REVIEW – This isn’t exactly the East Germany we might remember, and the year is straight out of Orwell, as this first-person, cinematic psychological thriller takes place in 1984. Karma: The Dark World is strange—but not in a good way. Still, it manages to avoid the total chaos and incoherence of something like Quantum Error (hey TeamKill, where’s that PC port…?).

While it’s fair to call the game weird, it still manages to keep players engaged—at least for a while.

The Lame Investigation of Daniel McGovern

It’s not that bad. You take control of an agent working for the Leviathan Thought Bureau (which, by the way, doesn’t sound remotely German), and your colleague’s suspicious behavior quickly spirals into something much bigger. The problem is that the story in K:TDW becomes wildly unpredictable, which drags the gameplay into similarly erratic territory. There are puzzles, detective segments, occasional chase sequences, irritating jumpscares, and splashes of horror throughout. The story revolves around family, loss, and love. Everything feels hopeless, and Daniel’s mental state is hanging by a thread. That makes it tough to distinguish between reality and delusion—and while you dive deep into minds (literally), that only complicates things further. The game gives you that vibe where you sit down for an afternoon and stand up in the evening feeling unsettled. It can be finished in about four hours, and near the end, it tries to break some patterns with creative camera work. But beyond wondering why you’re taking pictures of massive red eyes, you just keep pushing forward. There is combat too, including at least one frustrating fight.

The narrative will definitely divide players. A second playthrough might help clarify things, but odds are, most won’t bother. The game looks decent. On PlayStation 5 Pro, the image is cleaner, textures sharper, and overall visual fidelity improves during movement. It runs at 4K with 60 FPS, offering stable frame pacing and smooth gameplay—thanks to PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution. Even on the base PS5, it performs well. The game was developed by a Chinese team, Pollard Studio, and this is their debut project. A drug called Bluebottle also plays a role—Leviathan injects it into their agents to enhance productivity. That mind-diving (called “Dive”) is anything but safe, as McGovern finds out when probing the psyche of a scientist named Sean Mehndez, who claims to have lost a leg to a monster—but was never compensated. McGovern soon realizes Mehndez’s story doesn’t add up. That’s when things start to unravel.

Leviathan’s Dark Secrets

Karma: The Dark World looks great at first glance—but don’t be fooled. It takes a while to get going. The deeper you go, the weirder it gets—eventually sliding into abstract, even avant-garde territory. Unlike Observer, there’s no consistent tension humming in the background. Pollard Studio takes a different route from Bloober Team, and it works. The unsettling, inexplicable situations create a different kind of tension that suits K:TDW well. It has a bit of a walking simulator vibe, which could divide players. Some might appreciate the mix of strolling, solving puzzles, and sudden horror. Others might find the experience forgettable. But the game’s world? It’s excellent.

You could call it unique and very creative. That might be its strongest suit. The weirdness here is genuinely effective. The effects, slow camera pans, and unusual angles pack a punch—toward the end, the whole thing feels like an art film. That complicates scoring, since you’re essentially judging it both as a game and a movie. Still, one thing’s clear: this Chinese-developed title is pushing the boundaries of video game presentation. That alone could make it an inspiration for other developers. Sometimes, it takes a while for audiences to catch up—just like with the original Metal Gear Solid, which was praised at launch but only later became legendary.

One-Time Experience

Karma: The Dark World gets a 7/10 because it’s not bad—but it’s short, its story is hard to follow, and by the end it veers fully into the abstract. Still, it’s a one-of-a-kind experience—not the kind of thing you see often. The creative world-building, striking visuals, and dark, disturbing mood all help elevate the final score. That said, it might be smarter to wait for a discount. The game is short, and its current price may not be worth the investment.

-V-

Publisher: Wired Productions, Gamera Games
Developer: Pollard Studio
Genre: Walking simulator, horror, East Germany
Release: March 27, 2025