Formula Legends
Formula Legends
Game
Game2026
Dark Scrolls
Developer doinksoft
Dark Scrolls is a fantasy-themed action platformer that fuses shmup-style chaos with roguelite progression and is packed with charm, challenge, and secrets. From the Steam store page
151 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy) · newest Oct 13, 2026 · last updated Oct 13, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
63
Fresh
69 positive · 40 negative
95% range 54–72%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 69 | 40 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 6 | 2 | 28 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mixed
72 of 112 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
64% recommend · 70 yes, 39 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 109 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mixed (97 of 160 positive).
Some reviewers criticize the game for bugs, lack of polish, and poor control options. [1][2][3] Several players believe negative reviews stem from mismatched expectations or misunderstanding the genre. [4][5][6]
Liked
Representative posts
- [16]
This game was a massive disappointment. The studios previous game, Gato Roboto was fantastic. Devolver Digital as a publisher also has an incredible track record, but Dark Scrolls is probably one of the worst games to come from them in a long time. Lets go with the good, first. The soundtrack, the aesthetic, the humor is great. The characters are all unique and creative. Unfortunately, that's about it. The gameplay …
- [14]
The core concept here is strong. The presentation is great. Looks awesome, music is nice. But it's so annoying to play. It feels like everything is coated in oil. The basic jump feels too weak but the double jump is gimmicky and hard to use for platforming. Attacks are limited to one direction but air control is so slippery that aiming at things off the ground is frustrating. The star system is interesting but the …
- [10]
Hey, wanna read a review from someone who *did* press all the buttons, figure out the basics, and play for longer than 10 minutes? Here you go: To preface, I'm straight up bad at arcade games and I hate auto-scrolling levels in Mario. I can't make it more than 30 seconds into Ghosts 'n Goblins. But this game isn't sadistic like that, it's a fun arcade action platformer where you get better by playing it, and …
- [5]
Really baffled by the Negative reviews and generally lukewarm reception for this. Maybe it just needs some time to find the right audience? Because it seems like lot of people went into it expecting something completely different, for some bizarre reason. Because if you have any idea what type of game this is going into it, i legitimately fail to see how you could be disappointed in it. This is an old-school style …
- [4]
What do modern gamers even want? all this negative reviews are legit so dumb and sound like the type of thing your friend that only plays FIFA and CoD would say. This game is fun, cheap, silly, charged with style in its pixel art and music and its "stiff" and you "only use 2 buttons" bcs its meant to be retro The menu has 3 options bcs why a game like this would need more A lot of short roguelites are grindy to …
Summarised from 34 of the 155 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked Dark Scrolls talk about charming pixel art and music; those who didn't talk about bugs and lack of polish. Which matters more to you?
Reactions
60 of 151 · most liked first📜NEW GAME ALERT: DARK SCROLLS📜 Greetings from the Doinkhole. We are crawling out into the sun with a new game announcement. 🗺️ Embark on a heroic quest 🗡️ 9 unique heroes to choose 🪿 Goose honks at you at the shop ✨ ONLINE MULTIPLAYER Coming to PC and Nintendo Switch!
neutral · AI labelView post →Hey, wanna read a review from someone who *did* press all the buttons, figure out the basics, and play for longer than 10 minutes? Here you go: To preface, I'm straight up bad at arcade games and I hate auto-scrolling levels in Mario. I can't make it more than 30 seconds into Ghosts 'n Goblins. But this game isn't sadistic like that, it's a fun arcade action platformer where you get better by playing it, and occasionally unlock perks through persistent mechanics. It's packed with secrets, I've…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nearly half of the year is done and we're heading right into Not-E3 season. With June we also get AT LEAST 58 notable game releases including Killer Bean, Denshattack, NBA The Run, The Adventures of Elliot, Dark Scrolls, Star Fox and more. What games are you most exciting about? 3 Pages:
neutral · AI labelView post →Our ‘90s bedroom-themed booth at New Game Plus in London, featuring Dark Scrolls by @doinksoft.bsky.social running on my beloved CRT. I did the stickering.
neutral · AI labelView post →This game was a massive disappointment. The studios previous game, Gato Roboto was fantastic. Devolver Digital as a publisher also has an incredible track record, but Dark Scrolls is probably one of the worst games to come from them in a long time. Lets go with the good, first. The soundtrack, the aesthetic, the humor is great. The characters are all unique and creative. Unfortunately, that's about it. The gameplay loop is incredibly bland, and in the first 5 minutes you'll see the entirety…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I put our upcoming game DARK SCROLLS through my CRT and it was destined to be played this way.
