Dark Matter
InterWave Studios · 2013 · Action, Indie, Side Scroller, Sci-fi, Metroidvania
PC
Mixed45% · 2001playing now
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About Dark Matter
✦ AI summary
Survive a parasite-infested derelict spaceship by scavenging for parts and crafting four customizable weapons with elemental ammo types to outsmart intelligent alien enemies. This 2.5D survival horror blends tactical combat with exploration where light and shadow are deadly mechanics, demanding you use environmental traps and clever tactics to escape the relentless creatures hunting you through the darkness.
Dark Matter is a 2.5D side-scrolling survival horror game, set in a derelict spaceship besieged by a sinister alien presence, and infested with deadly parasites. As the Ensign, you must explore fetid hallways and abandoned facilities, scavenging for parts and blueprints, expanding your arsenal to up to four deadly weapons and freely customize each to fit your combat style against intelligent, reactive enemies. Dark Matter delivers a hard-hitting take on the survival horror genre in deep space, with a heavy emphasis on tactical combat and exploration.
Out of breath, you run into the door, slamming against its cold metal surface. The clicking of scuttling claws recedes into the distance, swallowed by the pitch black oblivion behind you. You know better than to feel safe. There are too many infested at your back, and another blank metal door ahead. With a quick reflex you check your ammo supplies, and slot a fresh magazine into your shotgun. With a quicker prayer, you flick the switch and open the door. The metal jaws open on endless night you don’t dare pierce with your flashlight, not to disturb those things that live in shadow. By the pale bioluminescence that washes up from the floor grates, you piece together the picture of a corridor, and what could be a stretch of exploding pods. Just beyond, the silhouette of a fully grown crawler stirs.
Grinning in the dark, you turn on the weapon’s flashlight, and point it straight down the corridor. Predictably, the blisters swell up to full irritation, ready to explode at the slightest touch. The crawler turns to hiss at you, instantly aroused by the light, and your presence. In your mind’s eye, it dumbly rushes forward into the blister pods to kill itself, saving you precious ammo.
It takes a precious moment to adjust to reality when the sleek shape crouches and jumps towards you instead. There is time for just one panicked shot before the inevitable flight, as you run for your life, barely keeping ahead of the claws slashing for you. In a moment of adrenaline-fuelled inspiration, you slam the wall panel as you retreat past the chamber’s door. The heavy, powerful mechanism smoothly slices the crawler in half just before the critter can reach and disembowel you. There is no time to congratulate yourself, as you hear a familiar hissing from above...
Story
Out of breath, you run into the door, slamming against its cold metal surface. The clicking of scuttling claws recedes into the distance, swallowed by the pitch black oblivion behind you. You know better than to feel safe. There are too many infested at your back, and another blank metal door ahead. With a quick reflex you check your ammo supplies, and slot a fresh magazine into your shotgun. With a quicker prayer, you flick the switch and open the door. The metal jaws open on endless night you don’t dare pierce with your flashlight, not to disturb those things that live in shadow. By the pale bioluminescence that washes up from the floor grates, you piece together the picture of a corridor, and what could be a stretch of exploding pods. Just beyond, the silhouette of a fully grown crawler stirs.
Grinning in the dark, you turn on the weapon’s flashlight, and point it straight down the corridor. Predictably, the blisters swell up to full irritation, ready to explode at the slightest touch. The crawler turns to hiss at you, instantly aroused by the light, and your presence. In your mind’s eye, it dumbly rushes forward into the blister pods to kill itself, saving you precious ammo.
It takes a precious moment to adjust to reality when the sleek shape crouches and jumps towards you instead. There is time for just one panicked shot before the inevitable flight, as you run for your life, barely keeping ahead of the claws slashing for you. In a moment of adrenaline-fuelled inspiration, you slam the wall panel as you retreat past the chamber’s door. The heavy, powerful mechanism smoothly slices the crawler in half just before the critter can reach and disembowel you. There is no time to congratulate yourself, as you hear a familiar hissing from above...
Key features:
- 14 levels in a gritty tale of deep space survival
- 4 weapons, and 4 ammo types. Elemental ammo effects that allow you to freeze, dissolve or set fire to your enemies.
- Three craftable upgrades to customize your weapons.
- Collect scrap and alien resources to craft your own tools and health packs.
- Invest in the weapons and upgrades you prefer, develop your own combat techniques.
- Non-linear exploration and storytelling with complex enemy AI that reacts to the player’s actions and tactics.
- Light and darkness are integral parts of gameplay, not just visual touches.
- Uncompromisingly real-time lights and shadow casting for spine-tingling moments of pure, darkness-fuelled terror.
- Clean, hand-painted textures and custom shading techniques are combined in a unique visual style.
- Dynamic soundtrack that adapts to gameplay circumstances.
