Reviews

• 

  DogMachine

  Nov 7, 2021

  Game definitely needs polish, but nevertheless, I was having fun with it until the very first quest line for the very essential piece of equipment that lets you do transmutation on equipment demanded that I slay a dungeon boss with 100k hp (and his two friends) by the time I was lvl 15. Basically, asking me to slay dragons right out the gate to get all of my kit together before I have even left the new player zone. And the game's lack of popularity makes putting together a team to accomplish this challenge rather unlikely. I guess I am expected to grind to lvl 100 on bandits and grizzly bears to acquire all the necessary skills that I might need to accomplish this feat on my own? Oh - right. The dungeons scale with the player. I guess I won't be doing that either. Discouraged after sinking in a day of playtime to realize that the game sets you up for an impossible challenge as your 3rd quest in the game. Considering that at this point anyone who buys the game is going to be playing mainly solo, we should at least be able to make progress through the dungeons on normal difficulty on our own (considering there is an elite difficulty setting for rewards). I wondered whether I would regret playing more than 2 hours of this game when I saw the UI, but I pressed on for the sake of sheer curiosity, and I have been rewarded with said regret. I'd say I hope that the game changes and improves, but given the amount of time it has been on here, I doubt that will happen.
• 

  ArTex

  May 21, 2022

  Dead game. No updates, nothing. Not even players are ever on. Cash grab, not worth the 20 bucks IMO.
• 

  swamp_roo™

  Jul 11, 2022

  As of 11th July 2022, there's notices on the steam page advising the shut down of the servers. Nothing in the forums from the devs. Seems the last update was in November 2021. Unfortunate and disappointing. More so, because I initially bought and attempted to play the game in early 2021. I loved the vibe and atmosphere but it had weird stutter and the controls needed patching. I came back to these notices, but the game runs fine now and i've enjoyed the 12 hours i put in. I've done all the content i can reasonably do solo. Unfortunate to see the game be abandoned. Oh well. RIP.
• 

  Omali

  Aug 12, 2022

  Game has been abandoned by the developer. No point wasting $20 on something that will never be finished and is in a bad enough state as it is.
• 

  Sleazy

  Nov 4, 2022

  Don't buy, game is small, one dude working on it and he's a scrub. Don't believe me? Go watch his YT vids. I saw the writing on the wall well over a year ago and quit playing then after I reached the endgame in 30h. The game is shut down now anyway... Maybe he'll go scrub in another game. Keep it on your radar so you don't buy that game either.
• 

  PK

  Nov 22, 2019

  There is not a ton of content, which is to be expected on an early access release just days after it comes out... But I have been following this project on youtube for a long time and I do have to say it seems promising on many aspects. I anticipate a lot of additions and changes in the future and I have faith in the developers to make something great out of this! I hit level 25 and so far the loot system seems very random which I absolutely love. Cannot wait to see what else this game has in store for the future.
• 

  Shimizu

  Nov 23, 2019

  Things are fairly early yet, but I have to say for an early access not-even-at-alpha-1.0 yet this game is fairly impressive. I'm updating this review after playing now for 80+ hours. Performance Performance wise, no crashing, no freezing, generally pretty good. There have been some server troubles due to what I expect are unanticipated player population numbers, which are hopefully getting rectified today with new hardware. Sure, there's bugs, but most of them are 'annoying' rather than 'critical' issues that keep you from playing the game, and players have found workaround for most of these. (Trade window doesn't work, simply try again, and it probably will this time. That sort of thing). Navigation / Environment Functional map and minimap, mostly intuitive UI. World design is a different flavor than most, its a dark/ominous ambience with music to suit, at least as far as I've explored in the first zone, which is aptly named The Black Moor. Quest NPCs are indicated but relies on player to remember who gave what and find their way back there, no autopathing or eyesore flashing waypoint nonsense, game feels pretty immersive. That being said, the game is nice in that it doesn't waste players' time - early on you get a quest to get a teleport orb that serves as a 15min cooldown recall to town thing, but also can target a player in your party and teleport to them as well, either outside or in a dungeon which comes in pretty handy. Skills / Stats system There are 8 "skill lines" (the game refers to these as 'classes' but that's a bit misleading. They are skill trees, and you can freely mix/match points within any 3, allowing you to create a custom class, and these can be untrained/fiddled with for a small in-game gold cost. These classes encompass a variety of different damage types that correspond to different attributes (i.e. "Divinity" stat affects holy and unholy damage, creating some interesting synergy potentials as say, a necromancer-priest). While I love this freedom, I did discover early that it was possible to make err..."poor decisions" here, but after a couple false starts, you get a feel for it and figure out what you want to do. But this is not a "level up, you learned x skill" game at all, the player can prioritize if they want to boost damage, defenses, buffs - and from which skill lines. Now that I'm much higher level than my initial review, I will expand on the above by saying that the freedom of the skill tree, being able to respec on the fly for a small gold sink, and allowing the player to tweak their build as the situation requires (such as joining a group with no healer, and so forth) is a very refreshing feature. Community Small but active, saw loads of folks running around and chat was hopping, and people were generally helpful. I have to give props to the community manager they've got here as well, super engaged, friendly - it just so happened that the login server trouble they had earlier corresponded with my first few minutes of gameplay, and within seconds of me seeking help on the discord I had a pm from the community manager to help/advise of situation. The dev is also very active in responding to queries and keeping people informed via the discord. Overall - this has definitely got potential to be a gem and is far more functional than most alphas I've participated in, and more than a lot of betas. Its rough yet - there's no character customization beyond choosing male or female, and I've not seen a lot of gear variety, but I expect these things will come with time and funding - as this is a solo dev project. Definitely worth fiddling around with even its current state, I feel like the creators (and community admin) of this game are really engaged in this project, responsive, running events, etc and actively communicating and listening to player suggestions/feedback. Its far from finished/polished, but there's definitely enough here to start exploring.
• 

