Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Arcade
Darkfield
Genre: Digital, Experimental, Horror, Immersive, Radio Play
Venue: Potterrow Plaza
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Another Darkfield creation, this immersive audio experience takes you back to the 80s for some existential ponderings on free will and the choices we make.
Review
It’s rare to experience true darkness these days. There’s a sense of absence, of something missing, and yet in complete darkness, your other senses sharpen. Darkfield’s entire ethos plays with this idea, and one of their Fringe offerings this year, Arcade, takes you into complete darkness for thirty minutes to explore the idea of choice and free will through 360-degree binaural sound and sensory effects.
It’s a Fringe experience like no other – when the lights finally blink back on, you’ll be left to think about what exactly you’ve just witnessed. No spoilers here, I’m afraid, but the choices you make in the game will stay with you long after you leave the cargo crate, and the existential questions you are posed with will stick in your head for days. And like all the best arcade games, there’s a sense of replayability, so you’ll want to go back and play it again. And again. And again. After all, what happens when you make different decisions? Will you have a different ending?
Being my first Darkfield show, it blew all my expectations out of the water. This isn’t Darkfield’s first appearance at the Fringe, however, and Arcade is back for a return visit, and it’s well worth the trip even if you’ve played it before – it seems there’s always something new to discover. Having since experienced some of the other Darkfield shows on offer this Fringe, this is certainly the strongest of the lot, with a cohesive storyline that twists and bends to the will of the player, and phenomenal voice work that makes the entire experience absolutely breathtaking.
Arcade verges on horror – there’s something about the total darkness that is all consuming, and if it’s not for you, there is a chance to gracefully exit thirty seconds in. The playthrough itself is a high stakes adrenaline rush, perfect for anyone after some classic 80s video game nostalgia, but this is no typical Fringe fare. It’s one of those shows where the less you know the better, but just that the entire half an hour is something entirely different. If you’re already a Darkfield fan, this is an impressive offering, and if you’ve never met them before, then Arcade is a complete gamechanger.
