Following up on the successes of The Darkside Detective and The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark, The Darkside Detective: Backside of the Moon is a new gem from the teams at Spooky Doorway and Akapura Games.
Based on my time with an early preview version of the game, The Darkside Detective: Backside of the Moon is worth your time – it’s strange, charming, and hilarious all in one bite. Here’s a breakdown of what to expect from this upcoming game.
Honey, I shrunk the detective!
The Darkside Detective: Backside of the Moon is the next link in the Darkside Detective chain, developed by Spooky Doorway and published by Akapura Games. It’s a point-and-click detective game with bags of charm, and I had the opportunity to go hands-on with a short but sweet preview.
Much like the games that’ve come before it in the series, Backside of the Moon is a point-and-click mystery game with elements of interactive fiction, puzzle-solving, and plenty of quirky conversations. It’s split up into cases, with players working as Detective McQueen and being “helped” by Officer Dooley.
This was my first foray into the world of The Darkside Detective, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the game – but I was pleasantly surprised by how strange it was.
The demo highlighted a case in which the Detective and the Officer were shrunk to miniature size and had to work their way across the now-gigantic office, meeting a surprising number of characters who live in the post-it note-strewn depths.
I’m aiming to keep this preview spoiler-free, so I won’t reveal the solutions to any of the puzzles, but what I will say is that a number of the solutions had me giggling or rolling my eyes.
It’s a game that rewards players for thinking outside of the box and combining items to make weird, new contraptions. In the instances where I got stuck and couldn’t figure out what to do next, poking around and combining items to make new tools helped me progress, as did speaking to the odd residents of the trinket-scattered halls.
Weird and wonderful
Something I loved about the Backside of the Moon preview was the interactions between Officer Dooley and Detective McQueen.
The dialogue was well-written – Dooley came across as bumbling yet likeable, while Detective McQueen seemed like there wouldn’t be enough coffee in the world to make his day take an upwards turn.
I also found the style of play to be consistently engaging, with a good variety of tasks and focuses to keep me interested throughout the demo.
The core gameplay largely revolved around exploring a scene and picking up items or having conversations with characters, but there were a few puzzles and fun problems to solve along the way. In terms of difficulty, the puzzles and dialogue problems weren’t intense, but they were enjoyable and rewarding to crack.
Quality-wise, I was incredibly impressed with The Darkside Detective: Backside of the Moon. Other than a one-off instance of finding a typo, I didn’t notice any bugs – aside from the giant spider – or visual quirks. The game ran well overall and offered a smooth, engaging user experience.
It’s hard not to marvel at the visual quality, too. As noted, it was my first entry into the world of The Darkside Detective, and I was delighted by the attention to detail in the pixel artwork. The demo felt lively and vibrant, and the characters had plenty of personality, despite lacking facial features.
All in all, this preview was a blast, and if you’re a fan of The Darkside Detective or the point-and-click mystery genre, it’s worth taking a look for yourself. It’s silly yet engaging, with a beautiful art style and quirky tone of voice. What’s not to love?
FAQs
The Darkside Detective: Backside of the Moon was developed by Spooky Doorway and published by Akapura Games.
The release date for The Darkside Detective: Backside of the Moon is currently unknown. A demo became available on March 19, 2026, showing the first half of the first case.
No, The Darkside Detective: Backside of the Moon is not a particularly tricky game. Some of the puzzles are challenging, but they never felt bitterly unfair or confusing.
No, The Darkside Detective: Backside of the Moon is not a scary game, based on Kyusai’s hands-on preview. While some detective and mystery games feature frights akin to those in Silent Hill, this game is more lighthearted and whimsical.
