The Grim Atmosphere of This RPG Has Me Very Excited - Spark In The Dark 

Hi Splattercat! Thank you for the review! It greatly inspires our small team as we continue to work on developing this underground world.

- Mom, can we get some Exanima? - No, we have Exanima at home! Exanima at home:

Best looking game you've done in months I think. Gorgeous atmosphere.

just from this video It feels like your character should be able to outsmart enemies but devs only focused on item combat. Like for example, would be nice to have a shove or push action, maybe a disarm, being able to re arm some traps... I don't know it feels like it's conveniently hard, not logically hard. The more tools you'd have the more intense everything would be since you have what it takes and just need either the rng or the knowledge of content.

The darkness thing has always been a thing since the demo from way back.

This has early 00's balders gate/dark alliance vibes love it

I remember trying it and just remembering how damn clunky it was. It's unfortunate that just decent combat is so rare in sword/melee games :/ I remember the inventory/looting also feeling very weird too but it was a while back.

Awesome to see the zombies hitting eachother

This game has been on my wishlist for ever. Glad to see you giving it a try.

23:52 Never have I ever seen a corpse so enthralled with a stone floor.

I like how the zombie soldier guys have a cool kick-attack animation when you get in close to them. That's a nice touch.

The spinning camera when you try to get behind the enemy is making me dizzy 😂

I remember seeing this on your channel, then installing it and spending quite a lot of hours playing the demo. It's really good!

Love the aesthetic/atmosphere of this one! 😃

I finished the 1st level again about 2 weeks ago. Even killed the big monster. On Reddit or Steam I think I saw a map of all the rooms and everything.

Wooooow, I remember the first time I saw you covered this, I gave the demo a chance and while it needs work even now, I am excited to see how this will come out.

Thanks for showcasing. ^^

This is basically Examina without full physics movement.

I've been very excited about this game for quite a while.

Definitely gonna try this one.

This looks interesting. At first glace it looked like crap but you're right about the atmosphere. It gives me the feelings that I miss from early Dark Souls where you look at all the hollows around you and think that they are you if you fail, you're just another in the lineup of hollows in waiting. Also what I miss from Diablo 1 where you had to position yourself in doorways and give at least minimal thought to your encounters instead of just "press Q to wipe out the screen". If they can tighten up that combat and give at least a little UI info then I will definitely be watching this one.

I played the last demo and I liked it very much. Its so atmospheric can highly recommend to try the demo.

Spark-a-dark, where's my sire? Will I lay me? Will I stay me? Bless this camp with fire. Roland Deschain

Love the fact that when you get wounded, you get weaker! So annoying in many games that an enemy can do just as much damage with one hit point as when in full health!

It's a bit concerning that there has been little updates to the game that released some playable version about 1 year ago and still no release date yet on Steam.

Glad I saw this video, since it made me aware of the game to download the demo and I have since dumped 28 hours into it (according to steam) though I think it's more like 15 since I simply never closed the game once I had a good run going as I wasn't sure if it would save the character or not. I actually really like most of what the combat/controls are as-is. They can be described as clunky but I am more inclined to say that everything has a weight to it and is to its benefit in atmosphere along with how it makes you approach fights. The only thing I'd change is that sometimes there was a large delay for the character to properly finish the backstab (as thief) and reset to neutral which you can't cancel and which left me defenseless a couple times- though I'm inclined to believe this is just a bug since it wasn't every time. Also, just to mention, there was a point in this video where you were talking about the zombies or what have you taking a lot of hits to kill or something similar and while they do take a little bit of a beating the main reason (from what I was seeing) was that you were hitting them in the back where their shield was. It also meant you damaged your weapon much faster because you were doing either much decreased or literally no damage to them for a while. This is probably more immediately apparent to Thief players (once you know how to use your "abilities"; in quotes because it's a positional activation not just press q and cast it). Thieves can backstab if they get behind an enemy in stealth and I think it does something like double damage but anyway if a zombie has a shield on their back they're immune because you just bounce off the shield. Two-handed weapons and/or maces can knock the shields off with stagger. There's a lot of intricacies in just this first level of the dungeon and I really look forward to what they have in store. It seems that it's semi-random in that I think the layout is the same but the exact loot varies excepting some specifically placed things (like I know of one ring that is always in the same spot- or I've gotten very lucky since I've seen it there 4 runs in a row).

as always great commentary thanks

i saw your vid 2 years ago and i've been waiting for the game ever since...

