Darkiss! Wrath of the Vampire

An interactive horror tale by Marco Vallarino
Originally written in Italian and then translated into English

Are you ready to quench your blood thirst?

Darkiss! Wrath of the Vampire, horror text adventure

Welcome to Darkiss, the horror text adventure series about the evil vampire Martin Voigt, who comes back to life to retaliate on those who tried to get rid of him.

Darkiss series is being developed in Italian, but the first two episodes are also available in English. Both games are free, you can either play them online or download their files from my website.

Darkiss 1: The Awakening

You’re the nightmare from which people can’t wake. Dead twice. One by the hand of your maker, the second by the fiend who drove a stake through your heart while you were sleeping defenceless in your coffin. Alive thrice, it seems, although this last one shouldn’t be possible. Something happened.

How it begins

You open your eyes, feeling alive again, after being… dead?

Who are you? You need time to remember.

It’s dark, but you can see.

You are in a sinister place, you should be frightened. Or not?

You are unbearably thirsty, but not for water.

Crypt (in the coffin)
Hidden in the bowels of the mountain, this chamber has hosted your immortal body for centuries, while your enemies spent their miserable days hunting you down at your castle. The coffin is on a stone pedestal at the centre of the room. On the ceiling is a fresco of the red sun of Valmar. To the east a narrow tunnel leads to the other rooms of your hideout.

You’re lying in the coffin, very weak. You struggle to keep your eyes open, while your necrotic flesh is recovering its former appearance. You feel a stab of pain, when you remember the stake drove through your heart. You should be dead, but you aren’t. Something happened.

Play Darkiss 1 online or download the game from my website.

If you successfully complete the game, you will find into the Amusing a password that allows you to enter the Crypt of Darkiss.

Reviews

Novelization

Darkiss 2: Journey to Hell

Ovranilla: a gloomy land full of traps. And wicked monsters. Carmilla, Millarca and Mircalla: the priestesses of the god Valmar, waiting for you in the devil’s hole. Welcome back, Martin Voigt. Will hell be bad enough to stop you?

How it begins

The text adventure Darkiss 2

Welcome back, Martin Voigt, prince of darkness and king of terror. In this second part of your adventure, after meeting your beloved Lilith at the Yoshiwara Club, you’ve been sent to Ovranilla, a dreadful and hellish realm, for a very important mission.

You have to find the temple of the God-Star Valmar, the red sun that lights up the dark nights of the vampires, and meet its priestesses. Carmilla, Millarca and Mircalla are three powerful vampires who can give you what you and Lilith need to conquer the world with your army: the power to survive the sunlight during the day. After you achieve that, no one will be able to stop you.

But Ovranilla is a very dangerous place, full of traps and monsters even more wicked than you. You’ll have to be careful in your exploration, although you have recovered your powers. You can hypnotize people as well as turn yourself into a bat, a wolf, or a cloud of fog. These other forms can help you to overcome the obstacles you’ll find on your way or even avoid them entirely. Of course, after changing your shape, you can return yourself to your original human form.

You also have to find three gifts to please the priestesses and convince them to help you. After accomplishing your mission, you can leave Ovranilla and return to the Yoshiwara Club by saying the magic word “Ayon”. Now, Martin Voigt, prepare to show the world that even hell isn’t bad enough to stop you.

Play Darkiss 2 online or download the game from my website.

If you successfully complete the game, you’ll find into the Amusing a password that allows you to enter the Yoshiwara Club.

Reviews

How to play a text adventure

Every command has to be inserted with the syntax verb + noun: GET SWORD, OPEN DOOR, EXAMINE COFFIN, WEAR CLOAK, ASK GIRL ABOUT BLOOD, BREAK POT…

To move from one place to another within the game world, you have to use the directions NORTH (or just N), SOUTH (S), EAST (E), WEST (W), UP (U), DOWN (D).

The command INVENTORY (I) prints the list of the objects you have, while LOOK (L) shows the description of the place where you currently are.

The verbs you can use are: TAKE (T), DROP, EXAMINE (X), SEARCH, READ, PUSH, PULL, TURN, UNLOCK, LOCK, OPEN, CLOSE, WEAR, REMOVE, LIGHT, INSERT [something in something else], PUT [something on someting else], TIE [something to something else], ATTACK, BREAK, SHOW, GIVE, KISS, BITE, ASK [someone about something], ANSWER, SUMMON, LEARN, RECITE, WAIT, SING, SLEEP, LISTEN, POUR, EMPTY, PLAY, BURN and many others.

By examining the furnitures and the details mentioned in the descriptions of the places you can find hidden objects and important information. By speaking with the other characters you can know what you have to do to obtain their help.

You can also ask for HELP to the game, SAVE your progress on a file, RESTORE it, or check your SCORE.

If you need more information, look at this card: pr-if.org/doc/play-if-card/.

To read again these instructions type INSTRUCTIONS or just INFO. To read the software license type LICENSE. To have information about the game, its author and playtesters type CREDITS.

Have fun!

Credits

My name is Marco Vallarino, I was born in 1977 in Imperia, where I live. I work as a journalist at the newspaper Il Secolo XIX. I’ve written novels and short stories and I’ve published many books, but my real passion has always been interactive fiction. Since I was a kid, I’ve played tons of text adventures, in Italian and in English, and I’ve also tried writing some games, using first Qbasic and later on Inform 6.

I translated Darkiss 1 and Darkiss 2 into English with the help of many friends: the film Scholar Emilio Audissino, Jacob Gunness, Ian Harris, Marco Innocenti, Tommaso Barbieri, who I truly thank for their fantastic support. I’ll be glad if you let me know what you think about the style and the design of the games, writing to me. If you like them, please, rate them on the Interactive Fiction Database and write a review. For now, thanks for all the time you spend playing Darkiss 1 and Darkiss 2. Have fun!

If you’re looking for other text adventures of mine translated into English, try Save the Cheshire Cat! and Zigamus: Zombies at Vigamus.

After translating my games into English, I got interviewed by a research group from UC Berkeley in 2017. David Helldén asked me about my projects, business models and the future of game design. You can read the draft of the interview here: Gamification and storytelling from Italy to UC Berkeley.