positive · AI labelView post →Looks good, and could have been more fun than it is, but it is weirdly unpolished compared to their previous games. Ideas could have been taken a little farther, and there's quite a few bugs and perplexing design choices. Since it's been almost 3 weeks since the game came out (after a month delay), and there hasn't been a patch even as small as fixing the eardrum stabbing noise that occurs whenever an NPC finishes a sentence, I'm not really convinced they even give a ♥♥♥♥.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Listen, it needs work, the balance is incredibly off, the difficulty is very inconsistent, and there are bugs, but there's something beneath everything that's unique, fun, and it brings me back again and again with a colorful cast of really cool characters and graphics/music. Devs, please work on this game, it would be such a shame to leave the colorful ideas in the dust because of a rough launch. I'll update the review as the game gets updated.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game feels fine and could be good co op fun but it does not give you the ability to rebind your controls, which is unacceptable in the year 2026. Would recommend otherwise
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The core concept here is strong. The presentation is great. Looks awesome, music is nice. But it's so annoying to play. It feels like everything is coated in oil. The basic jump feels too weak but the double jump is gimmicky and hard to use for platforming. Attacks are limited to one direction but air control is so slippery that aiming at things off the ground is frustrating. The star system is interesting but the perks being temporary makes them feel sort of worthless, especially…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gonna keep at it to see if there's more of it worth playing but unfortunately, this game is very slow and boring. A lot of the sauce that goes into action arcade platformers has been lost by structuring it more as a procedurally-generated roguelike and enemy density being cosmically low. Boss fights are trivial and the perk system leads to easy, spammable setups that remove any need to actively engage in fights. If it gets better, then that's great (and i'm sure co-op adds to it), and I really…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While I do see potential in this game, I can't in good faith recommend this in its current state due to visual bugs in a certain stage among lack of quality of life stuff. This is more a mixed review than a negative one, but decided to go with a no currently. I haven't tried co-op yet, but I bet that'll be fun. Controls did get some getting used to and while I didn't play for too long, I can see myself enjoying this if this got some love to it. I do wish there were some settings to rebind…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dark Scrolls enjoyers 🔥 Players got their first hands on the game, exclusively at @londongamesfest.bsky.social!
neutral · AI labelView post →EDIT: Some people think you have to play more than 10 min to get an idea of the gameplay loop of a game as simple as this? Fellas, I've been playing games for over 25 years, I know what the ♥♥♥♥ I'm playing, and yeah... this game ain't finished. The translations aren't even done yet, playing the game in my language yields some dialogs still in english. Finished? ♥♥♥♥ no! On the other hand, the game also doesn't have the depth you think it does. It's an autoscroller where you can jump, do a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In one game, you beat enemies with a sentient Yoyo. The other game? You beat enemies with...well. Regular, mostly normal, weapons. 🪀Cmon Pipistrello, why can't you be normal? ⚔️Both are retro game goodness. Dark Scrolls X Pipistrello Steam Bundle available right now! @devolverdigital.com
neutral · AI labelView post →What do modern gamers even want? all this negative reviews are legit so dumb and sound like the type of thing your friend that only plays FIFA and CoD would say. This game is fun, cheap, silly, charged with style in its pixel art and music and its "stiff" and you "only use 2 buttons" bcs its meant to be retro The menu has 3 options bcs why a game like this would need more A lot of short roguelites are grindy to balance the campaign progression, in-run progression and meta progression. For…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Happy launch day to @devolverdigital.com and @doinksoft.bsky.social ! We're spellbound by their new action platformer game, Dark Scrolls 🧙♂️ Scroll through Steam today to find a Crypt of the NecroDancer + Dark Scrolls bundle and get two other titles for free: store.steampowered.com/bundle/78495...
