KARMA: The Dark World – PS5 Review

From Shanghai based Pollard Studio we have KARMA: The Dark World, a narrative-driven psychological horror game, bringing to mind the film depiction of 1984 in some ways as well as Terry Gilliam’s masterful Brazil.

Set in an alternate version of East Germany, you play as Daniel McGovern, a Roam Agent for the Leviathan Corporation Thought Bureau. His name is a bit unlikely in East Germany at the time, and depending on where you look, it might be spelt McGowern…

Several other characters in the game are also a little unwieldy like the first guy you investigate, the unfortunate Sean Mehndez.  Oddly, there’s no German surnames anywhere, which makes us suspect the setting of East Germany is one of convenience to explain away the utilitarian grey architecture.

They’re not quite Bobson Dugnutt or Gaetan Bamphous from the legendary Fighting Baseball on the Super Famicom, but they do betray the non-native English-speaking writers going with names that sound like they might fit, even though they don’t really.

What will immediately strike you is the graphical finesse on display here. Your player character is depicted initially in a dishevelled state for reasons that aren’t initially clear, but will eventually be revealed to you as you progress through the storyline. All the character models and environmental design are largely very well done, with only a few missteps along the way.

You’re very much corralled to follow the plot beats here, with not much in the way of player agency. If you don’t jump through the hoops set out here, you won’t progress. Your first task is to interrogate the aforementioned Mehndez, who for want of a better word, is having a really bad time of it. We say interrogate, what you actually do is dive into his mind, sort of an aggressive mind meld, just with a technological doohickey.

Given the minds eye aspect, this gives the developers a little agency in terms of incidental character design, with a great many being depicted as men and women, only with their heads replaced by old style CRTs. Other than the question of how heavy a cathode ray tube TV is, battery tech in the ‘70s hadn’t quite got to lithium-ion tech yet, so for their TVs to show a face is a bit of creative licence.

Think Robocop 2 but without the insane criminal being the drug addicted brain of a robot. That’s not to say there’s no criminal conspiracy afoot here, as your first impressions would have you believe that is the case.

The fact that this is so plot driven, leaves us loathe to discuss much in the way of the storyline, lest we spoil it for you. As you’re inhabiting Mehndez’s mind you’ll be pressed into the everyday drudgery of his clerical role including rubberstamping paperwork. Each section has a collectible to find, generally some background flavour by way of documents or a little logic puzzle with an unlockable figurine penned a ‘rule follower.’ It fits into the plot of the conformist society with any infringements, however small, being dealt with harshly.

As well as Sean, you’ll explore the mind of a lab tech called Rachel and how she fits into the conspiracy that runs throughout the Leviathan Corporation. It gives you a bit more context as to how your character is something of a blank cipher to begin with, as well as how Sean ended up in a world of pain.

As you progress, your character will begin to question their reality and how they fit into it. We have to confess, by the time the final credits rolled and a little stinger was unveiled, we felt a little baffled by exactly what had just transpired.

You’ll go into Cronenbergian nightmare scenarios with all sorts of horrors lurking in the shadows, including the ill-fated Lucas, whose plight was accelerated by the mysterious otherworldly compound penned ‘Dasein’. Think a cross between an abomination from Stranger Things and a beast from the mind of Guillermo Del Toro and you’ll be on the right track at least.

If we’ve any complaint, it’s that the game isn’t the longest. While you can take your time seeking out the few collectibles and going for the ‘solve X without error or dying’ trophies, you’ll likely be pretty much done in the space of about six or seven hours. We’ve only clocked a bit more due to our wanting to be as thorough as possible for the purposes of this review.

Sometimes you’ll simply be baffled as to what to do next, with some sections not being all that straightforward, particularly the chase sequences that you face, thankfully infrequently. Also one encounter with a connected trophy isn’t all that straightforward, with judicious checkpoint reloads required if you want to snag the trophy. If you play normally, you’ll likely be dispatched by the apparition before you know what’s actually going on.

Also, the strictly linear nature doesn’t really help with regards replayability here. At least the chapter select shows you what collectibles are outstanding, so from a completionists point of view, you can go back and finish matters off for the platinum, should you wish. We’ve got over our compulsion to play a game every day to keep a trophy streak going at least, so for us at least, that urgency has diminished.

In conclusion, KARMA: The Dark World, besides the needless capitalisation of the name, is a fun enough romp with stunning visuals, even if the plot is a bit of a confusing mess by the end. It’s just not that long and even with the collectibles, there’s not a great deal of replay value here. The fact it’s currently reduced at £17.99 on PSN is about right anyway. If you hold out, we could see this going bargain basement if it has a physical release at any point. Given this is Pollard’s first game though, it’s quite the debut.