Darklands

The history here is surprisingly good for a game that sets itself up as fantasy. The music is authentic to the period, the histories of saints are generally both correct and detailed, the history of the cities in place is correct as well. It's also true that the witch-craze of the 1400s originated in this very area of Europe, following centuries of the Church having banned belief in witches. The fears that people had are well-represented. One of the finest role playing games ever written, and one of the finest examples of imagining a historical period.

I first played Darklands way back in the 1990s when I was in high school. I wasted soooo much time building up my guys fighting skills against thugs in back alleys, going from town to town to buy alchemy components, spelunking in mines tracking down kobolds....ah, those were the days. The combat graphics were never all that great, but the gameplay is just outstanding. Even now, I think Darklands has one of the best character creation and skills systems I've ever played.

Darklands is a game of which, after nearly 20 years, I still think of fondly. I even keep the original 5 ¼“ disks though I lack the means to read them, but a working copy made it to every new PC I owned since the early 90ies. The game is fascinating from the first time you play it, even though, or maybe just because, it lacks quite a few oft he must-haves you expect in a RPG. E.G., while there is a main story arch and a sort of a main quest, calling its presentation unobtrusive is bordering on euphemism. You might as well completely ignore it, but this caters to my open world sandbox tastes (I play Oblivion with the main quest modded out). The character generation and development is unique and has never been reached again. You can choose to start with a young character, which lacks proficiency in his skills and has weaker equipment, or you can start with an older character, who has better stats, more equipment. But be aware that your characters age and after a certain age, their stats deteriorate. Certain “classes” have to older to be useful though, forcing you to trade stamina and hitpoints for skill and knowledge. The game also has a faction and a reputation system with numerous groups, like two different banking houses, and regions, with whom you may cooperate or which you can confront. The real time, but pausable, combat was a challenge in 1992 (the terms pulling and kiting weren’t developed yet) and I think, it matured well, despite the keyboard centric approach and the dated graphics. There are several concepts, some based on time or astronomical occurrences, you might not grasp on your first play-through, like the wild hunt, or even the miracle system, but they add depth to your consecutive sessions. The setting is unique because it’s based on real Germany in the late Middle Ages, but not from a historian’s point of view but from a fantastic realism point of view, where the superstition, the myths and legends of then are as real, as the medieval peasant believed them to be.

Loved this game from my childhood, and it still holds up today. I don't think a newcomer could step in and enjoy it unless you enjoyed other games from this era. If you played it back then and enjoyed it, you'll enjoy it today.

Darklands did all sorts of things before they were ever done and some things that unfortunately have not been done since. This game graphically is the forerunner of such titles as Baldur's Gate and Planescape (although the graphics are obviously nowhere near that sophisticated). What is sophisticated about this game is the extremely deep character creation system. This character creation system has so much depth it may turn off some potential players. The controls, at least by modern standards, are also slightly unwieldy. If you can get past the steep learning cure of this game you have a very unique experience awaiting you. The developers have recreated medieval Germany in a way that may seem high-fantasy to modern man but is likely not far removed from how the people thought during the time. Be prepared to die often, this game is exceedingly difficult. Be prepared to play forever, this game can be quite long. Be prepared to be lost, this game is open-ended almost to a fault. Be prepared to play for waaaaay too many hours and to enjoy yourself way too much. Kudos to Microprose for creating this gem and kudos to GOG to providing it to the next generation of video gamers.