Last updated on December 17th, 2025 at 07:56 am
The Darkside Detective – Adventure Game Review
The Darkside Detective is a Adventure/Puzzle game from Akupara Games, LLC, first launched in 8th August 2024.
It’s rated 12+ and currently has 33+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes The Darkside Detective Stand Out
Grab your trench coat, tune your sixth sense and join the Darkside Division as they investigate the outright bizarre, the downright dangerous and the confusing cases of Twin Lakes. Flesh-hungry tentacles, mafian zombies, and the occasional missing sock are no match for The Darkside Detective.
"Where cultists crawl, where demons dwell, where the occult… occults? ahem That's where you’ll find Detective Francis McQueen, the lead investigator of the criminally underfunded Darkside Division. When evil darkens the doorsteps of Twin Lakes City – hell, even when it just loiters around shop fronts or hangs out in shady alleyways – he’s there, ready to investigate the cases that nobody else will.
He is The Darkside Detective.
The COMPLETE SEASON ONE collection of this multi award-winning comedic serial adventure sees Detective McQueen and his sidekick, Officer Patrick Dooley, investigating cases plaguing Twin Lakes and its colorful citizens. Point at everything in sight, click around mysterious and eerie locations, and use your wits (or borrow a friend’s) to lay these cases to rest!
Feature List
• 9 paranormal bite-sized micro cases to investigate around Twin Lakes City, including a Christmas Spectacular Special
• At least three jokes
• Cutting edge, high definition pixels
• One free curse-removal, up to and including mid-level witch hexes
• Music from Ben Prunty, the audiomancer behind gems such as Into the Breach, Subnautica, and FTL
This Adventure game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, The Darkside Detective is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 4th December 2025
Recent improvements include:
A fun Holiday Seasons Icon Update!
Download & Availability
The Darkside Detective is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get The Darkside Detective on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
We dont usually write reviews but Darkside detective (1&2) really impressed us! We bought the bundle so we got both the original game and sequel. Firstly, the sequel (Darkside detective 2) was a much longer gameplay and had much more detailed cases. Thats not to say we didnt enjoy the original Darkside detective; we did. However, the original was finished much faster because the cases are much shorter. For example, we finished the first game in about 1 day whereas the sequel took us 3ish days. Our only issue to note was that the puzzles in both games are extremely easy. This is coming from someone who doesnt hesitate to look up a walkthrough if needed – we did not have to ever look up any hints or help because it is that easy. We think we only got stuck one or two times, but the way the game is designed, all you have to do is go back through everything and check anywhere you can (which the game shows you every tapable item, if needed). All the puzzles are very straightforward and simple. There was only one puzzle that was straight up random and the devs even note that it was essentially random and shouldnt have worked in the dialogue. We believe this was in the second game. The dialogue was great and ranged from being very brief to very long winded. We enjoyed that a lot, and didnt feel like the dialogue ever overpowered the puzzles or gameplay like some games can have. We enjoyed the visuals and thought the game ran extremely smoothly without any crashing or pauses. A few times, we were shocked at the plot twists or simply what came next because it got really out of pocket sometimes (in a good way, mind you!). We do suggest saving your place if you ever need to click off the game even if only for a few minutes, because it didnt always save our exact place. However, youll never be taken back to the beginning if you dont manually save. Overall, we suggest buying the bundle if you want to play this game – you seriously wont regret it if you like point and click games that arent extremely challenging. You will most likely enjoy the second game more as the cases are much longer and more detailed. However, a lot of back story also comes from the first game and the sequel is a direct continuation of the first. We really enjoyed the bonus cases as well and was shocked with how long they were considering they are only labeled as bonuses. SPOILER – check the settings ;). We thought that was such a fun and clever little addition to add. Along with the credit sequences.
Recommend it to all our friends. The jokes at great and theres so many easter eggs to find on our next play through.
We thought it was very witty & funny & different. Great P&C adventure, no bugs! Hope to see more.
We were really enjoying this game until we reached level 5 and was midway through. We saved our progress, but when we opened the app again, we found that we were only able to access the first two 'files'all our progress was lost.
Lots of fun for us Gen X and Y folks who grew up with the first gen of video games, old tv shows and movies. We actually get the references and jokes that have been peppered throughout this game. This is our favorite thing right now. We play it with headphones on when no one is around to bother us. Clever stories with just the right level of frustration in the clues and puzzle solving. Love it. Please, keepem coming.
Then youll love this retro adventure game that reminded us of the best parts of playing Kings Quest and Space Quest back in the day, in a fun detective noir meets weird fiction. It was a fun play through with the right kind of challenging puzzle solving game play, and well worth the price.
Easy to navigate. Not overly complicated. Retro point & click. Harkens back to the old school Cop Story on PC. A must have for any aficionado of classic P&C games. Highly recommend. Worth the cost. The sarcasm, wit, & intelligence that went into the game did not go unnoticed. Kudos across the board. Will easily pursue any future endeavors from this developer.
We heart exhausting all possible lines of dialogue. We cant get enough of this high-intensity gameplay. We want to walk left, right, and sometimes back. We want to reenter a room and notice a new object has spawned into frame. Then you better believe we click it. Adventure gamers rise.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.0.4 – Christmas Icon Update
- Size: 992.45 MB
- iOS: 12.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory: Infrequent/Mild Horror/Fear Themes, Infrequent/Mild Mature/Suggestive Themes, Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence, Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References, Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor
- Developer: Akupara Games, LLC
Last updated: 4th December 2025 | Genre: Adventure, Puzzle | Developer: Akupara Games, LLC