Indiecade 10: Groping in the Dark Preview

Groping in the Dark is a independent video game that literally spawned out of nowhere. Considering that it won the Jury Award at this year’s Indiecade Awards Show, our interests had peaked not solely because of its title but the typographic gameplay reminiscent to an adventure horror game. IndieGamesChannel states that Groping in the Dark is a “culmination of the ten-year journey towards creating a game with a substantial narrative behind it.” And I’m inclined to believe that statement.

Groping in the Dark will be the first game in a four part series. The story centers on a girl who is kidnapped and taken to a mysterious place surrounded by darkness. The goal is to progress the narrative and ultimately help her escape. Utilizing a mouse, the player must make sense of ‘kinetic typography’ in effect continuing the story through your actions. Team Arex stated that it aims to turn “letters into images and then these images into meanings” as a focus for its gameplay.

In our time with the game at IndieCade, our editor fiddled around with the mouse and typography. We described as a interactive crossword puzzle, circling around specific letters that acted as keywords for the narrative. Ulitmately, we felt a bit disconnected because of the language barrier despite the subtitles placed in the game. In actuality, we really wished we knew Korean to understand the nuances of the typography!

Talking with Team Arex, the Seoul-based developers had been friends since elementary school and decided to partner up to design video games for a living in 2000. Since then, they developed engaging puzzle titles like Ladder, Rhythmic Worm, and Run Dorothy. Following the release of The Inspector, the studio put its efforts towards narrative focused gaming and Groping in the Dark was the result of their work. Currently the game is unavailable as a public release but we will follow up with the developers when it will be available.

And congratulations on your award, it was truly a beautiful night!