Darklands

In the manual, Darklands outlines what it aims to be - medieval Europe as it was perceived at the time. And Gods does it succeed. An amazingly realistic, layered and complex game. Drawbacks are mostly the standards for the era: you have to read up on external sources to understand what you're "supposed" to do, what the goal of the game is and how you should go about to achieve it. It does, of course, require an enormous amount of patience and tolerance for old design. But given all that, and a massive reviewer bias, you have one of the best games of all times.

Darklands could be seen like the father of every party-based RPG: the player gets to lead four adventurers in search of glory and riches. What really stands out is the thorough research behind this game: it doesn't take place in some fantasy world but rather in medieval Germany (albeit with some "artistic license). Character creation, skills, equipment, missions and much more have an authentic flavor and the sandbox structure offers whole days of play. Take it, you could even learn something!

I played this when I was just 9 years old. I am 33, and just recently purchased from here. I feel like I left off 24 years ago, and didn't even have to read the manual. Everything just came to me once I played for a few min. I bought it 4 days ago, I have not played any other game but this. I have a custom 4th generation i-7 gaming machine with GTX 570, and I am playing Darklands, that should say alot about this game. These new games are all about graphics and cut scenes. Old school games were about story, depth, re-playability and very minor bugs. 11 out of 10, I highly recommend.

I had the original boxed set when it came out in 1992. The entire thing was beautiful and had an amazing, thick book that came with it. Fortunately for us the GOG copy comes with a digital version in the download section. GOG also includes a scan of the fold-out map, which is necessary for a lot of the quests if you wish to find an area required for a quest before the in-game timer expires. That being said, this game is amazing. It's basically a world view sandbox game with no restrictions on where you can go or what you can do. Feel like attacking the city guards at the gate? No problem. Want to butcher that friar and see if he has any loot? Go for it. However the game rewards those that want to live a good life and help those in need and it does so in a way that is engaging instead of feeling like a limitation or irritation. Whenever you go to an area on the map or an occurrence happens the view changes from the map to beautiful pictures that look like they were painted with water colors. On the picture are menus of choices you can make or place you can navigate. For instance in a city you can choose to go to a street of armorers and weapon smiths, or perhaps a side road with a park if you are avoiding the guards. You can buy things like equipment, horses, reagents for potion-making, or even visit churches for blessings, etc.. The navigation is handled in a simple yet well implemented manner that makes the cities and other locations more visceral than a typical video game. The graphics are obviously dated since the game is 24 years old as of writing this (gosh time has flown), but it doesn't detract from the game. In fact I feel that it gives the game charm and atmosphere since it is obvious that the programmers and artists undertook the making of this game as a labor of love. The music really shines and most of the tunes sound like they were from the dark ages. Some of them are actually quite catchy. Make sure you equip your adventurers before starting off!

Darklands is one of the best RPGs ever released, and possibly my favourite game on GOG. The graphics and user interface are of sufficient quality that a new-comer can still feel comfortable playing the game today, and the game itself is just as enjoyable as it was all those years ago. Darklands is a game that I enjoyed the first time I played it, and it is a game that I continue to enjoy whenever I revisit it. In fact, I am able to review it today because I was actually playing Darklands during the two weeks prior to its release on GOG. There is a certain feeling of freedom that makes the game seem new each time you play, and the setting itself is just perfect.