neutral · AI labelView post →Gaming in 2026: 8 Dollars for a bundle of 3 (three) strange, creative and obviously carefully-crafted Doinksoft indie games or 80 Dollars for 1 (one) $200m+ short, linear, James Bond cinematic spectacle. not to compare apples to oranges, it's just an interesting culture to have such a huge gap in what you're paying versus what you get. a whole lot of people seem to really love the James Bond game though, so that's awesome. hope they love it forever. of the three Doinksoft games I got in the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🚨INDIE SPOTLIGHT🐒 Dark Scrolls by @doinksoft.bsky.social "Stack Perks & Smack Twerps" in this clever, cute and crazy co-op arcade action side-scroller dripping with charisma and charm. ✅Play the game: s.team/a/2912550 #indiedev #gamedev #indiegames #wishlistwednesday 🙉1/3
neutral · AI labelView post →It's very disappointing. I bought this to play with my better half but we ended up switching to other games rather quickly. - No basic information is ever provided to you First it took us some time to figure out how to even play together because co-op is a special menu ... instead of it just being on the title screen or something. This is a common theme of what's bad about the game. I know title is meant to be a pun on "Dark Souls", but Dark Souls tells you what controls do ... I shouldn't…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The idea of an oldschool autoscroller platformer shmup with a ton of characters that play different is awesome. It's a shame about the execution. Best Bits Fun core mechanics. I actually disagree with other reviews that say the controls are iffy. Characters' double jumps are fun and responsive-yet-weighty, and I like the way you keep facing a direction but move slower as you attack, it all makes sense. (I think the problems are more related to how things on the screen interact with one…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I interviewed Cullen Dwyer from @doinksoft.bsky.social about Dark Scrolls, their new co-op roguelike action platformer. Cullen and I discussed the philosophy that went into making the game, including some uniquely (and I quote) “stubborn” design decisions! @devolverdigital.com youtu.be/VSKuZoUGIIE
neutral · AI labelView post →Really baffled by the Negative reviews and generally lukewarm reception for this. Maybe it just needs some time to find the right audience? Because it seems like lot of people went into it expecting something completely different, for some bizarre reason. Because if you have any idea what type of game this is going into it, i legitimately fail to see how you could be disappointed in it. This is an old-school style auto-scrolling 2d platformer, with modern features, QoL additions, and extras…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i really like this so far. there are clearly some bugs that need to be ironed out, and i'd love to see a little more variety in the runs themselves, a few alternate bosses per level or something would go a long way... but i'm still pretty early in and i'm eager to play more. controls feel tight, characters feel unique and are satisfying to master, and the upgrade system (while a little awkward to understand at first) leads to some amazing, screen clearing, dopamine-inducing power moves,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Yeah im ngl I was pretty excited for this game, but WOW its so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ boring. Wish I refunded it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's games like these that make me wish there were a mixed option for reviews. I'm so torn. I do enjoy this game, but I completely understand why people are frustrated by stuff regarding this game. Here's the TL;DR: Q:Is it fun? A:kinda*** Q:If it is why are you giving a negative review? A:Because I can't leave a mixed review and I skewed more negative. Now here's the long version. I've basically done everything so I thought I'd give my thoughts: Of course there are positives I would not…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Disappointed with this one. Music and art is charming but wears thin really quick when monsters start spawning on top of you. Levels are random so you’ll never learn a level. It’s run based yet I spawn back at the hub world every time and have to watch the ghost and goblins overworld map every time. Gets old quick.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After watching the trailer I was excited to pick up Dark Scrolls to play co-op with my partner. Besides, seeing Devolver behind it made me think this one would not miss. I regret to say this one is a miss for me. On the plus side, the game runs great on LInux without any tweaks. Moreover, I really dig the retro art style and soundtrack of the game. Unfortunately, that's where my praise ends. For starters, there are technical issues: I tried turning down the SFX volume but certain sounds…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →'Dark Scrolls' the next game from Doinksoft launches this year on Nintendo Switch and PC. youtu.be/v5pkLRPuNd0
neutral · AI labelView post →The more i play the worse it gets unfortunately. So many oddities and bugs and unfun parts to the game. Their marketing and art and music is great so i think alot of ppl were excited for the game. Too bad it came out like this. And from the radio silence im guessing its staying a buggy mess.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →IT HAS A LOT OF POTENTIAL, but it needs some polishing. (Tried it with a friend) -To go out of the store you need to move out of screen and you instantly get hit. -The screen feels to tiny for the for the amount of stuff tha tis going on. -The cost of things in the store is absurd if you considere paying the Goblin king and pay the hungry girl. -Certain hit boxes are strange. -It would be really good if the there is another kind of music for sections, it gets repetitive quickly. Maybe I need…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Disappointed as doinksoft games enjoyer: questionable progression, runs seed differs just by enemies spawn, side scrolling bores after few tries, menu\settings are quite none, achievements not fixed in a month since release, have no idea what could make average player keep playing this game after few hours\runs
