I love this type of game — you don’t expect much from it, and it rarely disappoints.
It’s a thriller-horror with an arthouse vibe (or maybe it is arthouse), probably in the B-movie category.
There’s a decent story (for a game of this tier) short runtime, solid visuals, and some actual gameplay - even though it’s a walking simulator, there’s still something to do.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3486454740
What surprised me were the puzzles specifically the ones for collectibles, since the story-related ones are fairly simple. Honestly, I don’t remember seeing that kind of thing in other games. I rarely play puzzle games (not that smart), and I even gathered a Discord council of friends who helped me solve them via stream. It was funny - and in its own way, engaging.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3486725637
As for the ending, they overthought it, as usual. They aimed for a powerful story with a surprise twist, but ended up with the classic arthouse mess - throwing in a bunch of stuff all at once right before the finale.
It’s a good game. It doesn’t try to be a masterpiece, but I still enjoyed it. Personally, it reminded me of Observer, which I liked back in the day.

KARMA: The Dark World is a psychological thriller set in 1984 in East Germany and yes, you can draw lots of conclusions from this one line. Karma shows its inspirations on its sleeve and is more of an art form with cinematics, than an interactive game, an ode to 1984 – George Orwell. Chinese developers Pollard Studios aren’t new to this type of media, having other popular titles with heavy walking sim elements such as Martha is Dead, Close to the Sun and The Town of Light. All of these games…. I preferred much more than this.

You play as Daniel McGovern, an agent for the Thought Bureau who investigates crime scenes and can delve (literally) into the brains of the accused to see their memories. The world is 1984 – George Orwell, yes…the famous book you’ve most likely heard of (or if you haven’t, please go read it). Even the eye is a central part of the gameplay here, as well as phrases such as “Mother is Watching you” and SO, so much more. If you’re a fan of this book (who isn’t) and want to enjoy it in a video game – walking simulator version, this is for you. If you want something a bit more unique, you may need to look a bit further.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3487400479

Now, I love this book. I enjoy this theme and have played countless games which use it as their inspiration ... but I found this game to use 1984 as its sole identity (even a 1984 book is part of a puzzle incase you’re a bit slow to catch on… really?) Combine this with lacking narrative elements, as most of it seems to draw from other popular media and Karma starts to lose its identity.

Karma is predominantly a walking simulator. There are some hefty puzzles throughout but I found all to be fairly logical and although a hint option wasn’t included, I didn’t feel I needed one, which is a great indicator of balanced puzzles.

I don’t mind a game with little gameplay elements, as I love to immerse myself in the world. It is quite linear and you’re often jumping through memories, seeing contorted imagery and trying to deduce if what you’re seeing is real or not. There’s a few scares but the real horror is in the stunning art design and tension created by the atmosphere.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3487400221&tscn=1748168030

Motion sickness is quite prevalent as there are many scenes with unstoppable head bobbing, bizarre angles (adding to the surrealistic horror) and just general feelings of unease. For the most part, this didn’t bother me too much and I applaud the tension carefully crafted through the atmosphere and score.

The art direction of this game is stunning and clearly has had immense thought poured into it. It felt like each new scene provided something new, a different style. A different medium to tell its narrative. It was never stale and kept evolving the entire way through.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3486782906

The horrors of the world are expertly portrayed through a fantastic cast of voice actors and the game felt raw. Raw emotion, agony and despair. If you know Orwellian dystopias, this is no walk in the park. There is no sun hiding behind the clouds, it is dark. Classic themes of totalitarian control, surveillance, suppression of individualism and so much more are so clearly on display here.

This game was played using mouse & keyboard, and with the following PC specs.:
AMD Ryzen R5 7600x 5.4 GHz
32GB DDR5 5200 CL36 RAM
Radeon RX 6800 XT
2560x1440 resolution
NVMe 3.0 SSD
Windows 10

Playtime: Approx. 8 hours

My opinion of KARMA: The Dark World is rather mixed. I definitely like the developers previous work much better, but there is no denying that this is a very ambitious project. Personally, I would have liked to see a bit more of a unique spin on the Orwellian dystopia to really highlight the stunning art design of the game and to feel like something “different”. Instead, it feels like they tried to make “different” through a rushed ending with mass lore dumping via monologues that all became a bit confusing and detracted from the feeling the game had at the start of the game. Overall, I would say this is ok, especially if you’re new to the theme, particularly in games. Otherwise, there’s not much that’s fresh here - a very tentative recommendation.

I tend to review wholesome, puzzle, horror and narrative-driven games. If that sounds up your alley, please feel free to check out my curator page Cookie Reviews.

Review copy kindly provided by IndieGems

What a trip, like a movie pretty much. I don't really want to go in depth with this one because a few words cannot explain why Karma The Dark World is a good game, not great, but good. I will just say the plot requires 100% of your attention to really appreciate this movie esque like story. Brilliant visuals, amazing VA and some of the best 1984 homage i have seen recently.

The few drawbacks for me are the confusing plot that has trouble explaining what is going on sometimes(because there is a lot going on, trust me), and some padding and fleshing out problems in regards to the story. If you can overlook those issues you are in for a wild one. I don't know if it was only me, but at times it felt like i was playing an Hideo Kojima game, and my guess is the developers took at least some inspiration from him possibly.

8/10