Buried Darkness is a free adventure video game wherein you have to keep your new home safe. Developed by Allyigames, this 3D indie game offers a psychological horror story, with the appropriate atmosphere and ambiance for maximum chills. It’s different from most horror games in how it’s more reliant on a steady pace to keep you on your toes. Beware as this contains violent jump scares and some flashing lights.

A series of chills and thrills

Buried Darkness puts you in the shoes of someone who’s just recently moved into a nice new apartment. However, the start of the game already has you wanting to move again as strange occurrences keep happening in the last few days, where you should be the only one living in there. The entire place feels oppressive—but it won’t let you leave. You’ll eventually have to figure out how to break this ominous curse.

This game aims to be highly atmospheric with its first-person perspective. It uses well-chosen audio—from the ambient noise to the swelling music—in order to deliver a much more impactful presentation for the dark 3D graphics provided by the Unreal Engine. It’s also quite similar to indie titles like Suite 776 and Eden. There are jump scares but the core of the game is more about the build-up of this tension before the terror strikes. 

Additionally, this isn’t a game wherein you’ll go around hunting for collectible items as clues to the story or solutions to locked areas a lot. Thus, your experience won’t be halted by having to read or keep an eye out for the objects scattered around the rooms—although this can backfire as you can easily miss small important items. However, this does make the game more suspenseful and much more immersive.

May miss out on key items

All in all, Buried Darkness isn’t just out to deliver cheap scares. Like other successful psychological horror games, this one is careful in crafting a spooky experience for any type of player. It’s easy to play as you just move around and pick up any interactive item for the story. However, there’s not a lot of interactions you can do—which may fool you into thinking that you don’t need to look carefully for important collectibles.