Having got into your tenacious hands a license for Might and Magic publisher Ubisoft began to restore the popularity of a somewhat forgotten universe. This year our Winchesters visited for the fifth time in a row Heroes of Might and Magic from domestic developers from Nival, and while you are reading this text, there should be an add-on for this wonderful game on store shelves. But this project was not enough for the publisher. Studio Arcane, instead of continuing his Arx Fatalis, upon request Ubisoft began to create a new ambitious one in the very universe of Might and Magic. Dark Messiah seemed almost an ideal project. Excellent graphics thanks to the power of the Source engine, widespread use of physics, an intuitive leveling system, a smart and sophisticated combat system with many techniques – in general, we were promised a lot, and the media exaggerated it even more. How disappointing it was to see, instead of a masterpiece and the main nominee for “game of the year,” an ordinary action game only in a fantasy universe with all the ensuing consequences. But we won’t reveal all our cards and will tell you about everything in order.
We didn’t get what we wanted
The first bummer that awaits a hopeful player is the RPG component Dark Messiah. Yes, we were promised meaty and brutal action, but few people guessed that the pumping would be exactly like this. It would be more correct to say not “pumping”, but “lack of pumping”, because experience points are distributed only after completing a certain task and nothing else. That is, no matter how hard you try and grunt, you simply won’t be able to make a character stronger than another player.
The combat system is depressing. It seemed that here it was, exactly what players had been waiting for after the release of the legendary Blade of Darkness, but it’s an illusion. Yes, the controls are convenient. Yes, the animation is great. But there are criminally few strikes, and no one here has ever heard of all sorts of super combos. In addition to the standard attack, powerful attack, “prick” and block, there is adrenaline and corresponding blows. Having chopped enough monsters, your protagonist’s “adrenaline” parameter increases; Having reached its maximum value, the protagonist begins to commit his signature atrocity. Here the player will see the delicious cutting off of the adversary’s head and other hanging parts of the body, but it is not possible to perform such special techniques without adrenaline. It is interesting that, having fallen to the ground, the corpse loses the ability to amputate anything, no matter how you cut at it with the most powerful sword.
In general, playing a one-sidedly developed warrior turns out to be a very boring task: all you have to do is swing your sword. On the plus side, it should be noted that the battles are quite intense. You won’t be able to just swing your saber left and right (you can quickly get raked), so you’ll have to constantly put up blocks and take advantage of your opponents’ mistakes.
Three in Auchan, not counting Ksana
Three character classes are presented to the https://casinofunbet.co.uk/mobile-app/ player. Having chosen the path of a warrior, you will have to upgrade your life and various power characteristics. Large swords and relatively heavy armor are encouraged. By the way, the shield is also available.
Magi in Dark Messiah almost look like superheroes. Many fire spells, freezing, telekinesis, reducing the enemy to the size of a rat – this is just an incomplete list of witchcraft skills. In addition, magicians wield staves, which in turn turn out to be not such weak weapons. One problem our sorcerers have is their short life (it all depends on the build-up), so the main thing is not to let enemies get to a distance sufficient for an attack and to quietly and peacefully shower them with fire from afar. However, the magician also has many disadvantages. So the last fire magic (worth as much as 10 points) turns out to be a complete misunderstanding. The damage spreads over a short distance, and this infection consumes an extremely large amount of mana.
Freezing doesn’t have much benefit either. The spell lasts for a short period of time, which in a battle with several adversaries leads to almost zero results. You can freeze not only living beings, but also, for example, cover the floor with ice, thereby creating a traumatic situation for enemies. However, there are shortcomings here too. It is impossible to freeze or at least put out a fire using magic.
The thief prefers quick sabotage attacks. For this purpose, special upgrades and corresponding weapons are provided. A thief’s choice – long daggers and "silent armor". There are quite a few hidden places in the levels, so knocking out lonely opponents a la Sam Fisher is a pleasure. Even if caught in a real meat grinder of three or even five opponents, a thief can easily defeat them with only daggers. Another interesting ability of this “profession” is the ability to pick locks: corresponding chests are scattered throughout the levels, in which things needed for the house are hidden.
By the way, no one forbids making an explosive mixture of several character classes. A magician at heart, but a warrior in reality? Please. Thieving magician? Certainly. The main thing is to know what exactly you need to upgrade – no one will give you additional points to create a killer tank, as mentioned above.
The most rotten thing is that the player’s goal is actually one – destroy everything that moves. That is, no matter what character you play, the nonlinearity lies only in how to destroy opponents. Speaking of ways. It is absolutely not necessary to wave a sword or make kebab out of enemies. You can dashingly kick your enemy onto a burning fire, or onto sharp spikes, or you can stupidly throw him into the abyss. There are also various objects at the levels that can be thrown onto unsuspecting enemies. A chandelier, for example, or several barrels mounted on top. It’s somewhat depressing that these additional methods of killing are brazenly scattered throughout the level in industrial quantities – too intrusive.
