Darklands

I loved this game when it first came out on 7 floppy discs. Other reviews have set out in detail how it works. Put more simply, the world works how people thought it did at the time with the belief systems around then and in that light the game is incredibly 'realistic'. It was quite buggy then (the chap who ran the computer game shop I got it from said I was the only person he knew who got to the end - only just as 3 of my 4 characters seem to be permanently reduced to 10% of normal size by the end of the last boss battle) but that seems to have been sorted. I was so excited to have the chance to play it again, but I quickly found that my ageing eyes can't cope with such old graphics. If you can get past that, buy this otherwise 5 star game. If not, sadly this is one to miss

I bought this game back when it was on 11 floppies, years later I bought it on a CD. Which I still use today (works great in DOSBox) I love this game. Sadly I don't think many people heard of it. I heard stories it was forgotten because Ultima 7 came out roughly the same time.(Also a great game) Not much else I can say that hasn't already been said.

This game will remain on my hard driver forever, now that I have finally gotten it back on there. Where to start, where to start. Let's start with the atmosphere of the game. Medieval Germany, in the 15th century, is a unique setting for this game. The "magic" system is prayer. That's right, your Priest, over time, will learn about all the Saints in the game, with each Saint's buff useful in different situations. One Saint may provide a stamina buff, another may help you to fight demons, another still may help you or your party to regain health. This alone makes the game just terrific. What other game, EVER, has this as a game mechanic? It the context of this game, it works perfectly. Character generation is robust, and thorough. Your starting background can be rich, poor, noble, or somewhere in between. Each provides you with advantages. Your first profession is crucial..each profession adds five years to your starting age..you start at age 15, and must choose one. If, for example, you choose "Recruit", your military skills, strength and stamina will go up, as well as limiting your options to gain skills in other parts of the game..such as healing, prayer, or lock picking. The second profession may build on the first, and so on..to the point that you may choose, for your religious party member, to go Novice Monk, Monk, Priest, and then Abbott. Your party leader (you DID give him a high Speak Common, and Charisma skill, right?) may be a pure soldier, with Recruit, Soldier, Veteran, and then Captain. This makes him 35 years old at the start...or you could start him as a 25 year old Soldier. Your call. Combat is real time, pausable to give orders, or to throw/drink potions, or other actions. Graphics are 1992, and the ENTIRE game is a 27 meg download..but don't let that fool you. The complexity, immersion, and playability of this game are better than other RPG's that are a HUNDRED times larger. Character progress is slow. You have to think about what actions your party will do next. It is entirely possible to get killed, and have to go to a save game. This has happened to me many, many times. The slow, steady pace of character development also results in more attachment to your party..they really do seem alive, as you carefully plot their training and advancements. I just cannot recommend this game enough. My daughter, back in the day, played this game so much that she memorized what all of the Saint's buffs are...and we are talking about well over a hundred here. This is the best $5.99 you will ever spend on a computer game. Just buy it.

The graphic could be a bit repulsive to some people, but if you swallow that, you will be amazed by the depth of this game... at least I really was... I got this game a few years ago, and I thought, that it is some generic fantasy dungeon crawler, but after starting to play I realized, that this is real gem amongst the old school RPGs... the world is very open and you have huge amount of possibilities what to do, tons of possibilities how to develop your character, and you will experience lot of wonderful or dreadful stories, events and accidents... the game interface is interesting too, when moving on map, you see your party from top moving through the country, while in cities or other locations, the game switch to text-based interface with some graphics depicting the location, and while in combat the game is switched in real-time tactic interface with possibility of pausing the game to give orders to your characters... Recommended to every RPG-lover... 10/10

A cult classic. An excellent game. Forget these other old games, this one provides detail. It has storytelling. It makes it like a choose your own adventurer! The game combines folklore, medieval Christian culture and fantasy/high adventure all into one. Here are knights and trials, inns and beer, gnomes in mines, Saints (based on real life historical Saints) with backgrounds provided in game. This is the "magic" system! You pray to Saints and they intercede! And it is always unique because so much of the game is through dialogues and hand drawn pictures. Amazing. Love this game; but it now.