Come and visit the totally normal and totally NOT haunted city of Twin Lakes. Enjoy such delights as black market cookie vendors, retirement home raves and very naughty spirit clowns. Somehow these strange yet common occurrences go largely unnoticed by the populace. Luckily for Twin Lakes, the two heroes of The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark have a knack for bringing the law down on any dark and paranormal happenings that this city (and beyond) can throw at them.

The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark is a point and click pixel adventure that follows our protagonist Detective Francis McQueen and his best (boy)friend and partner, Officer Patrick Dooley. Together they work in the Darkside Division, the first and last line of defence against the occult and paranormal. It’s also the second game in the Darkside Detective series, starting off where the previous game ended with our hero heading off to find and rescue Officer Dooley. Now, before we continue on I would like to mention that I have not had the delight of playing the first game yet. However, I have found that you do not need to have played the previous instalment to enjoy this game.

If you haven’t had the chance to play a point and click game before, they are very simple. Point at what you want to look at/pick up/talk to, and click… that’s it. Simple! This then allows more room for your problem-solving side of the brain to spread out and get cozy.

The real meat and flavour of the game comes from the writing and dialogue. Oh boy, would I love to give the writer of this game several gold stars. Not just any gold stars either, but those special scratch and sniff ones reserved for only the coolest of kids. There is no voice acting in the game, so its story relies heavily upon its text. It’s quirky, satirical and doesn’t take anything seriously, including itself. In some games of similar writing styles, this can end up being too much and spoiling the overall atmosphere of the game. I really didn’t find this to be the case with A Fumble in the Dark. It seems to have found its perfect balance between all elements of writing, art and sound design to make this work in its favour.

There are plenty of real-world and pop culture references and jokes to find within the game. Not to mention, there is so much 4th wall breaking that I’m not sure whether this game ever had a wall to begin with. The pixels are so self-aware that I half expected them to get bored and shut the game off themselves… and that is a frightening thought.

Jokes and banter aside, The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark was so fun and an absolute joy to play. Some people don’t find point and click adventures all that engaging. Yet by closing yourself off to gameplay types such as this, you may find yourselves missing out on great gems like this game. The ultimate marker for an enjoyable game in my mind is one that makes you FEEL something positive. The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark made me laugh and smile enough to be feeling the repercussions in my muscles for a good week. It’s not a game that you need to spend hours slaving away at too. You can put it down and pick it up whenever you feel like. Take your time with it or speed through it, the pace is up to you. There is plenty of story and mystery to be had in each case, packed into around 10 hours of good gameplay.