Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Sun Series

On release, these games were very buggy, preventing them from attaining the same nostalgic "best game ever!" fandom as some contemporaries. However, for pure hack-and-slash fun, it's difficult to beat the Dark Sun games. The mid-1990s were a transitional period for RPGs, and many of them blended classic, old-school gameplay elements with what we'd later recognize as modern design. For example, combat is still turn-based, and your characters' attributes are randomly rolled. On the other hand, there's an open world to explore, and many quests have more than one solution. You'll spend most of your time killing stuff, but there are also a few interesting NPCs to talk to when you feel your bloodlust has been sated. There are better choices if you're looking for a hardcore, old-school game or a modern game that's accessible to casual players, but the Dark Sun games are an enjoyable middle ground.

I used to love both Dark Sun games. They were pretty decent for its time. But the Wake of the Ravager was soooooo bug-ridden that it was frustrating almost to the point of throwing your mouse at the wall. I would like to know then is this version a simple Dosbox repack of the original or did someone fix at least some of the original bugs?

I'd had this on my wishlist for a while and it never went on sale. I finally opted just to buy it, as I'm a huge fan of the Dark Sun campaign. Even Shattered Lands alone was worth the $9.99. I can't believe I somehow didn't give this game a try until now. I basically played Shattered Lands for two days straight after buying this. Wake of the Ravager seems to be a bit tough, but I'm sure I'll get into it as well.

Shattered Lands was pretty good even though a couple of the quests were rather hard. Wake Of The Ravager has a bug in it that makes it close to unplayable. For example when I went down to the Veiled Alliance HQ in the game, I couldn’t leave the same way I got there. I got stuck. There were 2 portals in the HQ that take you outside of Athas and places where you can’t do anything to make the story go forward. I wish GOG could make an update to this game where they fix that problem.

I obsessed over this game for years. Particularly because the "Hint Guide" that I ordered back in the day had the wrong directions through the mines. Some of my best memories of gaming are wrapped up in this game, and beating it was one of those great accomplishments I remember fondly.