Fans of classic text adventures and old-school choose your own adventure books are going to have a good Halloween this year. Stirfire Studios has announced that Level One of The Dark Room will be arriving on Steam Early Access starting September 20th.
Based on material from John Robertson’s standup show and viral videos, The Dark Room features an all new story written by Robertson, in a new labyrinth distinct from the ones seen in various YouTube and Twitch streams of his live show. It’s a game that’s been described, quite reasonably, as the text-based equivalent of Dark Souls.
Better get used to hearing this a lot.
Here’s the scenario, as described by Stirfire Studios:
As you sit in absolute darkness, a man known only as the Guardian emerges from the shadows. Silver-haired, maddeningly gleeful, and clad in what looks to be glowing… American football…pads…he bellows with a voice dripping with malice: “YOU AWAKE TO FIND YOURSELF IN A DARK ROOM…”
He presents you with a few options: a) Find the light switch. B) Go north. C) Sleep. D) Ask “Why?” Yet each option you choose leads to sarcasm, or worse, death. “You’re in a dark room! You need the light switch to see, do you see?” “You proceed in the direction you believe to be north and straight into the iron spike in front of you . You say hello to Mr. Spike, and he says hello to Mr. Eye…YA DIE! YA DIE! YA DIE!”
As in any Dark Souls adjacent game, players are going to die quite a lot. The Dark Room features over 600 scenes, a vast majority of which are going to end in some form of violence and The Guardian screaming “YA DIE! YA DIE! YA DIE!”
Surely none of these choices will end poorly…
Said Robertson about his creation:
“I came up with The Dark Room because I loved text adventure games as a kid. The dread and confusion I felt is missing in gaming today, and now I can force that on gamers at home, as well when they’re in my live crowds.”
Level One of The Dark Room arrives on Steam Early Access September 20th for PCs, and Mac. Additional levels are planned for release over the next few months. The game is planned to be in Early Access for only around three months, or whenever all the additional levels and planned features are in.
For more information, check out the official game website, Facebook, and Twitter pages.
