Dark Seed
| Developer: Cyberdreams | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Cyberdreams | Sound: |
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| Year: 1993 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Adventure | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
6/10 | |
Illustrated by the late H. R. Giger, the Swiss artist who created the monster in the film Alien, this grim (yet non-violent) adventure game audaciously combines two overused sci-fi themes in video games: the haunted house and the threat of alien invasion…
Mike Dawson is the stereotypical problem-seeker, a writer suffering from a lack of inspiration who decides to move into an old, decrepit mansion far from civilization. On his first night, he is plagued by a dreadful nightmare. He finds himself trapped in a futuristic lab, where mechanical hands open his skull, through his forehead, to implant some kind of disgusting embryo. He wakes up with a headache that could kill an elephant, and, unbeknownst to him, three days left to live (before the baby is born in a triumphant explosion of brain matter, I imagine).
Dark Seed plays like any adventure game from that era: you click around the environment to move, pick up, or interact with objects. For once, the implementation is well done. The interface is simple and unobtrusive, with just one button used to use or combine all the items.
Unfortunately, there’s one lingering issue: real time. Like in Mortville Manor, you need to find yourself in the right place at the right time to progress; otherwise, you lose any chance of finishing the game, with no hint as to what you missed… Immensely frustrating. Also, the character can die. I know you won’t pass up the chance…
On emulator, I went for the CD32 version, which spares us from juggling seven floppy disks (or installing them on the hard drive). Plus, it offers full voice acting. The downside: the mouse is no longer supported.
Dark Seed 2 was released in 1995 on PC, before being ported to PlayStation and Saturn in 1997.
Vaguely similar, you could try Strangeland (2021).
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