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
Dark Matter is a 2.5D sci-fi survival horror adventure developed by InterWave Studios and published by Iceberg Interactive that sets out to merge the exploratory structure of classic Metroid-style games with the oppressive atmosphere of space-bound horror. The premise is immediately familiar yet promising: you awaken alone on a vast, derelict spacecraft, its corridors swallowed by darkness and crawling with hostile alien organisms, with only fragmented logs, a snide AI companion, and your own growing arsenal to help you survive. From the outset, the game positions atmosphere as its primary weapon, using shadow, silence, and isolation to create a constant sense of unease as you inch through abandoned labs, engineering decks, and maintenance tunnels. The narrative in Dark Matter unfolds gradually through environmental storytelling, text logs, and intermittent dialogue from the ship’s AI, which serves both as a guide and a source of unsettling commentary. Rather than delivering a tightly scripted story, the game relies on implication and mood, encouraging players to piece together what went wrong aboard the vessel and why the alien infestation has spiraled out of control. This fragme…1 found this helpful
I have been playing games since 1982 and have played a lot! I bought this because it reminded me of a game called Obliterator, that I played on the Atari ST in 1988, by the developer Psygnosis. I wanted a bit of nostalgia and retro and boy did I get it but with modern trappings. This is a very good retro side scrolling adventure, with good atmosphere. It is fairly straightforward and so good to play short sessions late at night when your brain is too tried for something more complicated. I think the negative reviews are a bit unjustified as far as I can see. Check out the positive reviews with over 10 hours of playtime, which will give you a more fair and detailed assessment of the game.1 found this helpful
( STUNNED UPDATE: Wow, instantly loved the main masterful voice acting like a ship AI. Finally goggled and he is D. C. DOUGLAS, no less ! Legion in Mass Effect. Resident Evil's Albert Wesker, Star Wars Jedi Survivor's Rayvis, so many other high caliber games. Now I must play them all: Guarantee of a rich story. ) --- Expected a modest though interesting game, found a really epic extended scifi dungeon crawl metroid campaign. The story is very well done, based on messages but specially I love the voiceover of the actor doing the AI character, so on point and sensitive, adds so much to the atmosphere ! It had intrigued me so much, had to come back, got obsessed and had a blast. In a way it reminded me of fine times with Alien Romulus crossed with Unepic =) --- Important !! Use always the Escape, Menu, option "save game" to save anywhere, anytime, as much as you want, very good ! You get to keep every save at C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\37834242\251410\remote. But there is danger in saving in save points ingame only, eventually they stop working, and seem to keep 1 save only. But again, no real need of using them, and using escape, save by menu, reactivates their fu…1 found this helpful
This game is a battle with bugs, as in both the enemies and the many issues it has. Despite the abundance of issues and annoyances I really enjoyed this game. I just wish they’d polish and patch it. The ending felt abrupt and sudden, like there should be a sequel, and I hope there is. I get the feeling there was supposed to be more to the game, but they had to cut it short. You get the grenade launcher too late in the game, I really didn’t get to use it. Also, there’s a missing weapon upgrade slot, unless it was hidden in some level. The atmosphere of the game was awesome. It’s my favorite kind of place: sprawling, dark, isolated, and lonely. It reminded me of my all time favorite game System Shock 2, but it’s a side-scroller and the AI isn’t psychotic. The ambient music really complemented the ship nicely. TIPS: - As the name suggest light plays a big role in the game, as in many enemies react to it or it’s absence. It’s best to not use the flashlight and just wander in the dark listening for enemies. - It’s playable with a controller, but you’ll need a mouse handy to reach some buttons and items. Also, aiming is easier with a mouse, and 95% of the enemies a…
While there is some jank, and certain features seem undercooked, I absolutely love when any dev returns to the scene of their failure and improves upon it. Especially for free. I played this game expecting to be let down by a sudden ending with a wall of text, as two separate YouTube Letsplays led me to believe. At some point between those LPs and my playing of it today the developers went in and added a voiced and animated ending to the game for free to those who already bought it. This elevates the entire game for me, not only as a pass, but as a recommend. Full Transparency the game does seem like it should be longer, there are several sections that seem compromised from what could have been. I don't know the details but from what I've read the Devs simply didn't get the funding or support they needed to accomplish their vision. They did the best they could with what they had. Would I pay full price knowing this, maybe, if the Devs had kept going as a company. As it is $9.99 may be worth it or not, based on your own beliefs. I believe it is a worthy effort but money is tight these days. I love survival horror, I love sci fi, and this gives a side-scrolling 2d Dead Space vi…
very buggy, the controller support is absolutelly terrible, settings are very limited, you cannot change the voices volume and the subtitles are barely legible in 1080p. basic things like the flashlight do not work as intended, which is critical to gameplay. the game has the foundations for something good but the final product is just very bad.
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