Since Darklands is DOS only I missed it back in the days when I had an Amiga, so I only played it recently. So unlike many other reviews on GOG, this is not based on nostalgia. The good: Excellent, fat manual. One of the best character generation systems ever. I recommend trying the game with the pregenerated party first and then if decide you like the game, roll new characters. The setting: a mix of Greater German/Holy Roman Empire as it was in the 15th century, but where all kinds of things people believed in back then excists, like saints, dwarves, dragons, witches and demons. Open, go-anywhere-you-like world. Lots of different ways to solve most problems. Most encounters can be solved peacefully or with trickery, by for example calling on a saint for aid, use an alchemical potions, or stealth or other skills. The writing is good. The so-so: Combat is real time with pause; the first ever in a CRPG, I think. It works pretty well once you get used to it, and is certainly better than simple turn based systems, but not as good as the RTwP system of the Infinity Engine games, or the more advanced turn based systems of for example the Gold Box games. But it's fast, and your characters can usually handle themselves without babysitting once they get decent armour. But in more difficult combats the lack of proper control can be annoying. Tactics is limited to use of choke points in dungeons, and the use of potions, and avoiding potions from enemy alchemists. Encounter design: a good mix of wildlife, human enemies and supernatural ones. None of them uses missiles weapons (except potions) even if they have them, though; they all rush into melee. The Wild Hunt was rather disappointing, with just one hunter, which makes something that is portrayed as terrifying to easy to combat. He should have been backed up by minions. All cities look the same, and could have used to be more distinct. But I like the menu system; it beats having to walk back and forth in huge, mostly empty cities (I rage quit both Disciples of Steel and Magic Candle 2 due to this). The bad: Graphics is pretty bad compared to other games of the same era. Monster animations are pretty good, though. Earning local reputation by breaking curfew and prowling the streets at night, to find robbers to kill, felt rather contrived. And you are always killing the same band of four or five bandits, so this aspect of the game gets old real fast. You get quests to find the same items over and over again. I lost count of how many Tarnhelms and Silver Maces I found. And you can't even equip these quest items. The NPCs are clones of each other, and have much better stats than your own characters, despire being 5-15 years younger. Also, having an NPC means 20% more enemies in most encounters, so on the balance I'd say they are not worth dragging along.
I only recently played these games and I must say they have stood the test of time and are still playable if you don't mine the antiquated graphics. The best things about the games is the large galaxy to explore, being able to land on planets and piecing together all the bits of the puzzle. The answer is very...interesting. There's great humour in the games, especially the spineless Spemins. The second game is more streamlined and there is not quite so much to explore and piece together, but the economy/trading/mining aspect is more balanced. If these games had the intense dogfight combat of Elite they would have been perfect. These are among the game where the Amiga version is clearly superior, with better graphics, sound, controls and saving system.
