Darq

Darq is presented as a 2D side-scroller with greyscale graphics, and is predominantly accompanied by minimalist ambient sounds. The player controls Lloyd throughout the game, which is set in a "zero-gravity lucid dream". He can walk left or right, and interact with environmental features like picking up objects or climbing through gaps. A key gameplay mechanic is the ability to change Lloyd's perspective or his surroundings as part of the solution for the game's many puzzles.

To accomplish this, Lloyd may walk on an adjacent wall, or pull a relevant lever. Lloyd has no means of defending himself: he must sneak past or outrun enemies, often by taking advantage of the physics system that governs his dream world.

Darq was developed by Unfold Games, an independent studio founded by professional composer Wlad Marhulets. Development for the project began in 2015, when Marhulets downloaded a copy of the Unity game engine and decided to learn more about computer programming and the creation of 3D models during his spare time. Marhulets eventually produced an experimental demo which contained about 2 to 3 minutes of gameplay time, and was persuaded by a friend to create a teaser trailer for his hobby project and upload it to the Steam Greenlight project. It ended up garnering almost 2,000 endorsements from Steam service users and became one of the top 10 most upvoted games within two weeks, along with positive assessments from critics.

Encouraged by the positive reception, Marhulets decided to develop Darq into a commercial product and undertake video game development work on a full-time basis. Marhulets initially sought funding through the American crowdfunding website Indiegogo and set a goal for $20,000, which he claimed is "the minimum amount" he needed in order to complete the game's development.

Darq attracted media coverage from video game journalists prior to its release. Rock, Paper, Shotgun staff were intrigued by the game's premise, though Adam Smith said the game's flexible funding Indiegogo campaign made him somewhat uneasy in ways which are not related to its setting, while Matt Cox expressed concerns that the game's revamped art style as of 2017 seemingly leaned on mechanical allegory for Nazi war crimes and references to The Holocaust "as a cheap way of unsettling people". Austin Wood from PC Gamer praised the "remarkable depth" Darq achieved through "creative lighting and a thickly detailed foreground", as well as the sense of weight to its physics system. He lauded preview footage for Darq as "pure, helpless horror, and a great showing for a promising game".

Dustin Bailey from PCGamesN noted that Darq attracted "broadly positive reviews from both critics and Steam users" following its launch, and that Marhulet's disclosure of his dealings with publishers generated a level of fame for Darq. According to review aggregator Metacritic, Darq was generally well received on the Nintendo Switch, whereas the PlayStation 5 and PC versions were met with mixed or average reviews.