  DeputyDoge

  Nov 23, 2019

  Great game so far for early access, I would recommend it even in its current state. Excited to see what's to come in the future!
• 

  DefectedZephyr

  Nov 27, 2019

  Honestly, if it wasn't 1 dev and 1 admin i'd say stay away but Oh dear it's good for what it is Constant community engagement in discord, bug fix prioritizing... You actually get a sense of involvement both ingame and out of game. I run satellite internet (600+ping, 10mb down 2mb up) and can play near flawlessly |||||ACTUALLY WE RUN INTO THE FIRST EDIT OF THIS REVIEW THIS IS NO LONGER A PROBLEM FOR ME. TAI HAS DONE EXTENSIVE WORK AND CONNECTING IS NEAR FLAWLESS. Which runs into one of the first cons: Connecting. At the time of writing this review, connecting can be extremely spotty and may require numerous restarts||||| But it's worth it when you get in. No forced story Crafting is new and fresh (albeit tedious to understand at first imo) 100 level cap Can use 3/8 skill trees (more are coming), respeccing is a breeze and can be done whenever. Level syncing dungeons 2 factions (chaotic good, chaotic evil), playerbase (at time of writing) is heavily leaning towards chaotic good |||||EDIT: FACTION SWITCH CONSUMABLES ARE A THING, JUST GOTTA FARM THOSE 3 HECKING ITEMS TO CRAFT THE CONSUMABLE ^Con: Party system only allows teaming up with same faction members, us evil players are suffering.||||| ^Pro: Dev will be temporarily switching all accounts to chaotic good to combat the low playerbase bias PvP toggle You can get everything in pay shop by doing dungeons (Yes, those tokens you see on the shop are dropped in dungeons) It is made in Unity (this might scare off people, but I enjoy the aesthetic of Unity) All in all, if you're a fan of any Lord British game (like ultima or the now owned by Catnip Games, Shroud of the Avatar), then you might just get sucked in. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go back to |||||FARMING THOSE FLAGGED CHAOTIC GOOD PLAYERS|||||
• 

  Blackboa

  Nov 29, 2019

  Had little to no expectations when a friend of mine recommended that I try this game but boy was I pleasantly surprised. The game doesn't look like much from the videos, but the game-play makes up for the graphics in a big way. If you love a game that feels like everquest with endless class customization and theory crafting, this early access title is something you may wish to check out. It's currently in the early stages of Alpha and is being developed by a one man development team. It's impressive to think that such a small development team can give me more enjoyment that most games with million dollar budgets. There is a lot of work to be done but if it's already supportive community can continue to support this game, and new players continue to come in as well, we might just have a sleeper game success on our hands in the MMORPG genre, one that we so desperately need! If you have some spare gaming funds and a little patience, I highly recommend this game. I have comments open so feel free to ask me any questions on my review.
• 

