Dark Cut

The puzzle game Dark Cut is still running on the site I found it on after it was released in 2006, Addicting Games. I had a sick fascination with Dark Cut, where I played as a medieval doctor performing experimental medicine, made even more experimental by the fact that I was eight years old. You have to complete a series of procedures, like cutting boils open and removing arrows, without completely butchering your faceless patient, who lies still as a GarageBand synth warbles solemnly.

This game would always be the last one my friends and I would play in an Addicting Games session. I think we were both thrilled and repelled by its practical but pus-filled display of violence, so we liked building up to it.

I just played it again now—I am no more qualified to execute amputations now than I was in 2006, but I noticed that the game’s loading screen offers this piece of advice: “In case of real emergency, do not perform any of these operations or use this game as a guide. Seek professional help immediately.” I’m glad I saw this. I was about to unleash all these leeches onto my face.