A Dark Room

The fire is dead. The room is freezing. You stoke the flames. That's how it begins—and saying more would spoil one of gaming's most remarkable narrative experiments.

A Dark Room looks like nothing special: plain text, minimalist buttons, no graphics to speak of. Created by Doublespeak Games in 2013, it masquerades as a simple incremental clicker. Gather wood. Build huts. Watch numbers climb. But something darker lurks beneath the surface, revealed only to those patient enough to explore.

Resource management evolves into village building, then expeditions into a mysterious wasteland. Each discovery raises questions. What is this place? What happened here? Who are you, really? The answers, when they finally arrive, hit with unexpected emotional weight.

Multiple endings reward replays while speedrunners have optimized completion to under 90 minutes. The ambient soundtrack enhances the contemplative atmosphere. Play free at adarkroom.doublespeakgames.com—but go in blind for the best experience.