Yase Plays: The Darkest Files

Yase Fuyunori
Jul 20
4 min read

Hey guys! A little something different today. With the current state of the world and recent happenings, this game ended being especially important to me and something I wanted to shine a big spotlight on.

There is a lot of positive things to say about the demo of „The Darkest Files“ I was able to test out after GamesCom 2024 that lead me to acquire the full game, so I will just start by introducing the game to you:

The Darkest Files is a historical investigation and courtroom indie game from Germany based on true events and crimes that took place in the Nazi and post Word War II era created by Indie Game Studio Paintbucket Games. A huge shoutout to them!

You take on the role of the lawyer named Esther Katz, who is has recently started working in the law firm of the famous German lawyer and human rights activist Fritz Bauer, as a rookie. Fritz Bauer was an actual, living person and had always openly considered himself to be an advocate of human dignity, and above all, an opponent of state violence, which is why in this game you and the other lawyers at his office aid him in persecuting and prosecuting crimes commited by NS criminals during World War II.

Of course being in the 1940s, this is a dangerous endeavor, as criminals do not like to be pursued and crimes do not like to be brought to light and being a woman who is constantly faced with sexism and belittling by her peers, clients and her opponents, does not help.

Investigate, interrogate and prosecute! Esther Katz in action.

The first thing to immediately catch my eye about „The Darkest Files“ was for sure starting the Demo and finding myself in a beautiful, dark blue hue-ish office building and discovering that I couldn't just point and click at things but actually move and walk around. So I immediately started exploring and was met by a serene and yet sort of sinister atmosphere, smooth jazz and the feeling of having been caught up in a Noir movie.

You are immediately greeted by the secretary, who informs you of the newest happenings concerning both the office and the clients, case files that need to be studied and calls or messages that might have come through. Entering your own office room you are met with your first case to go after.

Not wanting to spoil too much, cause this is a narrative experience I rather you discover for yourself, I will instead talk about the game mechanics, which I really enjoyed a lot.

Hopefully you have a keen eye for detail and a good memory.

The desk that will keep every exploration-loving player busy

Going through case files, you really dig through every and all documents you receive thoroughly, may that be witness statements, state issued documents, letters and any other piece of paper you can imagine really. This means a lot of paying attention, reading and critical thinking and combining skills are required.

Going through files very carefully I had already solved the first case before it had even started in the course of the story, which had me very excited to talk to characters and see how I could implement what I had learned on my own and without any help from the game.

Now if you worry that having this much information to take in and analyse might get confusing or overwhelmign fast, there is no need to worry at all.

The game developers took that into consideration and added many fantastic tools such as the ability attach notes onto viewed documents, mark and underline text passages and also sort data as well as the records themselves by number.

It is immediately apparent that a lot of love was poured into the game's memorable comic-esque art style and its UX and UI design.

Everything was very pleasing to look at and read, the text font size and ability to zoom in was very disability friendly and the dialogue with characters felt very real and alive.

I played the demo in English and am currently playing the full version in English, and I really loved the German accents I could hear in the characters' voice performances, it gave the game a certain charm and made it feel more authentic.

Playing it in German with subtitles in your selected language is also highly recommended!

As someone who is African American with a long history of – simply stated – unpleasent things and experiences of hundreds of years which involve colonialism, slavery and state violence, I very much appreciate this game not only tackling all the bigotry, hate crimes and brutality that happened back then and still affects us all in this white supremacist world to this day, but also straight up taking the player through this experience.

Having the player learn of these things firsthand, seeing that even now in the modern, so „greatly advanced“ „first world“ these problems are still very present and alive and just took on a different appearance, showing the history as is and without any censorship but also teaching, that things that had been can always repeat themselves even if they seem "over".

The Team of lawyers that will accompany through your journey to justice.

Side note: Secret sixth member: You CAN pet the (office) cat!

If you want to learn more about history, German history and the NS-regime, love investigation and court room games ('coughs* avid Ace Attorney fan here) and grinding your gears while trying to solve myseries and help the oppressed and falsely accused, this game is absolutely for you.

The Darkest Files launched on March 25th, 2025 and is available for PC.

Even if you haven't experienced anything like this before, I urge you to, if you can.

Because the best time is now. We can't look away.

I am absolutely convinced that it can only enrichen your life experiences and understanding of what video games contribute to our society, cultures, history and future.

So to wrap this review up and end it with a very important quote from Fritz Bauer himself: