It was a lucky coincidence that I started to read George Orwell’s 1984 right before playing KARMA: The Dark World as it enhanced the immersive experience the game offered. KARMA, the newest game from Pollard Studio, reflects Orwell’s portrayal of a grim dystopian world ruled by a totalitarian government with constant surveillance. With the technological creation of Mother AI, Leviathan Corporation’s influence in the Soviet Union acts as an all-pervading force that makes the world of KARMA feel scary enough. You play as Daniel McGovern, a ROAM agent who investigates crime and reports to the Thought Bureau, a department under Leviathan Corp. When an ordinary case of theft leads Daniel deep into uncovering a conspiracy, he is left with more questions than answers.
The story of KARMA: The Dark World jumps between 1966 through 1984 as Daniel navigates the truth within his own mind and the mind of others by piecing together clues of a bigger mystery. One of Daniel’s main responsibilities is to interrogate suspects by diving into their minds and reliving their memories and nightmares. This is where the game ramps up its psychological horror and makes you feel like you are on a bad acid trip. With his investigative and survival skills, Daniel has to escape from all kinds of hellscapes and monsters while the environment around him keeps changing. There were certain scary moments in KARMA that had me jump off my chair and sometimes even yell at my screen for Daniel to run faster as he got chased by a huge monster.
Most of the gameplay offered in KARMA: The Dark World is nothing too intense or flashy. When confronted by monsters or any danger, Daniel is expected to either sneak around stealthily or run away. Such encounters are expected to be solved in your own way and, though they took a bit of trial and error, they were easily manageable.
As a ROAM agent, Daniel’s main job is to investigate crime scenes and persons of interest by looking for information and clues, which means lots of puzzle solving. The puzzles in the game range between too easy to very challenging. While I solved most of them very quickly, there was one puzzle towards the end that took me almost two days to figure out. At one point, I really thought I might not be able to progress further but with some help, less than four hours of sleep, and a strong determination, I managed to crack the solution and it was the ego booster I needed. Additionally, there are collectibles in the form of puzzle boxes that can be found and solved with the help of complex ciphers. These puzzle boxes contain bits of lore about the dark world of KARMA and scratched my Orwellian itch perfectly.
KARMA: The Dark World takes place in first person from Daniel’s POV and while this caters to a more horrifying ambience as intended, it also offers in-depth storytelling of the fragile state of humanity under an oppressive rule that makes the experience all the more personal. Every character in this game has a role to play with their own individual arcs that highlights their tragedy caused by an unforgiving and ruthless state of a broken system. And through their exceptional acting, the very talented voice cast featured in KARMA: The Dark World have translated this misery on-screen wonderfully.
With around 10-12 hours of playtime, KARMA: The Dark World pulls you in by the shoulders and guarantees you a horror-inducing good time. The game’s biggest strength lies in its narrative and world-building aspect, which lends to being thematically profound. Even though it takes place between the 60s and the 80s, Karma: The Dark World feels very much relevant to what’s happening in our world today. As Gen AI slowly steals our jobs and basic cognitive thinking abilities, it’s not far-fetched to wonder if it will one day grow a mind of its own and completely dominate humans. KARMA shows a version of this possible future and how it’s a bigger horror than any monster, alien, or demon combined. Because, ultimately, human beings are the masters of their own downfall.
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