Dark Messiah - Retrospective Review

[HiddenX]

BitGamer looks back at Dark Messiah of Might and Magic:

Ten Years On: Dark Messiah of Might and Magic

It’s fascinating to look back at Dark Messiah through the lens of Dishonored. So much of what made Arkane’s magical murder sim special is built atop of foundations originally laid in this curious chapter in the studio’s history: the multiple ways you can approach combat; the game’s creative relationship with physics and the environment; first-person sword-fighting that actually works. Even Dishonored's in-combat music is a variation of the score used in Dark Messiah.

[...]

Despite some ropey production, I think Dark Messiah has aged very well indeed, perhaps even better than the game which eclipsed it when it originally released. Oblivion’s template has been surpassed by Bethesda’s later open-world titles. But Dark Messiah offers a very different experience to Dishonored, and this has helped it endure. At the same time, it shares its most important lasting quality. It offers you a world that you can return to over and over and discover a dozen new ways to play with.

More information.

 

[Thrasher]

Excellent article.

I've always thought Dark Messiah of Might and Magic was very underrated. The melee and environmental combat is VERY fun.

 

[Wisdom]

Hey look, Wisdom agrees with Thrasher!
Planets aligned or something

 

[luj1]

loved this game... always reminded me to Heretic 2 (another gem) for some reason..

 

[Acleacius]

Great fun, probably the best melee in a FPS yet.

I did get really annoyed about Xana and had to make a mod to keep her quieter. I had actually made 5 mods for this game. Looking at Nexus there are a total of 53 mod to choose from, in case anyone is thinking of trying this anytime soon.

 

[Zloth]

The only problem I remember with it was that simply kicking enemies into the always-somewhere spikes was too powerful but I played it all the way through and had great fun. (It was also my first Steam game. I let everyone else deal with that whole Orange Box fiasco.)

 

[BoboTheMighty]

Ahh, that sweet succubus Xana...not a better waifu in all the other games.

It's a pretty fun game overall, melee system solid enough( imo, not on same level as Bushido Blade, Condemned or recently Dying Light), but you could play a lot wih environment...trip enemies over ice, bring down support beams, etc.

 

[SSIGuy]

Definitely was a great game! I likes me some good ol' fashioned simple fantasy gameplay without any moral ambiguities or other 'modern' sensibilities cluttering things up. You bad, me hit you and blast you with magic.

 

[you]

Very fun game. Won't call it great do to flaws but loved playing it and wish they had chance to iterate. ..

 

[pibbur who]

Hey look, Wisdom agrees with Thrasher!
Planets aligned or something

Temperature reaching an all time low in hell.

Pibbur who wishes for lower temperatures where he lives. And rain.

 

[mercy]

Fantastic game. Highly recommended MUSTPLAY-category!

 

[henriquejr]

Temperature reaching an all time low in hell.

Pibbur who wishes for lower temperatures where he lives. And rain.

A guy lives in Norway and he wishes for lower temps? Jesus!

Pibbur, there is one solution left: go a little way up north

EDIT: you should go and see my city in the last months of the year (from september to december). Talk about wishing for lower temps

 

[pibbur who]

A guy lives in Norway and he wishes for lower temps? Jesus!

I'm probably thinking about summer temperatures here. The wish for rain is of course, always present.

Pibbur, there is one solution left: go a little way up north

Been there, done that. Probably won't do it again, but only for practical purposes.

EDIT: you should go and see my city in the last months of the year (from september to december). Talk about wishing for lower temps

I've been to Phoenix, Arizona in late spring. Ouch!!!

pibbur who may or may not have told the watch that one of the major features he really likes with the elder scrolls and the fallouts is the possibility of turning on semi-permanent rain.

 

[Pessimeister]

This was the first game I played on my previous PC - ye olde AMD 6000+ Black Edition. I enjoyed it that much that I ended up buying a collectors edition for it a couple of years ago. I still think its melee system is essentially unrivalled in first person games even today, as the fun quotient is very high with the environmental awareness and nice rewards for general experimentation.

Whilst I still wish Arkane made Arx Fatalis 2 instead, Dark Messiah remains a genuinely fun game.

 

[pibbur who]

This was the first game I played on my previous PC - ye olde AMD 6000+ Black Edition. I enjoyed it that much that I ended up buying a collectors edition for it a couple of years ago. I still think its melee system is essentially unrivalled in first person games even today, as the fun quotient is very high with the environmental awareness and nice rewards for general experimentation.

Whilst I still wish Arkane made Arx Fatalis 2 instead, Dark Messiah remains a genuinely fun game.

Reminds me that I really should play that game. I've started it, liked it, and then ......Seems like I have some spare time in my gaming schedule in between 15th of august and 2nd of september. In 2021.

pibbur who likes people to think his gaming is thoroughly planned and efficient, and will not refrain from telling lies in order to achieve that.

 

[Ripper]

This was the first game I played on my previous PC - ye olde AMD 6000+ Black Edition. I enjoyed it that much that I ended up buying a collectors edition for it a couple of years ago. I still think its melee system is essentially unrivalled in first person games even today, as the fun quotient is very high with the environmental awareness and nice rewards for general experimentation.

Whilst I still wish Arkane made Arx Fatalis 2 instead, Dark Messiah remains a genuinely fun game.

I agree about the combat. It seems Arkane are the only ones who have really tried to advance first person melee gameplay, in Dark Messiah and Dishonoured. I wish Bethesda would deploy them to develop the combat gameplay for TES - they're a Zenimax company.

 

[Thrasher]

Well the Dark Souls fans may disagree with you.

BTW, I really need to play them (and Severance, another spanish dev, BTW).

 

[you]

Don't forget their first game, Arx Fatalis, while not perfect was very well done for a new idea:

I agree about the combat. It seems Arkane are the only ones who have really tried to advance first person melee gameplay, in Dark Messiah and Dishonoured. I wish Bethesda would deploy them to develop the combat gameplay for TES - they're a Zenimax company.

 

[JDR13]

Well the Dark Souls fans may disagree with you.

To be fair, he did say "first person".

I would love to see a sequel to Arx Fatalis someday.

 

[Thrasher]

Except possible melee combat gameplay mechanics aren't really that different between the two points of view, so advancement in one pov can apply to the other pov.