Dark Seed (video game)/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Awesome Art: H. R. Giger does not disappoint with the characters and landscapes he designs.
  • Awesome Music: The main theme for Dark Seed II is actually pretty good, keeping an eerie, haunting tone. Being that it was composed by Mark Morgan (of Fallout fame), this is hardly surprising.
  • Badass Decay: Mike Dawson was never particularly badass in the first place, but in Dark Seed II, he's possibly the whiniest person alive..
  • Big Lipped Alligator Moment: Late in Dark Seed II, Mike gets interrogated by an FBI agent. The agent accuses him of being a killer, Mike punches him out after he pushes Mike's Berserk Button... and it never comes up again.
  • Cult Classic: The first game is one among fans of lesser known Adventure Games.
    • As is the second to some (partially ironic) extent.
  • Designated Hero: Mike is not particularly likable. He's rather bitter and depressed, makes cynical jokes that aren't funny, and might be seen as an early predecessor to James Sunderland.
    • He's arguably worse in the second game. He's really wimpy, and most of the times he saves himself is due to his dark self. He's almost nothing like he was in the original, although it may be a bit excusable as he suffers from traumatic events from the first game.
  • Ear Worm: The carnival music in Dark Seed II is pretty hard to get out of your head.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Jack in the second game, for at least trying to help Mike unlike everybody else in town, who just treat him like shit for next to no reason. Also thanks to his affable, Fonzie-esque demeanor.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: Dark Seed II's plot twist is remarkably similar to a book that was later made into a popular movie. The plot twist is so famous that just naming the work tells you what it is. It's Fight Club. Jack is, apparently, just Mike's subconscious, the cooler person he wishes he could be. Or something.
  • Just Here for Godzilla: A lot of people play these games just to see H. R. Giger's artwork.
  • Memetic Badass: As a result of Retsupurae's longplay, Mike Dawson has become an inversion, famed for his endless wimpiness.
  • Memetic Mutation: Just do a Youtube search for Mike Dawson, and you will see many videos for the ring toss and unrelated Mike Dawson videos flooded with Dark Seed Retsupurae comments.
    • TV Tropes, did you kill Rita?
      • What was your relationship with Rita?
    • Eh heh, ya missed, pal!
    • Here TV Tropes, this will explain everything. (Quack)
    • Oh no, not the hall of tropes again! The only way out is tropes!
    • I would bow, but I'm too embarrassed...
    • I don't think Ik and Uk are going to molest me anymore.
    • Everybody had sex with Rita. Except Mike Dawson.
  • Narm:
    • The first game's cutscenes used hand-drawn graphics and were quite effective. That's more than can be said for the sequel's full motion videos.
    • The Behemoth in particular. With all the hype it gets about being able to destroy the world, you'd expect something more menacing than a giant snake with a skull for a head wearing a buzzsaw like a sombrero.
    • The embryo hatching in the bad ending. It somehow manages to be Squick, Nightmare Fuel, Nightmare Retardant and You Fail Biology Forever (by violating the logic of the game's premise(the seed was in his head, not his stomach, WTF?)), all at once, and is one of the most ridiculous deaths ever seen. It almost crosses the threshold into So Bad It's Good.
    • The Deranged Animation for the digitized characters in Dark Seed II, namely, when they are walking. Or talking. Or doing anything...
    • The game's sound effects are often hilariously goofy, especially the 'bweeooobweeooobweeeooooobweeeeooooo' sound the Keeper of the Underworld makes.
    • Oh no, not the hall of death again! The only way out of there is death!
    • The carnival in the second game is decorated with H. R. Giger artwork. Who would visit this carnival?!
  • Nausea Fuel: The descriptions Mike Dawson uses in the Dark World.
  • The Scrappy: In Dark Seed II, Mike himself is this, both in-universe and out. His whiny voice, idiotic actions, Jerkass moments and general incompetence are the main reasons. And he's the main character.
  • Sequelitis: Dark Seed II looked considerably better than the first game and featured more dark world landscapes, but was also somewhat less interesting without the mystery of the original as its driving force. It doesn't help that Mike Dawson is derailed into a whiny manchild.
  • So Bad, It's Good: Notably in Dark Seed II, mainly because of Mike's dialogue and some other bizarre elements.
  • Special Effects Failure: A lot in the second game.
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