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The Dark Eye

The Dark Eye is a computer game of the horror genre, released in 1995 for the PC by now-defunct software company inSCAPE. Upon its release, the game attracted little attention from either critics or consumers, though it has received some attention since. more...

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The game featured combined 3-D graphics, clay animation and video segments. With its unconventional interface, storyline, and characters, the game's peculiarity became its selling point. The characters are largely lifelike in appearance except for their clay-modeled faces, which are often distorted or feature grotesquely exaggerated features. This near-realism, sometimes referred to as the Uncanny Valley, contributed to the game's ambience of unease and anxiety.

Structurally, the game was a point-and-click adventure fueled by the macabre stories of Edgar Allan Poe. The player could experience three of the stories ("The Cask of Amontillado", "The Tell-Tale Heart", and "Berenice") from the perspectives of both murderer and victim. Also notable was the use of author William S. Burroughs as a voice actor: Burroughs provided not only the voice for the character of Edwin, but also voiceovers of two short slide-show sequences illustrating "The Masque of the Red Death" and "Annabel Lee". Thomas Dolby composed the game's music. There is a 6th story, which is not easily noticible, can be found while reading the newspaper during "The Tell-tale Heart", the story is called "The Premature Burial".

The game presented no choices to make, no life-or-death decisions, and no points; similar to other point-and-click adventures like Myst, the game simply waited for the player to find the next hotspot or location, at which point another video would play to advance the plot. During the portions that were direct interpretations of Poe's stories, the player was constrained to follow the actions of the stories' characters. The player could carry only one item at a time. Much of the animation in The Dark Eye consisted of QuickTime movies, either full-screen or smaller looping segments framed by a static background.

Storyline

The plot principally revolves around "performances" and recitations of Poe's stories, with a new plotline used as a framing device. The game is divided into a "realistic" mode in which the framing plot occurs and a "nightmarish" mode in which Poe's stories are reenacted or narrated.

The game does not specify the year in which it is set, but based on clothing and technology it appears to be in the late 1800s. The player character, whose name is never divulged, is visiting his uncle Edwin. The player first meets Edwin's assistant and then Edwin himself. He later meets Henry , the protagonist's brother, a young businessman who desires the hand of Elise, in marriage. Following exposure to chemical fumes, the player character passes out and has a nightmarish dream.

After the protagonist wakes, Henry relates his desperate situation: Edwin deeply disapproves of his love for Elise. Another nightmare follows, after which the protagonist encounters Elise, who asks him to give Henry a note. After another nightmare, the player learns that Elise has taken ill. The protagonist sees Henry and gives him Elise's note, then follows him to find that Elise has died. Henry takes her body into the catacombs beneath the house and requests that a lantern be left nearby in case she revives.