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When the Darkness comes
When the Darkness comes is a walking simulator whose glitchy and dark tale tries to illustrate the hardships of depression and anxiety through a variety of imaginary digital landscapes.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-02 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-12.
What reviewers agree on
32 of the 61 reviews raise this.
“Very nice experience. The meaning and themes the game touches are also very interesting and its free.”
5 of the 61 reviews raise this.
“This is such a beautiful game and it carries a meaningful message. It'll always hold a special place in my heart.”
“A beautiful and delightful experience that I'm obsessed with finding every little detail for. (To such an extent that it's the reason I started ripping game files.) I adore it's writing, I adore it's heart, and I am…”
“This is a beautiful game. Just play it.”
3 of the 61 reviews raise this.
“It's a fun game. Play it to the end, for sure”
3 of the 61 reviews raise this.
“tbh idk what to say because this is a master piece and thats all i can say and idk how this game is even free at this point”
“The fact this game is free is just mind blowing phenomanal experience, play it if you haven't already. Requires at least one or two replays or so”
“this game is just.. absolutely incredible just play it, it's free and not too long, made my month.”
4 of the 61 reviews raise this · 1 of them still recommend the game.
“the game made me so uncomfortable to the point where i had to stop playing. i may pick it up again and finish it in the future just not right now. I guess its kind of the point of the game to make you uncomfortable…”
Counted across 61 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 92.3% positive rating · as of 2026-05-12
“This game first made me think i was playing some gimmick of a walkthrough style game, little did i know, it was helping me see into a lot of issues about myself. you have to play the game at least twice to see the difference. It was definitely eye opening. I highly recommend…”
— a player, Steam review · 3 hrs played“Hum, kinda scary sometimes but really accurate tho. This is probably one of the most well made game I played in my life, the narrator is perfect, the chapters are all very interesting”
— a player, Steam review · 5 hrs played“Very good game that my friend recommended to me. Explores mental health well. I hope you and anyone playing can follow their light too. 10/10.”
— a player, Steam review · 5 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-04 via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-09-05.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
WTDC Music Remaster and EP
Hello everyone! I just wanted to provide a nice little update from the composer of the music featured prominently in When the Darkness Comes: Mars Landscape.The composer of Mars Landscape, Julie Maxwe
When the Steam Awards come.
Hi everyone! I can't believe it has already been over 8 months since the Steam release. What a ride it's been. I first wanted to thanks everyone for the extraordinary support and all your kind words.
You can now feature your Achievements on your profile!
Hello everyone! Just a tiny little update to let you know that Valve has finally allowed WTDC's achievements to be featured on player profiles! Thanks again everyone for all your support! And keep fol
The Piano Song is now available on iTunes!
Hi, everyone! Julie Maxwell just let me know that she released the song featured in When the Darkness comes on iTunes! For those interested, here it is: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/mars-landscap
Patch 1.16d - Breathe level and launch warnings
Hi, everyone! Patch 1.16d is very minor, but thought I'd push it before going to sleep. Changed up the Breathe level (Chapter X) in the second playthrough. Lengthened the game's launch warnings to hop
Games like When the Darkness comes
From our knowledge graph — ranked by shared traits, not a black box. Each card says why it's here.
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Genres | Adventure, Free To Play, Indie |
| Player tags | Psychological Horror · Free to Play · Walking Simulator · Indie · First-Person · Horror · Dynamic Narration · Narration · Adventure · Atmospheric · Dark · Story Rich (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Steam Achievements |
| Languages | English * * |
| Achievements | 32 |
| Official site | http://www.sirhaian.net/games/sheet.php?p=when_the_darkness_comes |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS *: Windows 7 Processor: Intel Core i5-3xxx Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: Nvidia Geforce 970 DirectX: Version 10 Storage: 550 MB available space