The Darkside Detective: Backside of the Moon is shaping up to be just as silly, over-the-top and completely wonderful as its predecessors.
Thanks to Spooky Doorway and Akupara Games, ScreenHub was recently able to get hands-on with the first chapter of this long-awaited sequel, and it’s a lush, irreverent point-and-click mystery that really sets the scene for the kooky adventure ahead.
The Darkside Detective 3 preview – quick links
Investigating the dark side
The Darkside Detective franchise is a series of point-and-click adventure games inspired by Twin Peaks, as well as other popular sci-fi, fantasy, action and horror media.
You guide Detective McQueen, a stand-in for Kyle MacLachlan’s Dale Cooper, and Officer Dooley, a stand-in for Harry Goaz’s Andy Brennan, as they investigate a series of increasingly strange, magical cases.
The first games featured cases inspired by Alice in Wonderland, Die Hard, Dawn of the Dead and Psycho, with each offering the chance for players to explore strange worlds and experiment with classic point-and-click gameplay.
To solve each case, players must investigate and interrogate a range of suspects, while also discovering items and combining them to fit unique puzzles.
While gameplay is compelling on its own, with some really clever, logically fun challenges across each Darkside Detective case, what really makes this series stand out is its sharp wit and humour.
Cases are incredibly well-written, with McQueen and Dooley having an ultra-fun ‘straight man vs fool’ dynamic that lends itself well to snappy jokes, silly puns and absolutely ridiculous scenarios.
That tradition continues in The Darkside Detective: Backside of the Moon, which presents a new array of cases, but with the same sense of wild charm and glee as its flavourful predecessors.
Kicking off with a Borrowers parody
The opening case in this upcoming game concerns a magical item that accidentally shrinks McQueen and Dooley down to minuscule size. In the vein of The Borrowers, they must come to grips with their new, incredibly large surrounds, and use any item they can to overcome their conundrum.
All sorts of shenanigans ensue, as Dooley and McQueen argue about the items they find under their office desk and who left what where. This only becomes more complex as they meet two tiny denizens of this miniature world, one of whom is a warrior of thimble and fork, and another who just wants to take a shower – but is being harassed by a possessive rat.
You’re tasked with obtuse thinking, as you figure out how to remove the rat, get a safety pin you need, retrieve a pen and rubber band, and make it to the next part of the case. Like all good mystery games, Backside of the Moon relies on event chains, with a tight sequence to follow.
You want to make it into the coat pocket of Detective McQueen (which functions as a portal) but you can’t get there unless you can hook up a rubber band to a calendar. To get the rubber band, you need leverage. To get leverage, you need a pen. Working backwards, it all spirals into the need for a safety pin, and to lure away a rat.
What works so well about this particular puzzle, the part of the game now available in a public demo, is how the logic flows. It’s not only game logic you must understand but real world logic. If a rat must be lured away, what do you need? In your own experiences, and your real-world knowledge, you must come to a certain conclusion.
Of course, you can also click away and find an assortment of possible false answers before stumbling onto the real one but The Darkside Detective 3 does an excellent job of leaving breadcrumbs, with just enough challenge, and just enough clues, in its mix of obstacles.
When it all finally clicks, you’ll feel triumphant. You’ll feel on top of the world.
As just a small bite of cheese, this segment of The Darkside Detective 3 does leave you longing for more, but that’s the case with any good game demo or preview. I’m certainly keen to see what’s next, and to see how the adventures of McQueen and Dooley evolve from here.
For now, The Darkside Detective: Backside of the Moon has not been dated for release. With developer Spooky Doorway fresh off releasing the excellent The Séance of Blake Manor, the studio is now well-positioned for its next grand adventure.
