The Darkness at the Brink of Ohio review

This solo horror journaling game packs a lot of content within its pages. While most of the book is about the gameplay itself, there is some space in the back for how to decompress after playing. This, in our opinion, was a waste of space, which is a massive shame. Another thing to note is that this game has extremely limited replay value. The awesome radio show is always the same. And because there are no traditional game mechanics, outcomes tend to feel the same as your first playthrough. 

With all of that being said, the voice acting for the show itself combined with the way the prompts are written makes Darkness at the Brink of Ohio a really fun journaling game, even if you only play it once.

Raven’s Section 

Darkness at the Brink of Ohio was brilliant, and that’s putting it lightly. There are so many things that this game has going for it, and while I wish that there was a touch more in the way of mechanics, I really enjoyed the 2ish hours I spent playing this game.

Darkness at the Brink of Ohio asks you to create a character using one of the following roles: 

• Security Guard 
• Gas Station Attendant 
• Clinical Lab Technician 
• Technical Support Specialist 
• Funeral Director

The way this game works is that you answer a series of questions, track the time using a clock, and listen to a radio show. You need something to keep track of your answers, a way to listen to the radio show, and after that, you’re good to go. 

The questions listed for each job to get your character started are really on theme, which I appreciate. For example, the Security Guard job will ask you what you did before you became a security guard. You can swap that basic question around for the character creation portion with every job. The first chunk of character creation will be the same for every job. 

The questions did an alright job of getting me in the headspace. These are small character-building questions meant to get you started, after all. Once you finish, you’ll be asked to answer a few more questions before starting the radio show. 

Darkness at the Brink of Ohio doesn’t feature anything that you might associate with game mechanics. You don’t roll dice, there are no damage tables, and character creation doesn’t include picking any weapons or anything. Instead, you listen to the show and answer questions the whole time. Which works for a roughly 2-hour experience. 

My first character was a security guard, and I had a lot of fun slipping into his headspace. Without spoiling any of the story beats, the game does get slightly intense towards the middle, which I greatly appreciated. 

John’s Section

I’ve covered a few solo games in my time writing on RPGs, but Darkness at the Brink of Ohio caught my ear through its unique pitch of the soundtrack. Music has a unique potential for communicating tone and atmosphere; its emotional effects can be distracting for games with multiple people talking with one another, but for a solo game that problem doesn’t exist. Moreover, it helps evoke the sense of isolation and introspection that comes along with its theme: you’re working the night shift alone in Akron, Ohio, as DJ Mike entertains listeners. Over the course of the night, the songs transition into something more horrific.

I was long a fan of Welcome to Night Vale’s early seasons, and the idea of adding a personal interactive component to such a broadcast is a natural but ingenious maneuver. ARGs are already a well-trodden part of the horror genre, i.e. Marble Hornets, and this is welcome experimentation in the realm of tabletop RPGs. I was excited to see where this game in particular leads, along with what experimentation along these lines will look like in the future.

The book itself is 110 pages, paired with the soundtrack. Other than that, all you’ll need is something to write with, and a picture that your in-game character looks at while they work. They also recommend costuming or setting yourself in a space similar to your character, to help get in the headspace.

At different intervals throughout the soundtrack, you’ll be answering questions about your character’s past and present. I won’t spoil what happens except to say that this experiment opens up some great potential in the world of solo roleplay. $15 for the digital version of this ~2 hour experience is more than reasonable.