As the game progresses, the player gains the abilities to collect resources, interact with strangers, start a village, and explore the world.

If the player character dies while exploring, they awaken in the village, seemingly revived by the builder with the aid of a glowing locket around her neck.

The builder, disgusted by the player character's mistreatment of the villagers and violent actions in the wasteland, eventually vanishes, leaving her locket behind.

In the wasteland, the player character can encounter an old wanderer, who discusses his past as an admiral in a space fleet that devastated numerous planets.

Ultimately, it is revealed to the player through numerous clues that "wanderers" are actually a race of extraterrestrial beings who invade planets and leave them in ruins.

The wasteland segment proceeds as normal, with the builder eventually waking and expressing optimism over the player character’s change of heart.

When the meteor cluster is encountered the builder uses telekinesis to push the danger aside, bleeding from her ears and nose and bidding the player farewell before falling unconscious.

[12] On October 12, 2020, an open-source contributor Jonathon Orsi added audio capabilities to the browser game and created various lo-fi sound effects and ambient background music.

"[14] Slide to Play rated it 3 out of 4, commenting, "It may not seem like much at first, but if you stick around long enough, it's easy to fall under A Dark Room's spell.

"[15] 148Apps gave the game 3 out of 5, writing, "A Dark Room may have plenty of longevity and may be genuinely intriguing, but its interface feels undeveloped in its iOS iteration.