I never knew this game existed until I found it by chance one day ago. Thought I'd pick it up, because it looked interesting, I gathered that the melee combat was good, and I'm currently very curious about first-person melee combat.

Nine hours later, it was already evening. I'd binged through most of the whole thing, and had to stop only because of biological needs and because my eyes were stinging. Rarely have I seen them be so bloodshot...

This game comes quite close to what I'd like to make, if I had a team of artists at my disposal. The graphics are very pretty, though of course, the game is ten years old at the time of writing of this review, and beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Still, the HDR lighting in particular makes an astonishing difference, and the whole things looks really nice at maximum quality.

The story is... adequate. It's certainly nothing groundbreaking, and I had a feeling that I've already played this game, despite the fact that I never have. That may have been a result of the story.
It's worth mentioning that this game feels like some sort of Tomb Raider mixed with the new Thief game (the one from 2014). The protagonist is a gluttonous kleptomaniac with a berry juice addiction, who spends most of his time raiding tombs. Aside from that, we've got demon kings, ancient artefacts, necromancer armies... and, of course, all of it ended with a dragon, as is standard for the budget fantasy genre.
It really does remind me of a budget fantasy film... But I really love that sort of thing, so I enjoyed it.
I should also say that the "big twist" of the story actually caught me by surprise, at least to an extent. I wasn't expecting that to be the case once I started playing the game. It became easy to anticipate once the respective hints started dropping. Still a neat idea though.

It's also got a voiced protagonist (though no dialogue choices), something which I very much prefer, so extra points for that.

The characters are standard -- nothing quite memorable in that department -- and the voice acting is... delicious. It's not "great", but I like it. You can guess whether the character is good or evil based on voice alone. Ain't that a good thing?

The gameplay is quite interesting as well. The melee combat is quite well executed, though magic and switching between the two is slughtly clunky by today's standards (or at least my standards). As usual, the player is presented with different playstyle options: sword-and-board combat, archery, magic and stealth. However, you can always do all of them, and aren't necessarily limited to one, which is very nice -- some situations are naturally better solved with some tools rather than others.
I personally went for a build that emphasised stealth and marksmanship. They both start off pretty weak, but stealth ends up completely broken in the endgame (Remember Chameleon 100% in Oblivion, anyone? It's sort of like this, but with actual backstab mechanics that aren't dreadful).
Furthermore, enemies are prone to parrying most of your swings and dealing too much damage to you, so direct combat is more effort than necessary.

I can't not mention the kick. Kicking is your best friend, because of the point above, and because there's precarious ledges and walls of spikes everywhere. When it works properly, you can propel enemies backward, and literally send them flying. It feels extremely satisfying. If you like the power fantasy type of games -- Far Cry 3/4's broken takedown mechanics come to mind -- then you'll probably enjoy the combat here... Kicking, that is. Note that it's not as overpowered as the knife in said Far Cries, because you can still die in three hits, and your kicking stamina is limited, but it's still pretty enjoyable.

The sound is fantastic. Except the thundering footsteps that are loud even when you're supposed to be sneaking. But aside from that, I really enjoyed the sound. The ambience is very atmospheric when it wants to be, and some combat tracks were brilliant. Sounds in general were also on par.



Some other things worth mentioning:
- The goblins in this game are great, and I absolutely loved them. Their banter is hilarious, including the in-combat quotes, and slauthering them was so fun that I'm slightly worried to admit it. Unfortunately, there was too little goblins throughout.
- The first-person full-body-awareness thing this game has going on is sometimes exceptionally glitchy, but it's not fatal. Still, it's a bit awkward to have your knees clip through your face when you're running up a steep staircase... but fortunately, that rarely happens.


Dark Messiah of Might and Magic is a well-made, if not very polished game. It's aged quite well (your opinions may vary), except a few things that I'd personally change, mostly related to the inventory.
The combat is satisfying, and the story isn't too bad. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and would have very much liked it if additional campaigns or expansions existed.
I thoroughly recommend it. It's worth at least a single playthrough, if not A LOT more, and the ratio of value to price is big. I got my copy for less than £3.50, so I can't complain on that front.

EDIT: At this point in time I've beaten this game over 20 times, so saying it's "worth a single playthrough" is a dramatic understatement. I'll most likely beat it 20 more times as well, because it's just that much fun.

Final rating: 8.5 Pao-Kais out of 10 Pao-Kais.

