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