By Enthusiasts of psychological horror are in for an anxiety-provoking experience this year. Karma: The Dark World seems like an intriguing, deeply unsettling first-person cinematic horror game set to launch on PC at the end of 2025. I had the opportunity to demo the game for around three hours and found the gameplay to be refreshingly spine-chilling.
Set in an alternate version of East Germany in 1984, Karma: The Dark World merges an Orwellian dystopia with some of the most captivating elements of classic psychological thrillers. The player takes on the role of Daniel McGovern, a Travel Agent employed by the Leviathan Organization—specifically, its Thought Bureau. The Leviathan Organization appears to have effectively reshaped the government of the entire Soviet Union.
It quickly becomes clear that regardless of which division one is assigned to, Leviathan cultivates a paranoid, hostile, exceptionally bizarre working environment. For instance, upon visiting the Thought Bureau offices, players will notice that Daniel’s coworkers all possess television heads rather than faces, with their expressions displayed on the screen. Although Daniel’s own biological head seems intact, he shows no reaction when encountering his TV-headed colleagues. There are numerous peculiar little details like this, many hinting at this version of East Germany’s advanced technological developments. Leviathan is managed by Mother: an artificial intelligence designed by Soviet scientists to enforce social order. Given the public executions Daniel witnesses early in the game, the entire social order aspect appears to be not functioning so well.
Daniel operates as a sort of mental detective, stepping in when a serious thought crime has occurred, analyzing the situation, and gathering evidence to present to Mother. He is currently in the process of tracking down a suspect named Sean Mendhez. Sean has committed some form of offense, and although the specifics are hazy, one thing is clear: Mother demands answers.
Daniel collects evidence through a rather unconventional method: braindives. Braindives are akin to Cyberpunk 2077’s braindance technology, with the most significant difference being that Thought Bureau agents can delve into a living person’s consciousness to sift through their memories instead of reviewing a recording of an event. However, braindives are not without risk—things can go awry during the interrogation, although it seems that Leviathan generally tries to keep the mortality rate low, and Daniel has an exceptional track record in conducting braindives without accidentally harming his subjects.
It ultimately becomes evident that Sean is also an employee of Leviathan, but not in the Thought Bureau. Instead, he is involved with The Winston Institute, which serves as Leviathan’s equivalent of DARPA. Upon investigating the institute, it becomes clear that whatever crime Sean committed has caused significant turmoil for both the Institute and Leviathan itself. Sean’s workspace, which he shared with several other colleagues, has been completely ransacked, and various parts of the Winston Institute seem to have been damaged only recently. Tall file cabinets and desks lie overturned and haphazardly placed, creating a chaotic maze of office furniture. The incident appears to have occurred very recently, yet it’s difficult to imagine Sean causing such extensive damage. Sean is a slender, soft-spoken individual who recently suffered a severe on-the-job injury, making it hard to picture him throwing around file cabinets.
The game possesses a strange, delightfully Lynchian vibe. A room designed to resemble Sean’s home bears a striking resemblance to Twin Peaks’ red room, where it’s revealed that Sean was recently demoted due to his injury, his bills are piling up, and his relationship with his partner and young daughter has suffered as a result. But the narrative takes a turn into a waking nightmare when Daniel undertakes a braindive into Sean’s consciousness. It seems that Sean has stolen some kind of sample from The Winston Institute, but it’s unclear precisely what it is or how it led to this level of chaos.
Karma—while it has thus far been immensely disquieting and captivating, albeit not particularly grandiose—reveals its truly horrific essence as Sean’s memories unfold. A grotesque, multi-limbed monster lurks within the halls of The Winston Institute, and Karma’s impeccable pacing heightens its reveals even further. The game doesn’t rely heavily on jump scares, so when they do occur, they are much more effective. (I flung a controller halfway across the room when a small figure made an unexpected appearance.) Up until now, the story is intriguing enough to keep one’s attention without having something leap out and shout “Boo!” every few minutes. These early moments in Karma expertly lower the player’s guard just enough to terrify them when necessary, without being overly predictable, tedious, or too generous with jumpscares.
The main issue the game faces is the protagonist being rather sluggish. The world of Karma is rich and captivating, and the hours I spent playing were filled with enjoyable puzzles. (Some of them indeed feel like they operate on moon logic, but for…
primarily the most significant aspect, Karma’s enigmas can also be unraveled without the urge to reference a history.) However, the standard walking speed is excruciatingly slow, which makes navigating a scene or retracing steps in a vast area while searching for a puzzle solution quite nerve-wracking. Things only get worse if you try to rush.
The introduction of running causes Karma’s otherwise excellent pacing to experience a speed bump. In a moment, you catch sight of a horrific pursuer that seems to be moving disturbingly fast. It is a tense moment that feels like it could escalate into a chaotic dash, but it’s genuinely hard not to chuckle when you press the run button and Daniel merely strolls down the hallway at a pace that is only slightly faster than his default snail’s pace. Rushing through Karma’s mind-bending environment feels like a leisurely walk, leading to an experience that is stressful (though undeniably enjoyable), which undermines the built-up tension and unease up to that point.
Navigation is another area where Karma falters. In my experience, players will mainly be guiding Daniel in a straight path or moving through a sequence of rooms while ultimately progressing forward. There do seem to be occasions where this isn’t the case, but the game doesn’t do a good job of highlighting them. At one moment, while I was playing, I ca