The Aggie Awards – The Best Adventure Games of 2021 page 3
Best Writing – Comedy: The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark
A retirement home with a vampire caretaker, turned upside down by partying oldies. A wrestler attempting to win a championship by allying with a literal demon. A clown with a vendetta, capturing humans in an alternate dimension and subjecting them to twisted games. No, this isn’t a horror game. In The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark, these are just some of the bizarre, hilarious cases that paranormal crimefighters Detective McQueen and his dim but affable partner Officer Dooley tackle, each designed as a vehicle to make you laugh as much as possible. And boy, do they succeed. The fourth wall is frequently shattered (the developers love to poke fun at their own typos), witty references are peppered throughout (including a “choppa” to make Arnie proud), and everywhere you turn is yet another delightfully eccentric character (a squirrel on a talk show, anyone?). You’ll barely have time to register one joke before another absurdity lands; everything is thrown at the wall, and most of it sticks. There’s nothing unnatural about it: Spooky Doorway’s sequel repeats the feat of its 2017 predecessor as the deserving winner of our 2021 Best Comedy Writing Aggie.
Runners-Up:
Inspector Waffles
Overboard!
Mutropolis
Not Another Weekend
Readers’ Choice: The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark
In The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark, Detective McQueen tries to release his sidekick, Officer Dooley, from an unintentional gig in a spooky alternate reality. Soon after, strange phenomena begin leaking into the whimsical town of Twin Lakes, creating a series of situations that are disturbing, mysterious, and laced with supernatural slapstick. From a carnival with mechanical animals (the place has gone vegan) linked to clown-infested underworlds, to a demon-ridden wrestling stage, to a tentacled monster and time travel crashing McQueen and Dooley’s high school reunion, Twin Lakes is in desperate shape. And the police – with the help of other hapless oddball characters – must charge to the rescue. The writing in this paranormal comedy is often dazzlingly witty, containing groan-worthy puns, entertaining ludicrousness, kookily vivid expressions, and clever double entendres, such as giving a whole new meaning to “ghosting” a love interest, and slyly re-interpreting “Stay Off the Grass.” For all this and more, Spooky Doorway completes the staff-reader Aggie sweep for best comedic writing.
Runners-Up:
Inspector Waffles
Not Another Weekend
Overboard!
Mutropolis
Next up: Best Writing – Drama... the envelope, please!