I love the way it looks. 👍🏻😊

Game looks cool, downloading the demo now. I wish the lighting was better, but the combat looks fun.

the whole dark mechanic, I don't know, in theory yes, but in practice... but I have no stomach for the whole "souls like" in general, absolutely LOATHE them.

Seems like a nice Title .. I am watching Odin the underwhelming for years now... for all the Exanima goodness you could ever want :D I really want to put the programmer in full medieval armor and ask him to do a dodge roll though ^^ Thanks for the Video Splat !

Ah, that is the name! I've been trying to remember it since 2018, probably, when i first heard about it

I really like the game and the combat looks interesting, a little like chess with swords.

3:17 - "Gordon doesn't need to hear all of this! He is a highly trained professional!"

made my try the game !

Looks great

"Spark in the Dark" - song by Alice Cooper from the album "Trash" (c)1989

Dot is extremely op. Most areas have 2 entrances or exits but sewer and abyss ( nees rope to get down) doesnt so u can get camped on the other side (not so fun when u die due to gangbang) Crossbow cant shoot up or down. Sometimes u see spiders on the wall, waiting to ambush u but u cant shoot it..😢 Blacksmith has the most common ability compared to other characters (thief- backstab, hunter- traps and collect dot part for weap, warrior-batter rage) There is no item drop shortcut key so when ur overweighted due to debuffs, u cant drop stuffs and run Overall, the game needs LOTS OF fixes

If they ever gonna reimagine D1, that looks like a direction worth looking into

The setting reminds me of The Immortal.

the atmosphere looks really compelling, honestly. Looks neat!

17:27 A campfire in a closed room seems dangerous to me. . .

Tried the Demo and had a good time ; Thief is pretty rad - seems weak upfront but if ya get some backstabbin in it's quite good. Cant figure out how to use my grindstone though hmm

Great atmosphere and tension. Great and more realistic combat, albeit its too easy for 2 spiders and 2 zombies to gang up on you, and simply destroy you because of stamina / poison even on heavy armour.. Otherwise good job, keep going, and give us an optional savespot :D

been watchin this one ever since the demo went live

I'm probably a minority of 1, but I'd love to see a remaster of Darkstone.

It is not my favourite genre, but this looks very interesting. Great atmosphere, detailed graphics and I love learning by doing. Downloaded the Demo :-)

This game evokes the original Diablo feeling of a grim, dull, but tempting dungeon crawl. I missed that in all of the subsequent Diablos - they became just rainbow loot bukake fests.

reminds me of examina in a way

YOU HAVE TO BAIT THE ATTACK THEN ATTACK sheeeeeeesh

I dig it

Seems like exanima! I love this genre

Hmmm Ive been waiting to see how this one turns out.

Feels a bit like the character should be able to lock on the target or lock on the nearest target and have side step dodges, not only backwards, and really having damage sponge enemies don't help the game much, maybe the character can get stronger stats or buffs later on? Or maybe you can get NPCs to aid you, and instead of taking damage when it gets too dark, it would be more interesting if it gave only a debuff and ghosts or hallucinations were to appear to distract or damage you, and when you kill it or avoid it long enough you perhaps gain courage to resist the darkness

Why didn't you use blunt weapons against armored undead and sharp weapons against the spiders?

Reminds me of Exanima

The movement and attacks of the slower moving mobs def have that KF/From vibe. EDIT - "lurchy" = King's Field. I'm glad the combat is slower. I'm slow, so another Souls-like ADHD game is not wanted IMO.

Hey splat thank your for providing quality content daily. Tho I must ask. Why (probably) one of the best indie game influencers/reviewers hasn't said a word yet about Unity? Or did I miss such thing on one of your streams on twitch? At any rate, keep up the good work, thanks for the stuff you do o/

"Niss" oh Sh++ F== He-- nopes!

Watch out for those sparks in the dark when you also have a fart in the dark.

Had potential for sure but it's not there yet for me.

idk why at first glance it did remind me of exanima quite a bit

Love the idea of these games.... nasty, dark, horror filled dungeon crawlers. But the execution is often ....not good. They often lean a bit too hard toward the frustrating difficulty. Challenging is good, tedious and frustrating isn't. I hope it polishes up OK.

