KARMA: The Dark World Preview

KARMA: The Dark World is an upcoming dystopian first-person psychological thriller/horror title. Not only does the game take inspiration from the works of George Orwell, it is also set in 1984, taking place in a world dominated by the Leviathan Corporation, who are an oppressive entity controlling everything from behind the scenes.

The player character is an amnesiac employee of Leviathan who wakes up restrained to a bed, marked with strange, somewhat crude surgical incisions and surrounded by odd scientific equipment. Not long after, you encounter a room filled with dead bodies, all seemingly having been victims of similar experiments to the ones carried out on you.

As you wander through Leviathan’s corporate halls, a sense of anxiety builds that is effectively exaggerated upon. KARMA: The Dark World’s blend of surreal, Lynchian influences and survival horror mechanics keep the player on edge, combining Cold War-era aesthetics with eerie visuals reminiscent of films like Kubrick’s The Shining. Fans of Remedy’s Control will also feel right at home here.

Slowly you learn that the facility you are exploring is located in East Germany, despite the fact that your character speaks with a posh English accent. This adds to the idea that you are a fish out of water in this environment and have found yourself a long way from home; not that your character can even remember where home is.

The Leviathan Corporation is producing a drug called Bluebottle, which promises to enhance productivity but also comes packing some dark, distressing side effects. Though this preview doesn’t let the player venture into the world beyond the walls of the facility, the strange occurrences witnessed on the inside make it clear that if this drug does make it into the outside world, the wider consequences could be dire.

The environments in KARMA: The Dark World are appropriately bizarre, with piles of discarded televisions being found in offices surrounded by statues of dogs holding notes that twitch violently. You will encounter old-fashioned computer monitors initially displaying messages that praise the Leviathan Corporation, only to later switch to show degrading messages of abuse.

Towards the latter half of the preview, the player encounters a grotesque monster that chases you through twisting, distorted hallways. The game warps reality, shortening passages, flipping them upside down, and creating a disorienting maze. This section reminded me a lot of Control and also of the ending of Tango Gameworks’ GhostWire: Tokyo.

As you near the end of the preview, it is revealed that you are playing as Daniel McGovern, who is an agent for Leviathan’s Thought Bureau. This short experience is just one of Daniel’s mental journeys that players will experience in the game’s full release. These mind explorations will be used to expand the narrative in KARMA: The Dark World, exposing new secrets about the Leviathan Corporation as you progress.

The use of Unreal Engine 5 ensures stunning visuals throughout. The demo ran pretty smoothly on my gaming laptop, and the graphics looked impressive. I really like the art direction here as it manages to blend a feeling of realism with a bold artistic style that helps add to the game’s general odd and unsettling atmosphere.

Gameplay in the preview mostly consists of exploring the strange surroundings you find yourself in, interacting with key objects, evading monsters, and solving a few puzzles to make progress. I also really appreciated the game’s unique approach to setting technical adjustments. Instead of using a typical settings menu, players fine-tune audio and visual settings by walking through a sequence of rooms that are worked into the narrative.

KARMA: The Dark World seems to be striving to impress with its voice acting, visuals, and psychological depth. There’s clearly a deeper, personal narrative present behind the surface-level horror elements that will likely be revealed upon the game’s full release. Add to that a rich soundtrack and some eerie sound effects, and KARMA: The Dark World stands out as a promising title that seems to be trying to do something rather unique within a tired genre.