  Nicos Taquitos

  Dec 2, 2019

  I've only been playing for a few hours but so far I love the feel of the game. It's definitely rough around the edges right now, but it's still in alpha so it's expected, I haven't run in to anything game breaking yet, and the community is super nice. Just a few random things I like in no particular order: -Skill points can be spent how ever you want. -Diablo style health and mana pots -Instanced dungeons that scale with the party leader -Faction pvp (if you opt in to it, there are two factions right now) -You can multiclass into three different classes, or just pick one and devote all your points to it -Great community -You can change your stats pretty much whenever you want at no cost and skills/classes can be changed for a low cost. No need to even go to a trainer. It's pretty confusing at first, there isn't much direction at the start, but I think it's worth the price tag.
• 

  Pigsnibble

  Dec 2, 2019

  If you are looking for something akin to the original EQ, this may be it. It is early access, so expect the normal glitches and bugs, but nothing that stops you from enjoying it. As many others have noted, there is no hand holding, but the community is very helpful. The biggest thing for me are the dungeon grids. After playing 80+ hours, and trying different skill combinations I am still working out what skills my main toon will be. Of note, it really brings me back to EQ where your group was made up of healer, tank, and a couple of dps. Current group size is 5 players. Character skill sets can vary from straight dps, heals, tank, to anything including a jack of all trades. Tons of players on but with dungeon content being instanced, there is no fighting over mobs. In fact, just standing at the entrance to the 1st dungeon (offered in three levels of difficulty) generally gets you invited to a group within a few minutes. I think the $20 investment has already paid off and look forward to continued enhancement of game features and plan to support it.
• 

  Nuttycide

  Dec 25, 2019

  This game is a mash between Grim Dawn, DnD, and a bit of WoW. There is a lot of class theory in this game. And a lot of grinding. (The only downside if you play solo.) But with a group, the grind is no where as bad and the class theory becomes even more interesting. There is 8 classes in the game and you can choose up to 3 of them at a time. You can reset your skills for a price, but it's not that bad starting out. Currently there is only one race you can play, which is human. More is planned, but who knows how long that will be. One guy is making this game. So it may be a bit slow. Side notes: You choose your class/classes after you create your character and jump into the game. You also get 10 skill points and 10 stat points at level one. After that it's 10 stat points and 2 skill points. The towns/cities don't really have much in them. A few people you can trade with, some quest givers and thats really about it. There is a microtransaction page, but for what i've seen you can still get everything thats in that page for free. Just takes longer, just like in warframe. Combat is basically just smash your face on your keyboard and roll it around. (Just like WoW, right.) Though if your going with archery there does seem to be a free aim, so there is that. Only used it once though since smashing my face against the keyboard works just fine.
• 

  Rinlian

  Dec 27, 2019

  FINALLY an mmorpg dungeon runner that actually does it right. This is literally what I've been looking for in a game for years since Wizardry Online shut down and UO went trammel. You work for every level, but it feels good when you get that ding. Things 5 levels below you can still wreck you if you don't pay attention. Every stat point makes a difference and the class merging system is much better than most games I've tried. It runs AMAZING for an alpha game. Hell it's smoother than the majority of released games these days it seems like. The devs are doing things right here and I hope it starts getting more traction. You'll enjoy this game if you're into: -Smooth running old school style combat with more modern graphics. -Complex stat and class building choices -Dungeon running based content -Games where grouping for dungeons (majority of content) is pretty much mandatory. -Dying and rage crying but enjoying it too much to quit. -Dark Diablo like atmosphere (Like old school Diablo, before they wrecked it with 3) -Having to actually work for your gear and levels. -More realistic character movement and gear -Waking up at 3am and getting the urge to go grind because dammit you're so close to the next ding. You won't enjoy it if: -You're an instant gratification MMO type of person -You like bright flashy games -You're a big whiner about things being difficult -You rely on cash shops to get through games Seriously best 20$ I've ever spent on a game. Ever. 10/10 I also like I can sit on the picnic tables in town. Lmao
• 

  BawsssHoG

  Jan 11, 2020

  This game is very awesome for me it's a old school MMO kinda like EQoA style with semi okay graphics. The biggest problem I've seen so far in this game is the lack of content and the really high max level. Which if you just grind grind grind you can reach lv100 in 20-30 hours easy. But then it feels more like Diablo just trying to grind the 3 dungeons to get gold items. A lot of people act like it's a pay to win game but it's not at all. The mounts you buy do nothing but take away from your early game experience and you can earn them by lv40-50 by just doing Medium dungeons. All in all the game has a great base game up till about lv25 everything feels super good and is great then the grind sets in. There are a few bugs but the dev knocking them out very quickly. I would suggest this game to any hardcore no hand holding mmorpg player 100%. Now if your a black desert online player or tera any of the Korean mmo's or new action combat mmo's kinda player I'd say skip it 100% it's not the game for you. ^^
• 

