There’s a “morale” bar that decreases with every “turn”, and while you can do some things to mitigate against the decline, growing morale is almost impossible. It’s a constant fight of attrition and, indeed, Through the Darkest of Times is meant to feel futile because, of course, historically there was no happy ending for anyone that stood in opposition to Hitler. Every “turn” you can set your informants out to attempt missions (either individually or as teams), where they will need to use the paltry resources that you accumulate to try and do something. You do that by trying to keep the grassroots and working-class motivated in resistance and providing you financial donations, recruit more people to directly support your cause, engage in anti-regime propaganda, and sabotage the fascist movement wherever you can, all while trying to remain hidden from the swelling police force and the informant network working for the fascists. So, to get back to Through the Darkest of Times, you play as a group fighting against all of that. Just be glad that a certain world leader today lacks the same intellect and potency as Hitler had). (And yes, if all of that sounds terrifyingly familiar to you, it should. And so, by making an enemy of the communists, Jewish, Romani, disabled, and LGBT, Hitler was able to subvert the democratic process within Germany, turn the right-wing nationalists militant, and the rest, as they say, is history. He was able to reach a lot of these right-wing nationalists because Germany was still suffering from being an empire and global power on the wane, having lost World War 1, and the incumbent power structure (white, lower and middle class) were feeling particularly squeezed.

He also successfuly demonised the left-wing, which was interested in global participation and engagement. What Hitler did was galvanise the right-wing, nationalist movements within Germany against an ethnic and religious minority. But, no, Hitler didn’t find himself as the leader of Germany like that. They believe that because the history books and popular culture depictions of Hitler only ever allow him to be portrayed as and monstrous boogeyman and “end boss” bad guy, and so most people are worryingly ignorant about what actually happened. For a bit of historical context, most people today believe that Hitler came to power via some kind of military coup or another such “overnight takeover”. Through the Darkest of Times tells the story of a group of resistance fighters through the rise of Adolf Hitler and subsequent terror that he inflicted on the population. Unfortunately, at some point the developers decided to gamify the rise of Hitler, and while they’ve done that for the right reasons, they’ve also undermined their own point in doing so. It’s the kind of game that belongs in schools and museums because the points its making are overt, clear, brilliantly articulated and potent. Through the Darkest of Times is a critically important game that is so relevant and poignant today and we should all play it (and then be terrified by its implications).

Through the darkest of times game