Heart of Darkness

$86.99
Regular price: ~~$97.99~~
Sale price: $86.99
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Collector Grade

Packaging & contents:

Complete in box

Box, manual and game — all original, all in the photos. Game condition guide →

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Item Condition

Complete in box: the disc, the manual and the original case, all original. Original inserts or paperwork shown in the photos are included; display stands and other photography props are not. The photos are of this exact disc — look them over closely for its condition, packaging and details. Discs are professionally resurfaced when they need it and tested before listing. It ships in a collector's bag or a hard plastic case.

Item Description

Heart of Darkness is one of those quietly remarkable games that tends to fly under the radar despite being a standout of the PlayStation library. Developed by the French team Amazing Studio under Éric Chahi, the creator of Another World, and published in North America by Interplay and in Europe by Infogrames, it arrived in 1998 after a notoriously protracted development that began in 1992 and that Chahi later described as six years long. The passion behind that effort shows in every frame. What players got at the end of the wait was a cinematic, side-scrolling platformer with stunning pre-rendered environments, thousands of frames of fluid 2D animation and a dark, emotional tone that set it apart from nearly everything else on the system.

The story follows young Andy on a desperate mission to rescue his dog Whisky, carried off by shadow creatures to the realm of the Master of Darkness. It sounds simple enough on paper, but the game handles its premise with real weight and atmosphere. Andy is not a superhero. He is a clever, resourceful kid who is afraid of the dark, navigating an alien and hostile world, armed at first with a plasma cannon that fires lightning at the shadows and later with the powers of a magic rock, and that vulnerability makes every encounter feel meaningful. The journey shifts from a canyon and a swamp to an underwater cave, a lava river and the alien world of Darkland, each one dripping with atmosphere and creative design.

What makes Heart of Darkness especially striking even today is how cinematic it feels. Around half an hour of story cinematics carry the adventure from start to finish, set to an original score by film and television composer Bruce Broughton. The gameplay itself is methodical and sometimes punishing: expect to die, think your way through clever puzzles, and savor the satisfaction when a tricky sequence finally clicks, with checkpoints and unlimited tries keeping you moving forward. It is the kind of game that rewards patience and attention, with a visual identity all its own, and it carries the cinematic platforming of Another World into the 32-bit era on a far grander scale.

Fast factsgame data via IGDB

Released: 1998
Publisher: Interplay Entertainment
Developer: Amazing Studio
Genre: Platformer
Players: Single player

About the game

Heart of Darkness places players in the role of a child named Andy as he attempts to rescue his dog who has been kidnapped by creatures known as The Dark Souls. The game has about half an hour of storytelling cinematic sequences, thousands of 2D animated frames, and uses pre-rendered background scenery. The game was supervised by game developer Éric Chahi, known for Another World, this time with a team of artists and developers. The game also features an original score by film and television composer Bruce Broughton. A Game Boy Advance port was announced in 2001 but it was never released.

Summary from the IGDB community database — the condition and contents of this listing are described above and in the photos.

Watch gameplayHeart of Darkness on PlayStation

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