Darkstone: Evil Reigns is an action role-playing video game developed by Delphine Software International for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation released in 1999.

The Story Behind Darkstone

Players take on the role of an adventurer who has to recreate the Time Orb and use this to slay Draak in his lair. The game was eventually released on Steam for modern operating systems. Darkstone was developed under the working title Dragon Blade and went through several iterations, initially being designed as a fully 3D game akin to Tomb Raider.

However, he was eventually thwarted from destroying the world via the Time Orb, created from seven of Kaliba's tears. This number rose to roughly 75,000 units by March 2000, which led GameSpots writer P. In 2014, the French publisher Anuman Interactive launched a remake available on iPad, iPhone and Android, with the cooperation of the original game's author Paul Cuisset.

How Darkstone Plays

The four lands of Uma increase in difficulty and are accessed sequentially, with different enemies patrolling the lands and dungeons beneath. Finally, if the player wants to hear a song about the Darkstone, they can toss a coin to the singer Audren. The village acts as an initial training area with firing ranges and example weapons, then subsequently as a trade base for adventurers to sell their loot, bank their cash, buy upgrades, repair armour and weaponry, buy new spellbooks and stock up on health and mana potions as well as food (characters can die from hunger).

Quests for each new game are randomly selected from 20 options, with different dungeon placement and land layouts, improving the game's replayability. A typical medieval RPG, Darkstone is similar to Baldur's Gate and Diablo in gameplay style and themes. A variety of skills can also be learnt, such as thieving from other characters, repairing your own gear, disarming traps, etc.

Why Players Still Load It Up

Beginning in an unnamed village, the player can choose from a range of characters (warrior/Amazon, wizard/sorceress, assassin/thief and monk/priestess) and from here they quest across the four lands of Uma - Ardyl, Marghor, Omar and Serkesh - to solve quests, kill the evil creatures roaming the lands and delve into dungeons to locate the seven crystals to form the Time Orb. The game is framed as a remaster/restoration rather than a full remake. The game begins when Draak has recovered from his earlier defeat and returned with his minions to the world of Uma.

However, he was eventually thwarted from destroying the world via the Time Orb, created from seven of Kaliba's tears. This number rose to roughly 75,000 units by March 2000, which led GameSpots writer P. House of AllGame gave the PC version four-and-a-half stars out of five, saying that it "contains a veritable treasure-trove of other features such as generously creepy sound effects, heart-rending cries for help when your co-companion needs help, a haunting and effective music track (be sure to give the balladeers in town a few gold pieces, then just sit back, close you eyes and enjoy), supremely enjoyable multi-player action, incredibly deep quests and integrated puzzle-solving (such as stringing events and knowledge together to complete a sub-quest).

Darkstone — Frequently Asked Questions