Darklands(abandonware review)
 

story: welcome to medievil germany a world of myth and magic, corruption and decadence, war and plauge. Home of thousands of dogmatic chatolics haunted by the old heathen gods. In a tavern four people from different backgrounds vow a blood oath of brotherhood and go out into the harsh medievil world to seek their fortune. The means by which they gather this fortune is up to you

gameplay summary: run around germany killing demons, witches, corrupt barons and dragons in a realistic medievil setting. gather skills, weapons(all of which are authentic) saints(yes you heard right) and spells(all of which are based on actual real life medievil spells) to aid you. enhance your reputation in cities. Steal, pray, muder, rescue and finnaly kill the bad guy. Oh and did i mention almost everything is random

interface: At heart darklands is an electronic gamebook but with the freedom of mirrowind combined with scenes that can be best described as rts were you move yourself and your party members around the dungeon\forest\castle\plain and give them orders on how to attack and who to attack, of course these can also include chests, secret doors, traps and much more, all of which have to be manipulated by party members with the right skill and equipment.

character creation: this deserves special recognition you actually choose your jobs from birth to beyond, of course the jobs enhance your skill and you need certain skills to get certain jobs, they also deteriorate with old age and you keep on taking jobs and getting older until you choose to stop

graphics: unless you're too spoiled by 3d accelaration this game has great graphics for its time(1992) and you'lll appreciate their resemblance to medievil art

music: two words amazing and atmospheric. you have to hear it for yourself

conclusion: Truly a milestone of an rpg which was ignored and forgotten due to crippliing bugs(which have been fixed now). a must have for any fan of rpgs, gamebooks or the middle ages

download link: sorry this game is still being sold http://www.ultimatedarklands.com/index.php and unfortunately the site is being rebuilt. trust me though it will be worth the wait and the few dollars

Um, just for the records, if something is still sold, then it isn't Abandonware.

Secondly, there is no need to apologize for the game being sold still as the real goal of Abandonware is to see old games continue to be sold and supported, or at the very least released as Freeware to the public domain.

"Abandonware is not about free games and never has been."

Sorry if I come off as rude or anything, but there are just so many mis-conceptions about Abandonware that it makes what we want to do harder and harder.

im apologising to those who were read the review just to get a free game. Don't worry though i agree with your views on abandonware i bought this game i didn't download it, i just wanted to show these 3d spoiled kids on what their missing since im sick of waiting for the abandonware forum. Btw do you people care or am i wasting my time