Darklands

https://youtu.be/WBwcHomzj3M Over thirty years later this game is basically unparseable and arguably unplayable by modern standards.

I used to play this way back in the day with my boi, Meatball Mike. Darklands is a massive, unapologetically complex Ultima-like that rewards patience and curiosity. At first, it’s overwhelming to the point of intimidation - the kind of game where the manual isn’t optional, it’s essential. But once you push through that barrier, you’re dropped into a surprisingly deep and open-ended sandbox, especially for its time. The world feels huge, alive, and full of possibilities, letting you carve your own path through a gritty, myth-soaked version of medieval Germany. It’s dense, a bit daunting, and very much a product of its era, but that’s also its charm. Somehow, it's ultimate medieval German-ness made me crave jägerschnitzel, currywurst, and spätzle - and while I know that may make me appear ignorant and racist, I can't deny what my tummy wants.

[h3]Innovative? Yes! Good? No![/h3] You may have heard how this game did a lot of stuff way ahead of its time (realtime-with-pause, historical realism, procedural generation, open world sandbox, crafting…). It was a big deal back then, one of the most expensive games of its time, a lot of hype, etc. What you may have not heard is that the game does all of that [i]pretty badly.[/i] The world is shallow and repetitive. Everything is almost the same in any city, with some small and often insignificant variation. Character creation is great, one of the best parts. Character development? A series of repetitive loops to increase your numbers. I’m on a streak of old-school RPGS and remembered playing this one in the late 90’s, stopping at the first “true” dungeon. So I tried the game again and spent most of my time doing these repetitive loops, training in inns and fighting the same enemies all night long. Oh, and retrieving/redistributing my ammo, until I just scrapped missile weapons, because they aren’t worth the trouble. But I really wanted to go deeper in the game this time, and finish at least that one dungeon. The controls and combat are atrociously bad, it’s difficult to go “t…

classic

Very unique RPG set in late-medieval Germany. The creator of the game (RIP) was a historian and it really shows in how well fleshed out the lore is. The alchemy and saints-system were a very cool alternative to the magic system you see in most RPG's. The game was very open in its world, and could be brutally hard if you didn't know what you where doing. Apparently Todd Howard was heavily inspired by Darklands.

great old game!