Darkstone - Classic ARPG Now on Steam

THE ARPG HIT NOW AVAILABLE ON STEAM (PC VERSION)

Paris, September 25, 2014. Joystick Replay releases "Darkstone ", a precursor in Action/RPG, on Steam, the most important PC games download platform.

In 1999, " Darkstone " marked the Hack’n Slash universe on PC then Playstation. Critically acclaimed (9/10 on IGN.com, 17/20 on jeuxvideo.com) and developed by Delphine Software, the title found its public thanks to its universe, its atmosphere and the depth of its gameplay. Today, “Darkstone” is reaching the Steam video game portal in a version very similar to the original one.

The players’ task is to take up arms to help the inhabitants of the Land of Uma where the evil Draak wreaks havoc. To that end, they must find the 7 legendary crystals which will put an end to his vile doings. Players have to complete many quests, explore randomly generated dungeons, fight hordes of monsters to get the best possible equipment and the most powerful spells. Players will tread a long road before restoring peace.

To begin the action, players can choose one or two heroes among 8 available classes of characters (monks, assassins, amazons and sorceresses…) as well as the level of difficulty. When the players play for the first time, they have to start at the novice level, but once they have reached level 20, players will be able to start at master, then expert level (from level 35) and hero (from level 45). Once in the Land of Uma, player can control a character or the other as he wishes. He will switch between heros, access maps, shortcuts for spells (e.g. Resurrection or Fireball), skills (like foiling traps and finding hidden objects…) and various potions that restore the health or give magical energy.

As well as the traditional health and energy status bars, players also have to keep an eye on the characters’ hunger gauges. With a single click, they can see and do everything that relates to their characters: equip or feed their heroes with the food you buy to prevent their health from waning, check out statistics and amounts of gold, use their inventories, and customize shortcuts.

For swift mastery of the game’s basics, players can run through the tutorial before they start. The Steam version of the game has stayed faithful to the original where players explore a world that has been plunged into chaos.

To complete a game, players have to carry out eight main quests that they choose randomly among the 22 available. There are also additional quests that enable the player to collect special equipment. The positions of the enemies and objects also change from one game to the next, in order to constantly change the tactics. Players have to alternate between consecutive explore and fight phases in order to find the seven crystals scattered among the different dungeons. Confrontations enable the players to gather experience, equipment and gold – all necessary for improving their characters’ levels, increasing their powers, and buying spells and skills from local merchants.

“Darkstone” can be played in cooperation up to 8 players on local network. In this configuration, each one will control his own hero.

Darskstone is available on Steam (PC) since September 25, 2014. It is dubbed in English and subtitled in English, French, Italian, German,Spanish and Swedish.

"Darkstone" (PC on Steam)
Price : $2.49 at launch then $4.99
Weight : 600 M0
Link : http://store.steampowered.com/app/320320/

Click to expand...

Xian said:

I remember that it was unique in that you had two characters, and could switch control between them, where Diablo just had the single character. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though I am sure it will look dated now. I still may pick it up for that price.

Click to expand...

Gokyabgu said:

Although it is a 3d game, the resolution was fixed at 640x480 and there is no way to change that. Other then that it was a great Diabo clone of its' time.

Click to expand...

Embolus said:

I'm playing it with a changed resolution right now 1920x1080

Click to expand...

Gokyabgu said:

May I say how? Is this a feature of the steam version?

Click to expand...

rikus said:

I remember it. and i even played it for a few days. didn't like it very much.
something about it being a diablo clone in a weird 3d environment. but there was a funny thing with guitar playing there. that's about what i remember.

Click to expand...

DArtagnan said:

It was inferior to Diablo when it came out, so I don't even want to think about how it plays today.

But it did have a certain charm to it

Click to expand...

Kordanor said:

It was released before Diablo 2 was released and I wouldn't say it looked inferior to Diablo 1. In terms of consistency and polish I agree, but overall the game looked ok at that time. It also had outdoor areas and stuff which didn't exist in Diablo 1.
I personally enjoyed it quite a bit. In fact I started playing Diablo 1 some time after release, then played Darkstone and when D2 was released I was totally fed up with Hack n' Slay games and dropped D2 after 20 hours or so. Not because it was bad, but because I already had too much of the same drug.

Click to expand...