Darkwood unfolds in a mysterious, ever-expanding forest somewhere in the Soviet Bloc during the late 1980s, where the surrounding land has been swallowed and its people left trapped. A strange plague festers among the survivors, twisting many into monstrous, mindless things, while the few remaining outsiders cling to scattered hideouts. The player takes the role of the Stranger, a man desperate to find a way out and searching for a stolen key that promises passage through an underground escape route. By day he scavenges the woods for supplies and clues, and by night he barricades himself in and fights to survive until dawn, all while the choices he makes shape the fates of the forest's uneasy inhabitants.