Tech: Darkstone

I've talked about "Roguelike" hack-and-slash PC games before, but it's instructive to look at one particular example to see just what can go horribly wrong when you're designing a game about a character that goes around, kills things, and steals their loot. Today's hapless example is "Darkstone," an action-RPG developed by the now-defunct Delphine Software International. It was released for both the PC and the original PlayStation.

"Darkstone" had a cookie-cutter plot about destroying an evil lord, and you had to collect seven magical McGuffins before the way to the final battle was opened. You picked one of a number of different character classes, all of which stayed pretty much within the lines of Diablo - there's the melee-oriented fighter-type, the magic-focused Magey McMage-type, a Roguish ranged attacker, and a balanced cleric-clone.

If I could use one word to describe the game, it would be "vanilla." While "Darkstone" used a fairly passable 3D engine, the setting itself was so generic and bland that it's difficult to remember anything concrete about it now. There were very few ways to customize your character, and there was nothing akin to Battle.net service. Most annoyingly, while there was an overworld that you could explore before delving into the dungeons, it paled in comparison to the overworld found in Diablo II.

For all of these reasons, Darkstone was soon displaced by the blockbuster "Diablo II" PC game, which is still being sold in stores 8 years later. Perhaps the only part of "Darkstone" worth remembering is this strange theme song and music video, performed by Audren: