What is Dark & Darker? Brief overview

These days new games come and go so fast that it's hard to keep up. Some games, however, stick around for quite some time which tells us a lot about how good they are. Dark and Darker hasn't even got a full release, yet it's been enjoyed by thousands of players since its first early access days in 2023.

Now, more than a year later the game keep getting attention and players. Have you heard about it but still haven't tried it? Or is it the first time you see anyone mention it? Or has it been on your wishlist for a while now? Whatever your situation is, here's a lovely brief overview of what Dark and Darker is and who might enjoy playing it.

Let's start with an official gameplay trailer to set the mood:

It's a peculiar mixture of genres actually: first of all, it's a first person slasher / shooter (depending on what weapon you equip) and a dungeon crawler. You have a character and together with 2 more allies you descend to a dungeon that has several floors. You complete various quests, defeat monsters, and if you manage to survive it, you come back with precious loot that you can equip or sell.

Your character can be any of 9 classes. There's a gear system that lets you improve your armor pieces or weapons gradually. You can purchase better equipment, find it in the dungeon, or craft it. The game is described as hardcore and it really is: even seemingly weak enemies take some time to handle, let alone powerful bosses that can easily wipe out your team if you don't take them seriously. That also means that not only you'll have to deal damage but also you'll spend lots of time dodging, blocking, parrying, jumping, and avoiding incoming damage in all other imaginable ways.

The aesthetics of the game is described as "dark fantasy". And darkness is also mentioned in its title (twice) so that's pretty obvious but still.  Here's a brief overview of the gameplay (by Captainblammo):

#	CLASS	WEAPONS	PROS	CONS
1	Barbarian	Heavy-duty arms	Lots of health 2-handed weapons damage bonus High magic resistance Fast magical interaction	Slow movement Slow attack Slow regular interaction Can't shoot
2	Bard	Rapiers	Crowd control spells Good melee combat Powerful buffs High luck	Low damage bonus Loud Weak without buffs
3	Cleric	Flanged maces, morning stars	Healing Protective spells Can use plate armor Bonus damage to the undead Good with blunt weapons Resurrects allies without altars of sacrifice	Slow attack Slow movement Slow interaction Low damage bonus Few ranged options
4	Druid	Staves, spears	Turns into animals Healing Good at spacing & zoning Fast movement Good at escaping	Limited equipment Dependent on equipment Few ranged options
5	Fighter	Any	Can equip any weapon Evenly developed stats Good movement & sustain	Dependent on equipment No spells Relies heavily on blocks & parrying
6	Ranger	Long-ranged weapons	Fast shooting Tracks enemy players Sets traps Starts campfires fast Healing	Bad at melee
7	Rogue	Daggers	Fast movement Fast attack Fast intraction Picks locks with lock picks Detects & disables traps Silent	Low health Low damage bonus Low magic resistance Few ranged options
8	Warlock	Swords, spellbooks	Curses weaken targets Access to physical weapons High melee burst damage Anti-healing debuffs Self-healing	Uses health to cast spells (=can kill itself) Low defence from ranged attacks
9	Wizard	Staves, spellbooks	Powerful spells Self-refreshes spells Wields magical weapons	Slow interaction Low physical damage Low health

As you can see, all those classes are very different and suit different playstyles. See them all in action in this video overview by BulkoTV:

When you descend to a dungeon, you'll soon find out that your team "isn't alone" there. Naturally, there are lots of NPC monsters that you'll be busy fighting as some of them are tough as god knows what. But other players sneaking around and posing a threat too – now that's another level of hazard.

We'd say that this thing is very divisive. Some players can't stand PvP in games like this as the stakes are already high with how difficult most of its monsters are. Others believe that it adds to the fun of it as it makes each of your descend different from others.

See how fun the game's PvP can be in this video by Aculite:

Also, if you die, you lose all the loot you've collected throughout the run... as well as your equipment. That's right, say goodbye to whatever you've been wearing, if your team is unlucky to go down. The stakes are really high, we're not joking about that. Here's what revival looks like (by Cross Current):

Obviously, the learning curve will likely seem steep. But if you really like to explore games with deep gameplay, this might be a perfect option for you. Seeing how the time and effort you've invested makes you a noticeably better player and a more effective teammate in such a challenging environment – that's truly priceless.

Resurrection is another system that involves the whole team. When you go down, your teammates have to grab a "soul heart" and bring it to the closest altar of sacrifice. Obviously, they can also die in the process, and the game is over for you all. But you can only rely on your teammates to come back to life while you're in the dungeon.

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That's all you need to know about Dark and Darker before you give it a shot! And if you ever need any help with it, we'll be happy to lend a hand! We have a section of our vast catalog dedicated to this wonderful game and you can find lots of useful and fairly priced Dark and Darker boosting services right there! Browse the catalog or just get in touch with us to learn more or request a particular service!

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