After thoroughly enjoying their last two full games, Conspiracy-19 and Witchery Spell, I have been itching for the next DarkPark game to release. If you haven’t heard of DarkPark games before, they are a Dutch escape room game company who also provide a series of thrilling in person escape rooms, which I hope to one day test out! Never House is their fourth game. Now let's put on our spooky hats and dive in!
Story:
Never House follows the arrival of a box to your home a letter from a family reaching out. Their house is haunted by some strange entities that have locked them out of the house…and things only get worse. Even though you never recall offering the help this family you feel a sense of urgency in the words and decide to comb through archival records of the house and ephemera from the family to help unlock the mysteries of the house and stop these haunting before it is too late.
The story for this experience was extremely well done! It is a paranormal experience and had such excellent pacing that not only sought to ensure players had clarity but also built into itself. Every twist and turn made sense and you could find the kernels leading to them as you thought back to what you had seen previous. I was left feeling really satisfied with the conclusion. The components of the game were well made and aided the journey. The wooden spirit board was beautiful and is a wonderful keepsake to remember the game. The mixing of tangible and digital was a good balance and helps guide players through the experience while letting them have a truly immersive and tactile experience.
Puzzles:
In terms of puzzles, I was really happy with how well clued and developed these puzzles are. You could solve the puzzles separately (I admit my partner and I ended up digging through them eagerly before even logging onto the first website) but there is a linear progression provided by a character who seeks to guide you through your investigation. As such this game is on the easier side but the immersion and "aha" moments cannot be beat! There is one part of the game where the solution made me say, “No…this can’t be!” as I followed through. The puzzles consist of tracking, manipulation, orientation, etc. I felt with these puzzles there was an emphasis to physically handle the puzzles from writing on them, adjusting them, etc, which was refreshing.
Customer Service:
In terms of customer service, the game shipped and arrive fairly promptly - less than two weeks from the Netherlands to Canada. I will note I did not buy any other games (last time I bought two) and the game was shipped in the game box with a wrapping around it. I would have wished for a little more protection (at least a waterproof wrap) but the game arrived safely so there were no issues. The hint system was well done and had a google progression to them. You do have the manually (right click on the screen) to have the computer translated the page for you and there were no issues in the communication with them. When speaking to the company they respond prompt (just keep in mind time zones) and show a truly interest in learning about your experience which shows me that want to learn and I love seeing this in creators.
Conclusion:
Overall, Never House provides a well crafted, true-to-life paranormal experience that was rich in story, immersion, and puzzling. The layering up until the end was well done and I thoroughly enjoyed combing back through the box to see if I could tease apart more clues. The puzzles was engaging and encouraged players to really dig into the game with a freshness that reminded me why I love puzzling. Once again DarkPark has provided another thrilling experience and I can’t wait to see what they develop next!
Check out DarkPark games here.