Dark Pals: The 1st Floor

I went into Dark Pals: The 1st Floor expecting a cute-but-creepy hour of mascot horror and left impressed and a little unnerved. Skunx Games has built a colourful, decayed children’s mental facility that feels lived-in and memorably grotesque, and the Ink Blaster mechanic gives the exploration a playful edge. If you like symbol-heavy lore that asks more questions than it answers — and you enjoy dissecting environments for clues — this game scratches that itch. It’s short, noisy in the best and worst ways, and full of moments where the world seems to stare back at you.

Racing the Mascots

The core of Dark Pals is exploratory first-person horror with a toyish twist: you carry an Ink Blaster that sprays paint-like projectiles, interacts with puzzles and occasionally stuns or distracts enemies. Most of your time is spent walking through set-piece rooms, lining up shots, pulling levers, and solving environmental logic puzzles that feel tactile — flip the right book, paint the right mural, slot the correct toy. There are collectibles and small side beats (cinema tapes, “happy faces”) hidden in corners for players who like to dig. Movement is simple, but the level flow funnels you into encounter beats where timing matters. Expect sections of slow dread alternating with frantic bursts when a mascot spots you.

When The Place Remembers You

What lifts Dark Pals above being a straight clone are the weird perception tricks and the toy-gun’s puzzle role. Rooms can subtly shift layout, audio cues warp your sense of direction, and some puzzles require you to treat moral choices like mechanics — the game occasionally asks you to choose whether to help or use an object in an unsettling way. The mascots themselves (Chompy Chasey, Binky Drinky, Mr. Omelette and a few deliciously uncanny others) are animated with strong personality; they behave like performers in a deranged children’s show and their movement patterns are readable once you learn them. The way the world hides ARG-like breadcrumbs — community leads and lore snippets outside the game — makes discovery part of the pleasure, even when it teases more than it gives.

A Noisy, Colourful Stage

Presentation is a major selling point: the visuals are crisp, the animations often feel better than some bigger-budget mascot horror rivals, and the sound design is superb — catchy melodies loop like nursery jingles until they become nails on a chalkboard. Performance varies by user report: I had a smooth experience on my rig, but several players mention pop-in, framerate swings and a few quirky bugs (and one persistent pause-button issue reported by multiple users). Accessibility is basic but serviceable: clear UI, readable clues, and no convoluted input gymnastics. Overall the game looks and sounds like it was made with love, even if the last 10–15 percent of polish is still a work in progress.

Dark Pals: The 1st Floor is a compassionate, ambitious indie horror chapter — short, striking and occasionally rough around the edges. I recommend it to players who love atmospheric storytelling, polished animation and pondering cryptic lore, but warn those who hate repeated, opaque chase sequences. For its price and passion, it’s worth a playthrough; just expect it to be an appetizer rather than a full meal until more floors arrive.