Through the Darkest of Times

Lead a civilian resistance group in Nazi-era Berlin:

Plan actions, recruit supporters and lead your group through the darkest of times.

Multi-award-winning, critically acclaimed and a commercial success: Through the Darkest of Times was the first German game permitted to depict swastikas in a historical context, proving that games can tell serious political history in a way that is both appropriate and captivating.

January 1933. Hitler becomes Reich Chancellor. Over the next twelve years, Germany sinks into dictatorship, terror and war. But not everyone looks the other way: you organise a small, civilian resistance group made up of ordinary citizens: workers, academics, Christians and sceptics.

Your task: keep the group together, plan actions against the regime, distribute leaflets, collect money for the persecuted, sabotage – and try not to get caught by the Gestapo. The game takes you through four chapters, from the seizure of power in 1933 to the collapse in 1945.

The characters are fictional and are procedurally generated with every playthrough – with different personalities, abilities and political convictions. Yet their stories are inspired by real resistance groups such as the Schulze-Boysen-Harnack Organisation or the group led by Herbert Baum.

Through the Darkest of Times is a turn-based strategy game with a strong narrative focus. Each turn corresponds to a week, and each chapter covers a historical period:

• Plan actions: Send group members on missions: distribute leaflets, collect money, gather information, hide those being hunted

• Manage resources: Keep morale, money and support in balance

• Weigh up the risks: Every action carries dangers. Anyone caught ends up in prison or worse

• Experience history: Between rounds, you experience historical events from your group’s perspective

The outcome is open: members can die, be arrested or leave the group. Not every story ends well – but every story is worth telling.

Players actively engage with key questions:

• Scope for action: What options did people have under the Nazi dictatorship? What does resistance mean in everyday life?

• Civil courage: What motivates people to get involved despite the danger?

• Historical responsibility: What does the Nazi past mean for us today?

• Morality under pressure: How do you make decisions when every choice has consequences?

The game promotes historical thinking, empathy and moral judgement through experiencing dilemmas.

USK rating: 12+. Recommended from Year 9/10 (pupils aged approx. 14 and over), suitable for individual and group work as well as for discussions on scope for action and moral decisions.

The game offers various customisation options:

• Difficulty level: Adjustable from narrative to challenging

• One-handed mode – fully playable with just one hand