It wasn’t the image of someone clawing at their own face on the cover that drew me to Darkness Within: In Pursuit Of Loath Nolder, but the three lines written at the bottom claiming inspiration from the works of HP Lovecraft. As with many games before, I installed it half expecting the worst. After all, there have been some terrible games over the years claiming Lovecraftian inspiration, but I was soon pleasantly surprised.


In Darkness Within, you play as Police Detective Howard E Loreid, who is investigating private investigator Loath Nolder and apparently – as is evident from the very beginning, when you wake up in an asylum – going ever-so-slightly insane.