Dark Seed
Meet Mike Dawson: successful advertising agent, writer, and recent gothic home owner. Sure the place is full of odd hidden rooms and needs a good interior decorator, but you should have seen the deal that Fictional Banking & Homes gave good ol' Mikey. Why, it's almost as if they couldn't get rid of the place fast enough...
Welcome to Dark Seed a cautionary tale of home ownership that resonates with today's housing market. We've all had to deal with otherworldly techno-organic races forcibly implanting gestating embryos in our foreheads, right?
As Mike, you're tasked with deciding the fate of mankind. If you allow the little bundle of terror nestled in your brain to come to term, then a species of troublemakers (known only as “the ancients”) will destroy humanity as we know it. Save yourself and you enjoy the life-long memory of having your melon violated by creepy aliens.
Mike probably should have settled on the townhouse.
Jokes about the plot aside, Dark Seed is notorious for being a game that hates you. Unlike other adventure titles (which usually give you short of eternity to collect items and solve problems), events in Dark Seed must happen within a certain time frame. If you miss an item due to dillydallying the game becomes impossible to win. There's also the issue of poor coding, which leads to frequent crashes and bugs hindering your progress.
In fact, Dark Seed would likely have remained roadkill on the great avenues of the nostalgiaways were it not for the artwork contributed by one H.R. Giger. Lord knows the most disturbing thing in the game happens about a minute after you see the title screen. It's unfortunate that Cyberdreams, the game's publisher, was understaffed and underfunded, because a little more loving would have yielded an enjoyable game worthy of Giger's art.
Because bad voiceovers weren't invented by the PlayStation era, and as proof that bad games are released at all points along the gamer timeline, Dark Seed is our vision-blurring Classic Game of the Week! Horrified? Click “Read More” to check out some screenshots.
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Loved the concept and the idea behind the game, but the difficulty and the puzzles made it nigh impossible to play this one without some sort of guide.
I had this for the Amiga. I didn't find it to be that awful, but then again I had the "official" walkthrough/hint guide. Without that I could see where this game would basically become impossible to finish.
One should also mention that it came on like eight floppy disks. Ah, those were the days. Trying to find the right disk and waiting for it to load up sure padded out the gameplay time.
Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/biginjapan/
Adventure games in this mold were really THE reason why The Divine Forces of the Universe created cheat guides.
"Oh, you mean you didn't pick up the key in the second blue book from the left in your study 20 minutes ago? Sorry, you really needed that to finish this puzzle section up. Oh, no, you can't go back and get it now. Have fun restarting the damned game!"
Most Adventure games wouldn't really punish you for overlooking something or not playing "click the pixels" over every possible surface.
This game, its disdain was palpable.
I do like being smug. - Certis
I think it would be great if Giger made a contribution to a new game, now that we're in a gaming era where the graphics can actually do justice to his art. But there's probably more chance of him releasing a range of wallpaper and soft furnishings...
Employee, with Games
Oh man, I'd somehow managed to completely forget this one. This is one of the last games I ever bought and played on my Mac LC II, and it ran absolutely terribly on it.
As a teenager, I actually found the plot and artwork really intriguing, but I got so frustrated fighting the actual gameplay that I never finished the thing. I think - but I'm not certain - that this is one of those games that had a toll "hint line" which you could call for help when you got stuck, ala King's Quest. That's a sure sign that there's something wrong with your game.
I loved this game. Fortunately, when it came out, I was only a wee lad with interminable patience so its flaws really didn't stand out.
Well, Cooking Mama didn't help me become a better cook, and Trauma Center certainly didn't help me become a better surgeon. I have the proof of both sitting in my freezer. -- imbiginjapan
Me too. My sister and I would sit by the hour playing this game, and I, being a young, impressionable boy, loved seeing an alien pop out of your head every time you died. I loved this so much that I didn't mind the fact that you died at least 10 times an hour.
Fletcher wrote:
I'd love a modern remake of this (perhaps more of a survival horror feel with the emphasis on puzzles over combat).
wow main: Stonesfolly, Teranus EU | Live: stonesfolly | PSN: stevenmack
There was a Dark Seed 2, shinier graphics but they didn't really sort the gameplay out. Sounds familiar.
Employee, with Games
All I remember about this game is that there's something nasty in a baby carriage and it gave me nightmares. Is that what you mean by the disturbing thing one minute into the game? I've blocked out everything but the memory that it was horrible. I stopped playing right then.
Steam ID: http://steamcommunity.com/id/nyles
Favorite puzzle: Grim Fandango -- the metal detector
What he's talking about is actually before you ever even play the game.
Intro Movie
What happens when you die
edit: damn, I should have tried to Rick Roll you all... or did I?
Fletcher wrote:
Hour of gameplay (maybe full playthrough, didn't watch the whole thing) for those interested.
If I had to listen to that voice during the whole game, I'd be the one who'd have a headache.
"Men like sex, thus boobies! Oogaba!" - dejanzie
"Something bad happens, A-Team is hired, things go wrong, plan comes together, fools are pitied and sh*t blows up. The end." - Mystic Violet
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The game wasn't completely without clues but it really seemed like it was die until something works. And movement was so slow.
The voices say hello.
I didn't know this game was made by Sierra.
Certis wrote:
Zigguratbuilder wrote:
PSN name: DoubtingTom396 Frie-hend meeeee uuuuup!
No discussion of this game is complete without mentioning Slowbeef's awesome playthrough.
Also Darkseed 2.
Warning: Reading a "Let's Play" of a game will absolutely ruin it for you. On the other hand, you may want to just enjoy finding out more about the game. In which case this will be an amazing half hour.
Garth Marenghi wrote: