Blade of Darkness

I played this when it first came out over 20 years ago..Enjoyed it so many times untill it was just too old for my system... Now thanks to GOG I played it again and although it hasn't aged very well, It is still a great game! A true relic from the past that should be remade!

I remember first playing this in 2001. What first amazed me was the graphics = real time shadows casting from real light sources and water that looked real and cast reflection. The havoc physics when destroying barrels and throwing objects around was also fun. But the best part: The Dismemberment! You can cut off limbs, heads, divide enemies in two. All with great sword combos. You learn more and new combos as you level up too. You can play as 4 characters. I personally like the Barbarian since it makes it a bit more tactical when it comes to two-hand sword fighting: You must dodge and plan your attack very wisely. Every map looks totally different from each other and are huge with lots of secrets. Pay close attention to your surroundings. The atmosphere is like that of Conan The Barbarian movie. I am not sure if this new version supports the "Blade of light" mod (better graphics) or dismemberment mod. But I would urge you to check those out on moddb.com since it makes the game way better

If you think Dark Souls invented third person melee combat, think again.

A Souls fan wondering what I would have thought about this game in 2001. So this game taught me that Dark Souls has sumerian mythology. Kings and kingdoms that fell to a creeping darkness and somewhere a furtive pygmy and giant serpent. It also taught me that, a shield breaks after 3 hits and that poise is an important system to get right. This game has 4 characters to choose from. Each one has a favorite weapon class and differing agility. You level up automatically when you kill enough enemies. You will always have enough, but you won't always feel like you're really that strong or stronger because of a new level. Levels raise your health and stamine bar. Both of these are big enough around level 10, that it is very hard to actually run out of either. You get stronger by learning combos. I think you learn combos by button mashing like in a fighting game. There are also runes, i don't know how to use them. The game has levels. Around 12 and 2 last levels. You usually get a choice between 2. It doesn't really matter which on eyou pick, as you will be of a high enough level. Weapons carry over. But I kept to the strongest weapon with the least defence debuff because the movesets were always the same, or almost the same. I never felt stronger with a new weapon. That is because in souls terms the enemies have unlimited poise and unless your weapon has a bigger damage output than their shield's defence, then they will block you every time, causing you to stagger and be very open to attacks. Do this in a mob and you will lose all of your health. So you get the mob to kill itself. Bait an attack and they AOE each other.Almost necessary sometimes. There is sadly little variety to the bosses. The game does have breakable walls, but these are sometimes also the main path forward, so you will run through a level three or more times, looking for the only key or door forward. It does get tedious and the last levels do get a massive difficulty spike. But it's a good game.

There are only one bad thing in this game, a kind of rude "walking control" like an old Tomb Raider style, or Resident Evil... but if you manage to cope with this, the combat is still one of the best melee combat ever developed as it´s far more modern than the walking mechanics for its time, and works much better, being also the main pillar of the gameplay. Everything else is good: 4 characters that are pretty different, giving the game a great replayability (I finished on it´s day with the four) Superb and dangerous melee combat full of graphic realism (in terms of CUT things and hurt enemies) something not common at all nowdays, because we all know killing enemies make them explode like a children piñata. right? Atmospheric landscapes with secrets, traps and tactical approaches for combat. Graphics that are still today, gorgeous, even if old. A great soundtrack.