There is something deeply unsettling about a horror video game. As games have become more realistic, the terror we see on screen closely matches our real life. Sometimes, a game can take a step back from the realistic and can create something even more scary. This is what Inscape created in 1995 when they released The Dark Eye. Our nameless hero is visiting his uncle Edwin just before the dawn of the twentieth century. Also there is Henry, your brother, who is in love with Elise. Something is not right, as the hero experiences very strange and disturbing dreams. One of the three die and this is the catalyst for murder, jealous and finally madness.
One of the main inspirations for this game are the works of Edger Allen Poe. While the main story could very well have been written by the master himself, his works are more directly related. Read a newspaper at a certain time and you will read the story The Premature Burial. In the game it self, you can play through three of Poe’s most famous stories, The Cask of Amontillado, The Tell-Tale Heart and Beatrice. You can play these stories as either the murderer or the victim. If you ever wondered what was going through Fortunato’s mind as he was being bricked up, well wonder no longer.
The game itself is a simply point and click adventure. The game play is not the main focus, getting to the next scene is. What makes The Dark Eye so terrifying and unique is how the characters are presented. The bodies look fine, normal and quite life like. The faces of the characters is a different story. Molded in clay and using stop animation, they are some of the most disturbing things I have seen. One particular character is the butler, who appears around corners when you are not expecting him. This makes even the walking times feel like you are in the midst of a very bad dream.
The game was not a commercial or a critical success. The few reviews pointed out that the game lacked proper mechanics or set goals. While this is a fair assessment, The Dark Eye is more like those dreams we all have from time to time. We are walking somewhere when we feel that something is watching us. We know we need to get to safety, but we walk on, even as the danger gets closer and closer. There is no reason, only the feeling of dread.
Poe was much more subtle then some of his fellow authors at the time, the nameless terrors he created did not need outworldly monsters to occur. The Dark Eye comes at the gamer with stealth and a feeling of unease that keeps creeping higher and higher. It’s visuals are horrifying, only we can’t really explain why. It is one of the few adaptions that truly captured what it feels like to slowly go insane.
