14 DAY TRIAL // 
Ever since the advent of Minecraft, survival games with complex crafting mechanics have become quite popular, exploiting various other niches, like the side-scrolling one, through Terraria.
Now, indie developer Allgraf has just released Darkout, a new take on the side-scrolling survival genre with a really profound crafting menu that allows players to build anything from wooden sheds to high-tech buildings powered by nuclear reactors.
While the premise does sound pretty good, can Darkout succeed in its execution or should we just turn off the lights? Let's find out.
Darkout is a really complex game with all sorts of intriguing mechanics, but it loses so much right from the get-go because of its complicated tutorial and clunky interface.
You start off as an explorer who crash lands on a mysterious planet. After salvaging what you can from your crashed ship, you must build a shelter and start exploring the big planet, which is filled with all sorts of different biomes, from forests, to caves, and more. This is easier said than done, thanks to the aforementioned tutorial and interface, which are unintuitive, to say the least.
There's a dynamic day and night cycle and, just like in Minecraft, you may not want to go outside when it's dark, as the world of the game is inhabited by creatures that come alive in the darkness. These can really harm the player, even when it comes to the jelly fish that are floating in the air, not to mention the various insects.
The world is procedurally generated, so things always stay fresh. Unfortunately, even if you explore it in a side-scrolling manner, it's not that easy to navigate, as there are sharp inclines or steep falls, which means you can get stuck, at least until you manage to craft a jetpack later in the game.
Speaking of crafting, while Darkout's system is quite complex, it's also rather clunky to use and deploy. You must first gather the necessary resources by cutting trees, digging the earth, or harvesting plants. Afterwards, you need to navigate the huge amount of options in the Crafting menu, and then actually deploy the items you have made via the action bar.
The action bar itself is messy and a pain to use. It's organized in two rows and you can select a column with your cursor. Left clicking uses one of the items, while right-clicking uses the other. There is an auto slot that's handy when gathering resources, as it automatically uses the right tool for the job (axe, pick axe, shovel).
The world of Darkout is a dangerous place, however, so this means you'll need to defend yourself and attack enemies. Unfortunately, this is unnecessarily clunky thanks to the aforementioned action bar. You can't use your regular tools, like the axe, to attack enemies. Instead, you can use the torch or your pistol.
There's a catch to the pistol, as you need to have the gun and the ammo in the same column for it to work. This pretty vital tip is right at the end of the tutorial, when no doubt the player's patience has run out.
For those who like crafting instead of surviving, the game offers a Builder difficulty mode besides the regular Normal one. In Builder, you don't need to collect blueprints or recipes in order to craft objects, just raw resources. Enemies won't hurt you, so you're free to explore the world.
In terms of visuals, Darkout looks pretty good, but it's still filled with weird animations for the main character and some not so pretty textures.
The soundtrack is barely there, as the game sees fit to let players enjoy the sounds of the world around them. That's not such a good idea, as those audio effects are repetitive and rather dull.
Conclusion
Darkout offers a decent mix of survival mechanics and crafting but, unfortunately for many players, the awful tutorial, the clunky interface, and the really harsh procedural worlds weigh everything down. Hardcore Minecraft or Terraria fans will certainly enjoy the challenge and the complexity but, for regular players, it's best you skip this one.
The studio did confirm that it was going to make improvements and add new content in the future but, as of yet, the game isn't that good.
