Dark Hours Is a Heist Game… Until a Demon Ruins Everything (And Your Friends Steal the Loot)

Updated on April 22nd, 2026 for Xbox Series X / PS5

TL;DR

You break into a place to rob it.

A demon shows up.

Your friends panic.

Someone steals your loot.

You die in a hallway holding a toaster worth €300.

Welcome to Dark Hours.

Your “heist setup” is a headset that sounds like two tin cans arguing in a tunnel. Fix it before your next run gets you killed by bad comms. The HyperX Cloud II Gaming Headset gives you clear audio and a mic your team can actually understand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kP-FOQFTf6I

Criminal Mastermind Score

7.8 / 10 - “Competent Crook With Questionable Life Choices”

The Setup: Ocean’s Eleven, If Ocean Was Possessed

You start Dark Hours like a proper professional. Gloves on, tools ready, confidence high. You’re about to execute a clean, elegant heist.

Two minutes later you’re crouched behind a filing cabinet while a shadow creature with anger issues patrols the hallway, your teammate is whisper-screaming, and someone just shouted “WHO TOOK THE KEYCARD” like it’s a family dinner gone wrong.

That’s the game.

You are not heroes. You are not police. You are not even particularly good people. You are thieves. Burglars. The kind of individual who sees a locked door and thinks, “challenge accepted.”

And then the game adds a monster.

Because clearly, breaking and entering wasn’t stressful enough.

The Heist: Real Crime, Not Decorative Crime

Let’s get one thing straight. This isn’t one of those games that slaps “heist” on the box like a toddler slapping ketchup on a wall and calling it art.

You steal things.

You swap valuables for fakes.

You destroy evidence.

You blow up buildings.

You complete contracts for shady factions who would absolutely sell your organs if it improved margins.

This is proper CRIMENET material.

You’ve got gadgets too. Cameras, EMPs, scanners, tasers, teleporters. It’s like someone emptied Batman’s utility belt into a Lidl and said, “go nuts.”

But here’s the twist.

Every plan lasts about as long as a politician’s promise.

The Horror: When the Job Interview Turns Into an Exorcism

The moment Dark Hours reveals its true personality is when the monster enters the building.

And suddenly your carefully planned heist becomes:

“grab whatever you can and RUN LIKE YOUR TAXES ARE BEING AUDITED BY GOD HIMSELF.”

You can’t kill these things. You can’t negotiate. You can’t even mildly inconvenience them for long.

At best, you annoy them. Briefly. Like a mosquito trying to intimidate a tank.

So the game becomes this brilliant mess of:

• solving puzzles while panicking

• opening doors while regretting it

• carrying loot while reconsidering life decisions

It’s like doing IKEA furniture assembly while being hunted. Except the instructions are gone, the screws are screaming, and your friend Dave has wandered off again.

The Team Dynamic: Cooperation, Betrayal, and Dave

In theory, this is a co-op game.

In reality, it’s a psychological experiment.

You start as a team. You communicate. You share resources.

Then someone picks up a rare item and suddenly it’s The Hunger Games with lockpicks.

The game allows you to share loot… or steal it. And let me tell you, nothing reveals a person’s true character faster than a €5,000 artifact and a locked exit door.

You will hear sentences like:

“I’ll open the door, you go first.”

Reader, that door will close behind you.

And they will leave.

You keep missing footsteps, doors, and the thing that’s about to eat you. That’s not tension, that’s bad audio. The SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 Wireless Headset lets you hear everything before it hears you.

The Problem: Sometimes You’re Not a Mastermind… You’re a Raccoon

Here’s where Dark Hours stumbles slightly, trips over a chair, and knocks over a vase.

The heist mechanics are good… but not always brilliant.

At its best, you feel like a criminal genius under pressure.

At its worst, you’re wandering around looking for keys like a lost Airbnb guest.

There are moments where the game becomes:

“find object → unlock door → find another object → repeat”

Which is less Heat and more haunted lost-and-found simulator.

It doesn’t ruin the experience, but it does occasionally slap your criminal fantasy in the face with a clipboard.

Solo vs Squad: Lone Wolf or Pack of Idiots?

You can play solo.

But you shouldn’t.

Playing alone feels like trying to rob a bank while also being the driver, the hacker, the lookout, and the guy who forgot the snacks.

With a full team, though? Absolute chaos. Glorious chaos.

People shouting directions. Someone triggering the monster. Someone else dropping the loot. And one hero trying to salvage the entire operation like a captain steering a sinking ship made of bad decisions.

This is where the game shines.

Content & Support: Not a One-Night Heist

This isn’t some half-baked indie job that disappears after launch like your friend who “forgot his wallet.”

There’s proper content here:

• multiple environments

• dozens of maps

• loads of gadgets

• multiple monsters with different behaviors

• mission variety

• PvPvE modes

And importantly, it’s being actively updated. Bugs get fixed, systems get tweaked, new content rolls in. The developers haven’t vanished into the woods to “find themselves.”

Which is refreshing.

Verdict: Guilty, With Style

Let’s cut through the noise.

Dark Hours is not the perfect heist game. It’s not the deepest crime simulator. It’s not the ultimate villain fantasy.

But it is something far more interesting.

It’s a game where:

• criminals are the protagonists

• the job matters

• the loot matters

• and everything goes catastrophically wrong in the most entertaining way possible

It turns a heist into a disaster movie.

And frankly, that’s brilliant.

Charge Sheet Verdict

Defendant: Dark Hours

Charges:

• Breaking and entering ✔️

• Theft with intent ✔️

• Criminal conspiracy ✔️

• Emotional damage to teammates ✔️

• Occasional crimes against pacing ✔️

Verdict: 

GUILTY… and we loved every second of it.

Sentence:

Mandatory play with friends, preferably ones you don’t fully trust.

Your “strategy” right now is panic, screaming, and dropping loot like a confused raccoon. Time to upgrade the brain, not just the gear. The book “The Art of Deception by Kevin D. Mitnick” sharpens how you think, plan, and manipulate the situation.

FAQ

Is Dark Hours actually a heist game or just horror with a crowbar? It is a real heist game with actual criminal objectives, tools, and loot systems, but constantly interrupted by horror mechanics that change how you approach the job

Can you play as the villain or monster? No, you play as criminals, not the supernatural entity, so the villain fantasy is limited to being a thief rather than the main antagonist

Is it better solo or co-op? It works solo, but the full experience is clearly designed for co-op where teamwork, panic, and betrayal create the best moments

Does the heist gameplay go deep like PAYDAY or Hitman? Not quite, it focuses more on short-term decisions and chaos rather than long-term planning and perfect execution

Does it get repetitive? It can, especially when objectives lean heavily on searching and unlocking, but the randomness and team dynamics help keep it fresh