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oh My God Bruh I was as excited as anyone for this game seeing the trailers, but I have never been so disappointed by a game. It really needed more time in the oven. The game art screams with passion and heart-felt love, but the actual gameplay and UI design are genuinely atrocious. There are too many gripes of mine to say in a row, so I will list them along with those of my friends whom I played with. Very sorry to say that this is not an exhaustive list. I have seen other reviewers make…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's like Ninpek without 49 other games attached. Ninpek was cool, but maybe not enough to be its own game in 2026.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not a fan of the controls. The perk system is interesting but I find myself wanting to put every perk on the 5th star since thats where I spend most of my time... but thats also how you use your special ability. The thing that makes me thumb it down tho was the co-op it feels like theres not enough room for both players on the screen, you are constantly bumping into one another and it just becomes a mess
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gato Roboto is awesome and comes bundled with this game. But I found gunbrella to be mostly boring and this game feels unfinished as a product for sale and much more appropriate as an arcade game you pop a quarter into. I'd have been happy with it for at most $5 I suppose, but right now shop prices feel vastly unbalanced in multiplayer, some characters are ridiculously better than others, and overall gameplay boiled down to holding the attack button and spamming emotes at each other. Not bad,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →you forgot the fun factor requires a devilish amount of precision to dodge tiny and fast enemies and attacks/projectiles including enemies that spawn in and can spawn under you with a kind of understated spawning animation while the character you're controlling has very slippery acceleration and a large visual hitbox and large hurtbox i was enjoying the visuals and audio until i encountered the "end of the dialogue window is a ear splittingly loud audio bug" bug i'm sure some duo out there…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It feels and plays like a student project If I could leave a mixed review, I would. It has a lot of soul and some nice ideas, but it just feels like a slog to get through and gets boring fast. Needs more time in the oven.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a fun one! I do think some of the characters that focus on staying in the air like Biscuit are extremely hard to control in a way that feels strange though? Love what this is going for overall. Hope to play more soon maybe if I can get some friends on it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →doinksoft's Dark Scrolls hits PC and Switch on May 28 Devolver Digital just locked in a May 28 release date for Dark Scrolls, the next retro-styled action game from the creators of Gato Roboto and Gunbrella. #Retro #indiegames #nintendoswitch #pcgaming #devolverdigital
neutral · AI labelView post →I regret this purchase daily. The initial fun factor wears out in record time and you're left with a hollow experience that is *still* buggy. It's not a overly complicated game with 3D assets, or extragant graphics/effects, so there's no real excuse here outside of developer ennui & laziness. Avoid doinksoft like the plague.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My interview with @garbagefilth.bsky.social of @doinksoft.bsky.social is now available. We discuss development stories of Dark Scrolls, Gato Roboto and more. Including potential updates for Dark Scrolls, concept art and thoughts on a Gato Roboto 2. @devolverdigital.com
neutral · AI labelView post →Calling this game a roguelike is a stretch, it's an arcade game at it's heart, with upgrades that can help you but don't seem too meaningful. Still, this is good fun, just run through the areas with different characters, see what you can do, try to unlock things, a simple loop.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I see the negative nancies (like me) complaining about awkward controls, etc. That isn't my gripe. I'll say that the game kept my interest for 20mins, and I could definitely see couch co-op being something I enjoyed with my daughter. The meta-progression (namely collecting currencies to unlock new characters) is not tuned very well. I'd have needed 100 of some currency to unlock the 4th character, and after 20 minutes I'd only unlocked 2 of said currency. I hesitate to call the gameplay…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It didn't take me long to put down the controller! I find the game really bad... the movement and jumping physics are bizarre, and the trampoline jumps are even worse. You can't change direction while firing continuously The music is awful, but some will say that's a matter of taste. You buy upgrades, but you have to choose the number of stars, then fill the star gauge by killing enemies... I find that so tedious. The auto-scrolling is already a nightmare, but then you add timed enemy…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Systems are too opaque. They give you no information. Runs are beyond repetitive.