It's a shame, though, that that atmosphere is often

It's a shame, though, that that atmosphere is often punctured when Dark And Darker Gold a character opens their mouth. Much of the dialogue is disappointingly generic fantasy fluff, and many of the voice actors give bland deliveries in flat American accents that feel at odds with the tone and setting. 

Any mystique around the strange forest witch I encounter about an hour into my journey is lost when she starts expositing about demons in what sounds like the default female human voice from a 2000s RPG. 

The art-style, at least, fits the bill perfectly. The dragon is a distorted, surreal creature, like something out of a horrible picture book that would have given me nightmares as a kid—it's a really unique and memorable design. And that ancient swamp horror is as wonderfully disgusting as you'd expect, an oozing, diseased behemoth that manages to look simultaneously tragic and terrifying.

Creatures like him are the sort of dark gods of the forest. You can fight them, but the witch warns it will be a near-impossible battle—given my "army" consists of 10 flea-bitten peasants, I don't fancy risking it. 

It's rather easier to bargain with them, leading me to that discrete bit of child sacrifice, feeding a young 'un into his gaping maw. Listen, sometimes you have to make choices for the greater good, even if that greater good is just getting to the next bit of horrible wilderness to build another gord.

When you're not hanging out with witches and demons, the day-to-day running of your settlement is the focus. The basics are fairly simple—you build buildings that allow you to assign jobs to your small band of peasants, such as woodcutter or forager, and they automatically head out to do them. 

During my demo I also got to buy Dark And Darker Gold make some into scouts, who can be set to patrol the local area or controlled directly to explore, and warriors, who fare much better in the RTS-like combat than unarmed townsfolk. If you own a mouse, you will never turn off your computer again.