Developer Possum House Games has created something strange and special with Shot in the Dark. The control scheme and premise of the game both lead to it being a brutally difficult experience for players, but it's also one that is engaging through to the end. Those who have the patience to suffer through Shot in the Dark's levels will ultimately find a deeply rewarding, satisfying gameplay experience.
Shot in the Dark has no dialogue or cutscenes to speak of, but it still manages to tell a simple tale. The player takes control of a bandit in the Old West who is in pursuit of a wanted criminal. The lone bandit is attempting to gain vengeance for some prior misdeed and will stop at nothing to gain it. Along the way he must fight through a host of different dangers like other gunslingers, slow moving zombies, and even invisible monsters.
It is very hard to nail down the specific genre that Shot in the Dark fits in because it pulls ideas from several kinds of games. One minute it plays like an intense platformer, the next it feels more like a shooter, and a short time later it's almost like playing a roguelike game. Players will, for the most part, navigate pretty complicated platforming levels that are not unlike a 2D Mario game. At the same time the mouse is used to control the bandit's revolver and take out foes throughout each level. Levels do not have any checkpoints, so upon death (which happens often) players will have to restart from the very beginning of that level to try and complete it. This gives Shot in the Dark its roguelike feel and repeating a level will force the player to quickly commit it to memory.
There are several shortcomings to the bandit's revolver in Shot in the Dark that make the game much more difficult. The gun is only able to carry six bullets at a time, the player can only reload one bullet every time they hit the reload button, and the player can only aim and fire while standing still. This means that the player constantly has to keep track of how many bullets they have in their gun, which can get frantic when they didn't have time to reload. Only being able to shoot when standing still also forces the player to constantly have to choose between avoiding an incoming enemy or taking it out with their gun, but pulling out the gun always puts the player directly in the line of danger.
Without a doubt one of the biggest reasons that Shot in the Dark is as difficult as it is is because of the wide array of enemies there are to face off against, as the game avoids the problem of having too many enemies that look identical to each other. The basic level bad guys like bandits and zombies probably won't cause much trouble, but there are others that have special abilities. Some of the enemies can't be seen in dark locations, so players will have to wait until they step into the light or for a lightning flash to uncover them. Others are only visible through their reflection, so the player has to use bodies of water to pinpoint their location. Every single enemy type has its own special mechanic that will need to be exploited in order to survive.
Level design is another great aspect of Shot in the Dark that continues to contribute to the game's high difficulty. Each level tends to force the player to come up with a new way to progress through it. While the gameplay is centered around platforming and shooting, there is also a level of puzzle-like gameplay to challenge those conventions at every turn. Many levels only have a few ways that players can "solve" them, whether that means only going a specific route or shooting enemies in a specific order. This makes every level feel very different and new to explore.
Shot in the Dark combines a wide array of different elements from various game genres, but it somehow manages to do so in a way that continues to feel fresh and innovative throughout its run. While it is difficult, it is never unfair. Just when players begin to feel like a level is impossible or unsolvable something will click, or they will line up their next shot perfectly. Shot in the Dark is definitely not for everyone, but fans of difficult retro games will most likely have a blast.
Shot in the Dark can be played on PC. A Steam code was provided by the developer for the purposes of this review.