Developed by Start Warp and published for PC by Meridian4 and brought to consoles by Ratalaika Games, The Dark Prophecy is a nostalgic point-and-click adventure. Inspired by early 90s point-and-click adventure titles, featuring 2D pixel art visuals and plenty of puzzles, The Dark Prophecy brings with it the goodness as well as the problems of the early 90s. Set in a simple setting, the gameplay mechanics now certainly feel dated but still, it delivers an experience that is purely nostalgic. This is our review of The Dark Prophecy on Nintendo Switch in which we eat some dangerous barriers and play some games with a troll.
The story of The Dark Prophecy follows the little boy called Jacob who is chilling on the river one night when a wizard from the neighboring time suddenly comes out of the water and gives Jacob dire news about his beloved town. Running short on time, Jacob, a common village boy, must find his way inside the castle and speak with the wizard Merlin who will prevent the catastrophe. Your goal is to help Jacob reach Merlin but there is no time limit in The Dark Prophecy and the game gives you plenty of time to play the game on your own terms. Despite the urgency of the message, there is no such time limit in the game, and you are free to roam around and solve the puzzles at your own pace.
On the Nintendo Switch, for moving the cursor around, you can either use the left joystick or the D-pad. There are four main actions in the game and each one is represented by its own icon. You have movement, talking with, looking, and using. All of these are assigned to the B key and as you continue to press the B key, the chosen action is changed, and you can perform the new action with the A key. These are all of the controls in the game. I would have preferred a different key for each action since the Nintendo Switch does come with plenty of keys so assigning a different key for each action would have been much better because I often found myself scrolling again and again through the four actions as I would miss the one that I had to use.
It also takes more time and sometimes I skipped doing certain tasks because of this. Every time I am playing a point-and-click title, I always interact with each and every interactable item in the game in every way possible to see if there’s a unique and humorous dialogue for it. In The Dark Prophecy, this could lead to a lot of button-pressing since you will be rotating between the four actions again and again if you play the game like me. Apart from this, the gameplay of The Dark Prophecy is strictly what you would expect from any type of point-and-click game. There are tons of puzzles that require a lot of backtracking, item hunting, combining items, speaking with NPCs, and more. The puzzles are not too difficult but sometimes you can get stuck in the game and there is no way to determine in the game about how you can interact any further.
There is no guidance or any sort of help mechanics that would highlight objects or give you any sense of direction in the game so it all boils down to your own puzzle-solving skills in order to progress in the game. This is why completing a single playthrough of The Dark Prophecy could be around 30 minutes to well over 2 hours. The story of The Dark Prophecy is not that long and there is not much to explore in each area apart from one or two NPCs on each map and a few interactable items here and there. There are no cutscenes or audio dialogues in the game as well, so it is all just text. Both the narration and the gameplay choices that you make. If you take a long time solving puzzles, your gameplay time can easily expand into hours.
The environments are pretty detailed in their own simple way as you will notice small details here and there in every scene. There are not a lot of animations or activities going on on every screen but there is a weird charm in how the game looks visually. Beyond that, the game also gives you different early completion options which may not be the happy ending you were looking for however you might end up making a choice that will end your gameplay much sooner than anticipated. For example, during my first playthrough, I ate an unknown berry without thinking much about it and it made me sick, and I was unable to save the town in time. Small things like this keep you on your toes in order to find the best ending possible.
With that said, there is no post-completion content in the game as well so if you play the game once and do not want to replay the main story of the game again, there is not much to do in the game after you are done with the main story of the game. It is certainly a short game, and this is the only problem with this nostalgic point-and-click adventure. The classic controls are another thing that might put off some players because we are now used to modern point-and-click adventures that come with plenty of gimmicks to suit a more modern audience. Still, if you are craving some good old early 90s point-and-click action today on your modern console, The Dark Prophecy is the game for you.
Final Verdict:
The Dark Prophecy is a decent point-and-click adventure however it might put off some of the genre veterans because of its simplicity and length. Normally, we get point-and-click adventures that take a lot of time to complete but this time around, you only get a max of two hours which is considered really small when it comes to similar titles. Still, The Dark Prophecy feels extremely atmospheric, and the nostalgic visuals and simple controls are a treat for players who grew up playing the classic point-and-click adventures. Ultimately, The Dark Prophecy is a mixed bag and while it will appeal to some, some players might not like the bare bones, classic puzzle solving, and short length. If you are looking for a decent and short adventure to play to quench your point-and-click thirst, you can definitely give The Dark Prophecy a shot.
Final Score: 7.0/10