Watching the games Splattercat cover can be interesting but watching him play them can be a frustrating experience.

Why did the Devs not include NPC's that will help you? Like they could be sort of weak(ish) or you could even have thek only be on the level your at and you get extra perks and rewards for completing with the npc alive. You could do soms awesome stuff too, like maybe you could have them be on mulitple levels and u pick their perks as you level them. You could maybe attack them for chances at great loot.. but they remember you attscking them and they will on sight attsck you because of past greivences

I'm searching a game which looks similar to this one, but takes place in a castle, it's more medieval. If someone knows, I would be happy!

Biggest problem is you cant block with weapon...

🖤

Looks cool. Would love for all the complainers wanting button smash win games to wield IRL 2 handed sword. Chodes

use a hammer or another bludgeoning weapon against zombies and heavy armor

Game looks awesome. Hoping they improve the combat

Splat, this game is isometric, or dimetric, as im sure almist all games that are called isometric are dimetric.

That's an ARPG.

This still needs work, and maybe an angle, something to make it unique.

It looks very good in terms of graphics and overall gameplay... I just wish it wasn't so clunky like, pre-alpha levels of clunky.

do a fallout1+2+tactics like game in the angine and make me happy

Hi

this looks like exanima but not with the silly phisics controls, im following it but damn its been some time and still are in the "lets figure out the main mechanix" bit of development, so i bet its like 4 years or so away still witch means that it could get cancelled all together

👍

please stream this

This is the second day you've mentioned your twitch videos. I don't see why you don't hire an editor to reduce those videos into palatable portions and put them on a secondary channel 😂

So kinda like Exanima

do you playing warhammer 40k at all

I realize it is just a demo, but seemed rather narrow and limited. Only three monster types, rooms were all basically the same just a simple swing attack only. Looks lovely, as everyone says, but doesnt seem like a fun play.

Immediately looks meh but ill give it a chance. That camera and character movement looka better than before but atill not great.

Enemies are "sitting on top of each others faces" ?? what kind of game is this, Splat?

I look forward to shortening this one to "SparkDark"

I love the mechanics with the dark and dungeon crawling but holy crap that camera mechanic is unbearable. Couldve made a fixed one that you can move freely if you want to.

Is this game not Exanima?

This game has a very interesting idea, but the combat needs some work.

I've seen you cover this before, as you said. It doesn't really look different to me. The combat is just turning me off. I am not "circle strafing" every enemy until the inevitably whiff their attack and allow me to get some hits in. That's not intelligent combat design, that's just stupid. I'm fine with abusing reach, ranged weapons, spears, shields to parry, block, riposte, maybe an active "dodge" that can be used with a cooldown, so you can't totally abuse it, but I'm not running circles around enemies... even though the atmosphere looks very decent. And games without maps just piss me off these days. Can't be too hard for our character to fashion a basic sketch of the rooms he's explored.

Been looking forward to this for a while. I see combat is still disappointing. Attack / movement speed isn't properly correlated to the equipped weapon/armor and movement type. I'm all for slowing down combat and making it strategic, but it's just clunky right now.

I tried the demo a few years ago? It was not enjoyable at all, bad combat, clunky movement, bad inventory management..just to name the biggest flaws, which honestly made me lose hope and interest for the game. Glad to see they're still trying to figure out where this game is going.

Just played the demo... and if this game has no save whatsoever and requires you to go over and over the same 1 level again and again... forget it. I keep dying after the first few corners and battles. There's this one enemy called the Niss is just crazy... and the fact you run into it after leaving the starting area is stupid. Rogue can't sneak... Hunter takes a million years to reload a bolt. Spider debuffs your movement speed and plus the tired debuff, my character was practically paralyzed mid-swing as if turned to stone. Even the enemy de-aggroed as if I was idle and wasn't doing anything because I can't. Also, after watching this straight after your previous video of this game 2 years ago; I don't see any difference of the versions that you've played.

I fucking hate it when there's equipable loot and the menu system is complete garbage.

who the hell uses just a one handed sword? worst of both worlds?

Fart in the Dark

Damn I love splat but I'm beginning to think he's just a bad gamer lol (this is sarcasm, I know he's a bad gamer)

Soundtrack not by Alice Cooper? disappointed :p