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dark Souls feels like 60% of a fun game. This is a long review in part because I feel like there's a lot of things that could have been changed or fixed to make this experience better, but the game itself feels half-baked right now to the point where I cannot recommend it. The other reason it's long is because I'm long-winded. The Co-Op A lot of reviews here have mentioned that they didn't play co-op, so I was hopeful that, for a co-op game, actually playing it that way would make it a better…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game seems to be getting lot's of bad reviews which i really cannot understand. It's a fun game and it looks very good. Maybe it's a bit too easy but i'm still having a blast playing it. With all the references to the ghosts and goblins series i would have thought the game might be a bit harder though. The one thing you need to understand in order to enjoy the game is the perk system and the special attack. There is no tutorials explaining these so that may be where the bad reviews are…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've only played a little bit. So far it seems OK for the price as a silly little co-op game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Perfect for what it's trying to be, Which is an arcade platformer. I suspect a lot of the bad reviews are from people that didn't know what they were buying. So don't be fooled by the pun name, this is not a souls-like, not even a little. It feel like a lot of great classic arcade games. New Zealand Story and Liquid Kids are what it reminds me of the most, But with the forced scrolling of SONSON and a dash of Ghost 'n Goblins and SHMUP-ness thrown in. But it's really doing it's own thing and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →3.5/5 - A Fun, Imperfect Scroll Dark Scrolls is ultimately a worse version of Demon Throttle (and unfortunately falls short of its amazing bundled games), but there's still a lot of fun to be had here for $8. Much like an arcade game, it's a nice title to revisit for short bursts of fun. Pros: + Charming action-platformer with a pretty addictive loop + Fun stages to progress through + Offers a genuine challenge + Great animation, style, and 8-bit-themed music + Each playable character…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →its so good dude. all the guys have their own thing going on and they all feel so different and fun in their own ways. basically a whole day disappeared to this.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →its a nice game aside from the movement which just feels SO badddd,, its so floaty and the double jumping is really awkward and idk just didnt click with me at all Im sorry,, also theres like very little rooms per stage I feel like? not too much variety but maybe thats just me,, really interesting game tho if the movement ever gets changed might give it another try but right now Im not vibing with it
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →🎮 2026 Game #114: Dark Scrolls Decent gameplay marred by frustrating design. Enemies spawning on top of you, procedurally generated levels that can trap you randomly, and near unplayable co-op due to the excessive bounciness. The art/music are great, but the rest needs work. 4/10 #IndieGames
negative · AI labelView post →Pros - Fun, bouncy, poppy. Running around and fighting enemies has so many beeps and pops that it feels like a constant flow of dopamine. - Mechanics are solid. Everything feels chaotic and hard to manage, but the fun is managing all that chaos. Cons - Can't save in the middle of a run, so if gets long or you need a break, too bad, start from scratch - Very loud beeps during dialog, scrape my ears
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In the beginning I felt like this was a good idea. I like the idea of an auto-scrolling fantasy platform adventure with a roguelite/roguelike element to it. However, in practice, "Dark Scrolls" isn't as enjoyable as I thought it would be - at least, in its current form. WHAT I LIKE: > Aesthetics-wise, it looks alright. It's like someone took "Super Mario Maker" and overlayed a fantasy theme. > I like the Gym where you can beat the hell out of the punching bag and make it swing wildly. >…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like this game a whole lot and I am frankly addicted to it. it's playful and irreverent in its presentation, offering a unique twist on classic roguelite upgrade mechanics, plenty of wild and wacky characters to unlock and experiment with, and a gameplay loop that scratches an itch I didn't even know I had. one of my favorite aspects of Dark Scrolls is its art style; each entity is cleverly depicted in their own palette, rather than a single palette being given to the entire screen. the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hack, slash, and dodge through hordes of enemies and deadly traps in procedurally generated runs of hand-crafted rooms and levels using each hero's unique attacks and abilities to your advantage. Learn more on Dark Scrolls in our full review: somanygames.co.uk/review/dark-...
neutral · AI labelView post →Gamedev here, reviewers on steam are truly braindead. This game is fun as ♥♥♥♥. Netcode works great, and is way too fun with a friend. Are there retro inspired limitations? Yes, but everything still feels great. I have no affiliation with devolver or the devs and its INSANE this game is mixed right now. How do you release a sick ass game and then get cucked by braindead idiots who are ass at video games? If you want a fun platformer to play with a buddy dont listen to the reviews and get it…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really feel like this has the potential to be a fantastic game and I will continue to keep playing it, but it's very hard to recommend this game in it's current state. It still feels super clunky and unfinished and the lack of tutorials or guidance isn't the worst but not helpful when SO much of the rest of the game is lacking. Perhaps find a way to hide the answers better. (review subject to update and change as the game is tweaked, please prove us wrong)
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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