[h1]Something for all your nefarious (kicking) needs[/h1] I never knew this game existed until I found it by chance one day ago. Thought I'd pick it up, because it looked interesting, I gathered that the melee combat was good, and I'm currently very curious about first-person melee combat. Nine hours later, it was already evening. I'd binged through most of the whole thing, and had to stop only because of biological needs and because my eyes were stinging. Rarely have I seen them be so bloodshot... This game comes quite close to what I'd like to make, if I had a team of artists at my disposal. The graphics are [i]very[/i] pretty, though of course, the game is ten years old at the time of writing of this review, and beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Still, the HDR lighting in particular makes an astonishing difference, and the whole things looks really nice at maximum quality. [b]The story[/b] is... adequate. It's certainly nothing groundbreaking, and I had a feeling that I've already played this game, despite the fact that I never have. That [i]may[/i] have been a result of the story. It's worth mentioning that this game feels like some sort of Tomb Raider mixed with the new Thief game (the one from 2014). The protagonist is a gluttonous kleptomaniac with a berry juice addiction, who spends most of his time raiding tombs. Aside from that, we've got demon kings, ancient artefacts, necromancer armies... and, of course, all of it ended with a dragon, as is standard for the budget fantasy genre. It really does remind me of a budget fantasy film... But I really love that sort of thing, so I enjoyed it. I should also say that the "big twist" of the story actually caught me by surprise, at least to an extent. I wasn't expecting [i]that[/i] to be the case once I started playing the game. It became easy to anticipate once the respective hints started dropping. Still a neat idea though. It's also got a voiced protagonist (though no dialogue choices), something which I very much prefer, so extra points for that. The characters are standard -- nothing quite memorable in that department -- and the voice acting is... delicious. It's not "great", but I like it. You can guess whether the character is good or evil based on voice alone. Ain't that a good thing? [b]The gameplay[/b] is quite interesting as well. The melee combat is quite well executed, though magic and switching between the two is slughtly clunky by today's standards (or at least my standards). As usual, the player is presented with different playstyle options: sword-and-board combat, archery, magic and stealth. However, you can always do all of them, and aren't necessarily limited to one, which is very nice -- some situations are naturally better solved with some tools rather than others. I personally went for a build that emphasised stealth and marksmanship. They both start off pretty weak, but stealth ends up completely broken in the endgame (Remember Chameleon 100% in Oblivion, anyone? It's sort of like this, but with actual backstab mechanics that aren't dreadful). Furthermore, enemies are prone to parrying most of your swings and dealing too much damage to you, so direct combat is more effort than necessary. [b]I can't not mention the kick.[/b] Kicking is your best friend, because of the point above, and because there's precarious ledges and walls of spikes everywhere. When it works properly, you can propel enemies backward, and literally send them flying. It feels [i]extremely[/i] satisfying. If you like the power fantasy type of games -- Far Cry 3/4's broken takedown mechanics come to mind -- then you'll probably enjoy the combat here... Kicking, that is. Note that it's not as overpowered as the knife in said Far Cries, because you can still die in three hits, and your kicking stamina is limited, but it's still pretty enjoyable. [b]The sound[/b] is fantastic. Except the thundering footsteps that are loud even when you're supposed to be sneaking. But aside from that, I really enjoyed the sound. The ambience is very atmospheric when it wants to be, and some combat tracks were brilliant. Sounds in general were also on par. [b]Some other things worth mentioning:[/b] - The goblins in this game are great, and I absolutely loved them. Their banter is hilarious, including the in-combat quotes, and slauthering them was so fun that I'm slightly worried to admit it. Unfortunately, there was too little goblins throughout. - The first-person full-body-awareness thing this game has going on is sometimes exceptionally glitchy, but it's not fatal. Still, it's a bit awkward to have your knees clip through your face when you're running up a steep staircase... but fortunately, that rarely happens. [h1]Conclusion: May I have some more, please?[/h1] [i]Dark Messiah of Might and Magic[/i] is a well-made, if not very polished game. It's aged quite well (your opinions may vary), except a few things that I'd personally change, mostly related to the inventory. The combat is satisfying, and the story isn't too bad. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and would have very much liked it if additional campaigns or expansions existed. I thoroughly recommend it. It's worth at least a single playthrough, if not A LOT more, and the ratio of value to price is big. I got my copy for less than £3.50, so I can't complain on that front. EDIT: At this point in time I've beaten this game over 20 times, so saying it's "worth a single playthrough" is a dramatic understatement. I'll most likely beat it 20 more times as well, because it's just that much fun. [b]Final rating: 8.5 Pao-Kais out of 10 Pao-Kais.[/b]