A short review for a short, but enjoyable, game.
Sometimes, you just want a donut, ya know? You don’t want a buffet, you don’t want a seven course meal, you just want a well-made, fresh-out-of-the-oven, glazed donut. The Dark Prophecy is just that, and I devoured it.
The Dark Prophecy is a retro-RPG point-and-click adventure. You’re an ordinary boy in a medieval fantasy kingdom, you get a quest, you combine likely and unlikely things to solve puzzles. The whole thing, run adequately, takes about 45 minutes to solve.
That’s not a bug, it’s a feature.
To talk about the game’s story specifically is to spoil it generally, so just know you’re a young boy in a small village who gets a message that must be brought to the court wizard. There’s no violence, only a series of obstacles that must be discovered, explored, and overcome. Point-and-click veterans will know the drill; find objects and use them in only-slightly-unpredictable ways to beat the obstacle. Then find the next obstacle.
For example, you need to get into the castle to talk to the wizard. But! The guards won’t let a commoner in! But! There’s a rumor of a secret passage! But! Where is the passage?
This is all wrapped up in a delightfully retro package, with blocky, pixelated figures and a selection arrow that changes depending on what you can interact with (people, objects) and how you interact with them (look, search, talk). It’s a perfectly cozy feel for this perfectly cozy game. Even the scary parts look more spooky than horrifying.
I recommend The Dark Prophecy to those who love retro point-and-clicks with friendly storytelling who want to kill a little time.