Artificial intelligence leaves ambivalent impressions. In battle, opponents deftly dodge powerful blows, cover themselves with shields, brazenly attack in a friendly crowd, and, having received serious injury, try to escape. But this is a fight. In normal situations, enemies are simply impenetrably stupid. At one of the initial levels, I crept up to another knight standing near the edge of the stairs. There was no choice, and under the force of a brave kick in the ass, the brave warrior flew down noisily, breaking through the flimsy wooden boards under him. Having landed, the knight stood up, shouted something and began to rise towards me. Without thinking twice, I gave our dunce another kick. Flight, cracking wood, hitting the floor, again the sound of footsteps on the stairs, a kick. The third attempt to conquer the stairs ended, just like the previous two. Out of pity, I simply finished off the already limping enemy with a bow. It is not clear why, even on the third attempt, the warrior did not try at least something new, but stupidly went ahead.
Messiah in Auchan, not counting Ksana
Having described the local gameplay enough, I need to say a couple of printed words about the plot. It seems like he should be connected to the universe Might and Magic, but the game takes place on the unknown continent of Auchan, which brings all the interest of fans of the Heroes series to naught. We play the role of Saref, an orphan who became a student of the powerful magician Fenrig. The sorcerer taught the growing young man all sorts of arts for the sake of some great goal. Having received all the necessary knowledge and skills, our hero goes on an ordinary mission, which, as you already guessed, will be decisive for Ashan. It’s all because of the same Dark Messiah who is going to plunge the world into impenetrable darkness.
Our protagonist will be accompanied by two charming (each in their own way) creatures. The first number is Leana – a kind and honest sorceress who, by the way, has good appearance. The second heroine is the demoness Ksana, who lives… in the body of our hero. The devil often makes vulgar and extremely boorish comments about what is happening (especially the beautiful Leana), but sometimes she gives Sareth useful advice. In general, Ksana brightens up your stay in Auchan, because without her caustic chatter it would have become really dull.
The world here is full of all kinds of dangerous creatures, and just unpleasant individuals and crooks. Dead men, orcs, ordinary warriors, evil sorcerers, spiders, every now and then trying to poison Saref, huge cyclops, dragons blazing with fire and many other inhabitants of Ashan simply dream of annihilating the valiant protagonist. Small goblins also deserve a separate line. The annoying creatures are hilariously animated, and their behavior does not cause anything but a smile. Between their attacks, a simple “pleaaaz” is heard every now and then (can be translated as “with your permission” or “please”), and, having received decent damage, the goblins lose their weapons and huddle in a corner, begging for mercy.
But with something, so with graphics Dark Messiah Everything is fine. Valve’s Source engine works with a bang: yes, the picture is not next-gen, but that’s not important. The character models do not suffer from a lack of polygons, the level textures are excellent, and the special effects here are worthy of prolonged applause. When your hero uses a freezing spell, his hands become naturally icy, which looks simply amazing. Well, if you use “fireballs”, you just can’t take your eyes off. The HDR image is a little spoiled – some levels are simply filled with tons of syrup. IN Dark Messiah What pleases me is not even the number of difficult-to-pronounce technologies, but the attention to detail. Here and there birds fly into the air, and fish swim in the water. Without your intervention, most of the enemies go about their business.
At the same time Dark Messiah full of errors, unpleasant bugs and just shortcomings. Optimization is also not happy. The game loves to slow down even on the most modern machines and crash when loading a save into the main menu. Owners of video cards without support for third shaders will admire all sorts of strange effects when using magic. Among the shortcomings, I would like to note the crooked night vision mode. For example, while in the water it simply does not want to turn off, which is quite annoying.
Final comments:
After you pass Dark Messiah you begin to understand why Valve always delays the release date. Yes, yes, precisely the same desire to bring the project to an ideal state Arcane Studios. Hence the result: many great ideas and ideas never found proper implementation. The balance of spells still needs to be improved, the combat system needs to be significantly expanded, and the gameplay needs to be diluted with a large number of non-linear elements. If the developers from Arcane Studios had spent an extra seven months on their creation, perhaps it would have turned out to be a masterpiece, and just a good action game in the famous Might and Magic universe.
Gameplay: Action with RPG elements. Three professions and a thousand and one ways to destroy the enemy.
Graphics: The Source engine is still capable of a lot. Picturesque levels, good detail and amazing special effects.
Sound: Good epic music and high-quality voice acting. Need something else?
For how long?: No matter how absurd it may sound, it’s interesting to play for different professions, so going through Dark Messiah again is not such a shameful thing.