  Studybreak

  Jan 15, 2020

  Great game still in development, helpful community, really looking forward to watching it develop! Kudos to a hard working and talented developer!
• 

  keratos

  Jan 18, 2020

  Interesting game mechanics and fun to play but I paid for it and i cannot play - only rarely can you connect to the server, I have been trying to log into my character for 4 days without success
• 

  Lestat2150

  Feb 2, 2020

  Full disclosure. I refunded this game twice before buying it a third time and keeping it. There was just something endearing about this EA title. I'll attempt to explain. Reign of Darkness is an MMO made by ONE guy! He's been working on it for the last 8 years and it's apparently his baby. He doesn't plan on stopping development any time soon. Yes, EA games take a long time to develop. Most are in EA for at least 5 years before releasing in a fully complete state. With this title, you'll get plenty of hours with it in just the first few days. Reason being, it has alot of grinding like old school mmo's and doesn't hold your hand...which is a breath of fresh air in today's mmo space. 100 levels. 8 classes. You can be whatever class composition you want to be. Want to heal for a dungeon? Respec and grab those necessary skills. Want to tank? Same thing. The gear actually looks really nice for a unity game with pretty old graphics. The developer is using the free version of unity to make the game and plans on releasing it for free when it's finished. Right now, there are only about 25 active users but I'm betting once it releases for free there will be hundreds more. Right now what you get is a small map with about 15 quests in it, some that are repeatable. The real meat of the gameplay loop are the 3 dungeons which you do in order. They scale to your level so its always a challenge and they drop random loot with random stats. The game starts and you have no idea what to do. This is amazing like I said, in today's mmo market. So many korean mmo's have auto pathing and literally play the game for you. This is what makes this game refreshing. If you like old school sandbox type mmo's, you'll get addicted to this pretty quickly. If you want to talk to the folks that backed this game, the real hardcore players, then you need to join the discord. There, players post class builds and will answer any questions you may have. The initial irritant I had with the game, is I couldn't decide what class build I wanted and kept messing it up. I tried a tank and couldn't quite figure it out because there are so many skills that are similiar. I didn't know which ones to pick. I made the mistake of maxing out a few offensive skills too early in my leveling and would constantly drain my mana in each fight. The trick is to not max out your first few offensive abilities until much later in the leveling process because they just take too much mana to cast. These are things you need to think about. It's a theorycraft game and this is the aspect that kept me addicted. A few things I'd like added for quality of life: -being able to assign hotkeys to abilities -casting while mounted dismounts you -the Q and E keyes turn your character instead of spinning them in circles -using an ability targets the mob instead of having to use tab target every time -more video options for graphics That's about it. Don't expect a polished game here. It is still very rough with in game microtransactions. But hey, the developer needs money to keep...well, developing. The in game microtransactions aren't egregious in price and don't make a bit of difference as far as pay to win. Most are mounts or gameplay features to speed up a dungeon run. For the dungeons, this guy did an awesome job. The first one is pretty decent. Some hallways lead to dead ends. The second however, is quite amazing. It's a crypt. It's huge, and has an ominous music track. The bosses you fight there are something out of dark souls. In conclusion. Buy the game. Enjoy yourself. Come theory craft with us on discord on in the game.
• 

  vain524

  Mar 14, 2020

  I picked like basically one skill and i'm still having fun. I am enjoying the game. Can't wait for character customization but it's still playable
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  Gryx

  May 16, 2020

  i would love to recommend this game, i really would, it hits so many of the niche "oldschool/hardcore/theorycrafting" MMO itches i always have...but unfortunately its very clear this is too niche and given its 1 dev this game will never go anywhere unless the idea is sold to a publisher and the dev gets a solid backing to allow him to increase his dev count and spit out more content quicker because right now its impressive but only because its being developed by 1 person, content wise - theres 4 dungeons, 1 of which is a copy of the 'overworld' so theres really only 3 unique areas in this game, so you will grind the same dungeon/area repeatedly. now the real selling point is the looting/class system, those are huge positive marks that the developer can really capitialize on because theyre great, i really wish this game the best,i really really really do....i just cant in good faith recommend this to anyone in its current state.