![]() The action just never feels like it carries a lot of impact. While the four heroes may seem like they offer variety, the combat is rarely fun. Each hero has a light and heavy attack, a button to block and to dodge, as well as two special abilities and an Ultimate attack on cooldowns. Wulfgar is also a warrior type, but he has a big hammer and is meant to be a support role for larger area-of-effect attacks. Drizzt is a drow ranger who has two swords and moves/attacks rapidly. Bruenor Battlehammer is a dwarf wielding an axe and hammer, and is meant to be a tank. You'll be exploring and fighting through these levels with one of the four characters, and they loosely fall into a specific role. There are hazard areas, such as those covered in ice which can only be safely crossed if you get warm at a nearby fire, or poison areas which are cleared by shooting the nearby explosive barrel – and all of these hazards get re-used over and over again. The game also doesn't take any risks with its design – there are only occasional elevation changes, extremely rare optional puzzles, and not much diversity in the environment. However, as nothing changes on subsequent playthroughs, it becomes almost a speedrun to simply grab all you want because you recall where everything is. Things aren't particularly well hidden – there are clear red markings for any side paths – but it can still be a good time for some of the longer alternate paths. ![]() That's not to say the exploration is poor – again, on your first go, it can be quite entertaining to discover all the hidden goodies around a level. You'll visit dwarven factories inside mountains, floating islands, and frozen wastelands - though the gameplay doesn't change much beyond the visual style. The level design is fairly linear, however it does feature occasional side paths and hidden chests to find. There is a decent amount of missions here, if this were a traditional single player adventure with a bit more story, but as a game meant to replayed over and over, it feels lacking in variety. The higher difficulty that you choose, the greater the rewards and the level of gear that drops. Each mission has up to six difficulty ratings that have a suggested Gear level (a measure of how good your equipment is). The structure of the campaign is a series of replayable missions, all started from a small hub area. It borrows some ideas, as well as mistakes, from games such as Anthem and Outriders by bringing up such examples, you can probably gather that it's not a great experience. If you're expecting a more traditional D&D experience that focuses heavily on story or lore, you won't find it here – that's largely because Dark Alliance positions itself as a cooperative multiplayer action game, which mutually excludes it from having a deep narrative focus.Īnd unfortunately, the game doesn't do any of those parts well. There are a few cutscenes at the start and end of each area, and characters often comment on the events of the story, but for the most part you're simply fighting your way through linear areas and eventually reaching the boss to defeat them. To stop them, a group of four heroes – Bruenor Battlehammer, Catti-brie, Drizzt Do'Urden, and Wulfgar – have united in their fight, to drive the enemy from the lands and destroy the leader of each invading faction.ĭespite being based on Dungeons & Dragons, Dark Alliance doesn't spend a whole lot of time with its narrative or characters. ![]() But its call of power is too strong to be ignored, and so a number of different factions have set out to find and reclaim it. However, he was stopped by an alliance of noble heroes protecting their homelands, and the Shard was lost. The story picks up after the events that saw Akar Kessell take possession of a powerful Crystal Shard, which gave him command over numerous monster armies. For fans of the lore, this means some familiarity in setting, enemies, and heroes, but for everyone else it's a fairly straightforward fantasy RPG setting. Dark Alliance is considered part of the Baldur's Gate sub-series, and brings players to Forgotten Realms specifically the Icewind Dale region.
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