shadows.

There are four mystical frames that you will use frequently throughout the game, one for each of the three types of enemy and the fourth to reveal hidden elements. Progression can sometimes be a bit tricky and rather infuriating. Not only must you solve puzzles, but you also must keep the enemies from stealing away your light.

Hidden pools of light, once revealed, can be used to gain an orb of light used to light your way. Orbs of light are also used to interact with mysterious machines that will reveal a path forward. At first, getting to where you need to go is fairly easy, but as you progress, puzzles that you must solve to move forward get more challenging. There is always a sense of urgency when solving these puzzles because there is always an enemy that will ruin your day. One simple misstep and falling into the water and a drowner will happily take you to your watery grave. Crawlers and snakes will certainly keep you on your toes.

Unlike what I played in the demo version, controller support has been added now, though it feels awkward. Rather than interacting with objects with the standard X button, this has been predefined as the B button. Having grown so accustomed to a more standardised layout I found it a little confusing and quickly remapped a few of the controls to make it feel more natural.

The environments are brought to life in such a unique way and offer the perfect blend of past and present. For the most part, you will be stepping straight into the artworks of 19th-century artist Gustave Doré, which have been used as the textures for the game world. The way this blends into the more modern sections truly sells the idea that there is perhaps a story within a story going on here and I love it. The horror and fear I felt encountering crawlers and drowners for the first time is a testament to the enemy’s design. I enjoyed collecting the sketches that were hidden on the levels. I am sure that I missed a few but they were a great indicator as to how to approach the next puzzle.

The soundtrack immediately sets the tone for the horrors that await you in the shadows. The dripping and trickling of water from the caves, mixed with the shallow breath of the crawlers had me constantly on the edge of my seat. The text displayed during audio sequences still suffers a few instances of desynchronisation. It has greatly improved since the demo version which is great to see.

The cosmic horror that is, ‘Dark and Deep’ will surely keep you on the edge of your seat or jumping clean out of your skin with its expertly timed jump scares. The unique art direction delivers a wondrous journey through the lands of the living and the shadows of the lightless horrors that dwell in the shadows. Now that I can finally put these conspiracies to rest I will leave you with this, don’t miss out on this gem and I’ll see you in the next episode of Dark and Deep, out now on Steam.

Written by: Gary Nielsen