Owing to this, the Twin Lakes' police department keeps its own (though underfunded) branch known as the Darkside Division, headed by Detective Francis McQueen and his partner Patrick Dooley, who investigate such cases.

The game is known for its satirical nature, drawing multiple references to pop culture, including its case names such as "Buy Hard" or "Don of the Dead".

As McQueen and Dooley search the house, they discover both a blacklight lamp and pencil, which they test at the upper attic, revealing a door-like drawing on the wall.

McQueen and Dooley arrive at the Twin Lakes Library to return some overdue books when they discover a storm with a mysterious purple vortex happening above the building, whose lights are also constantly flickering.

After resolving a dispute between the ghosts of H. P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe by using a book Doris was reading, "Guylight", McQueen discovers a secret passageway within the horror section of the Library, finding a clandestine collection of occult books, one of them being a tome charged by faulty electric wiring from the building's lightning rod on the rooftop.

McQueen and Dooley confiscate the occult books, making a deal with Doris to not issue a fine as the charges against Devon are dropped.

When McQueen, accompanied by the scouts, start to investigate, they come across a sentient oscilloscope named BETI (Based on SETI, though "much better" and with a camera lens resembling HAL 9000), which informs Dooley had crossed the camp's lake after receiving a high frequency wi-fi signal.

Using an adultered version of the printed map from BETI, McQueen manages to lead Brickman to a wrong location in the island as he uses the reporter's camera to photograph a mockery of the monster (which are the Bloodwolves piled up in a Chewbacca-ish costume) for the conspiracy theorists.

McQueen and Dooley are summoned by Chief Scully, along with the entire staff, to attend occurrences during a city-wide riot, where a police officer was already injured.

At the Museum, McQueen and Dooley investigate a break-in occurrence when they come across a mummy, which they lure back to its sarcophagus using a brain jar.

McQueen and Dooley leave the crypt as McScream and Ghouley force the priest, Alexander Pope, to reverse his ritual and putting an end to all living dead, and thus the riots.

However, when they go visit Santa's house and briefly leave Buzz behind at the children's line, a sudden quake occurs in the mall which makes McQueen and Dooley race back to the house only to find Santa Claus has been transformed into the Krampus and the children - including Buzz - into unruly green gnomes, which start wreaking havoc across the mall.

McQueen and Dooley are forced to capture and restrain Buzz, who was attempting to reach the Christmas tree's star through the mall's enormous fountain, interrogating him to learn that the Krampus is actually Santa's polar opposite, in which brings out the worst traits from children.

McQueen and Dooley use cooked garlic's juices to cleanse the VHS tape of evil influence and put it back in to frighten Paulie away from the house.

At Dooley's birthday, McQueen takes him for an off-road trip (Which he lies to Chief Scully that they're headed off-town due to an El Chupacabra appearance) and both arrive at the Baits Motel to see the main attraction which is the salvaged material from Lake Monster stored at the "Trout of This World" museum.

However, as they book their rooms for the motel, leave their luggage and head to the attraction itself, they find it closed under a localized sandstorm, which McQueen decides to investigate about.

After aiding them in switching their bench weights, McQueen and Dooley suddenly lift-off to space in bubbles where they come across special stamps from "Fed-Xtra Dimensional".

Returning to the normal world, Dooley theorizes the symbols they found must be a combination to release the genie, and suggests stamping them on the lamp, which they do.

The original prototype of The Darkside Detective was created by Paul Conway and Christopher Colston at a short game jam in Galway, Ireland.

[6][7] Hardcore Gamer awarded it a score of 3.5 out of 5, saying "The Darkside Detective is a charming point and click adventure with a taste for the sillier aspects of horror.

"[9] Ted Hentschke of Dread Central praised the gameplay and atmosphere but criticising its short length, saying "If the game were 50% longer, I would be in serious danger of genuinely loving it.

"[10] Jimmy Donnellan of Cultured Vultures awarded it a score of 8 out of 10, saying "Funny and offbeat, The Darkside Detective is a joyful but basic point and click game that is simply over too soon.

"[11] However, CJ Andriessen of Destructoid awarded it a more negative score of 5.5 out of 10, and said "Its lightweight, cornball comedy opts for cheap and easy jokes I never really find funny", although he did praise both the soundtrack and the art style.