Dark Messiah of Might and Magic

[Grunker]

it's not art like doom you see

 

[Luzur]

find some long stairs, find some orcs, keep kicking.

fun for days.

 

[Renegen]

I really loved the game but the RPG elements were pretty irrelevant because by the end of the game you had enough experience to buy everything you wanted.

 

[sea]

It's fun once you get used to the combat, which has a surprisingly big learning curve (though I wouldn't say it's so much about skill, more about learning the AI patterns and physics and stuff). The twist in the story is nice and well done, although the characters and whatnot are pretty uninteresting. I do like the choice of endings, too, even your character never really has great motivations for being evil. I wouldn't play it again, but I was entertained for the eight-odd hours I took to finish it.

 

[Captain Shrek]

What twist are you talking about?

 

[UndetectedButthurt]

So I got this for 2$... Haven't replayed in a while and post-Dishonored the game feels really clunky. I never realized how floaty and HL2-like the movement is (Source engine DUH). Dagger takedowns, adrenaline, beheadings... Instant parries if you just keep spamming attacks. Even NPC gestures are very similar to Dishonored. But then again it also feels a lot like Arx in terms of movement. TL;DR my first playthrough felt a lot cooler than this.

Anyway... Just my two cents.

Edit: and screw this whole "look down to see your body" thing... Just look at how it fucked Thief: DS... Arx/DMOMM aren't exceptions either. Dishonored and DXHR did FPP right. I still get disoriented from Thi4f and the insane bobbing every time you open a drawer. OMG MOAR IMMERSIVE FPP GIMMICKS PLS.

 

[Jaedar]

Nah, looking down to see your body is cool. Having the players body be an actual thing in the game world could also open up for some cool gameplay mechanics maybe.

 

[UndetectedButthurt]

It's OK if it doesn't affect FPP movement. Since you can't have precise movement while having two rendered legs (otherwise it looks like you're floating), it fucks up the entire feel of the controls. Mostly fast paced action games like DMOMM don't benefit from this shit at all. There's time better spent in other places than rendering your fucking legs and making sure that they naturally move based on your direction/speed. Even in 2014 Thi4f looks ridiculous if pay attention to how you walk.

 

[Baron Dupek]

DM was actually better than Dishonored, the latest was more clunky, or glued due to modern gaming requirements or whatever. DM was fun, Disho not so. Spaming attack sounds boring.

 

[UndetectedButthurt]

I'm not saying overall that Dishonored is better. Mechanically, the movement is much tighter in Dishonored. And both games deal with you spamming attack the exact same way. It's just that DMOMM has an RPG-lite system when it comes to damage calculation.

 

[Excommunicator]

Great game. Far from perfect as an ARPG (would have loved a decent exploration aspect and more open environments) but my favourite ARPG to play. Short game (7 hours or so AFAIR) but replayable for at least 3 different character types making it more than worthwhile

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

Great game. Far from perfect as an ARPG (would have loved a decent exploration aspect and more open environments) but my favourite ARPG to play. Short game (7 hours or so AFAIR) but replayable for at least 3 different character types making it more than worthwhile

Hm, I've never played it as a pure mage... Guess I should refresh my memories!

 

[UndetectedButthurt]

I think I only played as a Rogue with some random sword/shield hack 'n' slashing. This was after replaying Thief too... I think I ended up spending more than 7-8 hours due to OCD exploration.

 

[Makabb]

 

[Lord Azlan]

DM is a piece of manure. I don't even know how it received some high reviews.

It's a crime against humanity that Steam has it now for 9.99

PC Gamer UK 88
There's really nothing that can match Dark Messiah's combat. The mixture of weaponry and convincingly cause-and-effect physics really does take first-person fighting to new places. [Nov 2006, p.62]

Gamers' Temple 64
With more action and more engaging levels and storyline, Dark Messiah may have been a great game. As it stands though, it feels like a demo in search of a full game or a game brought to market a year before its time.

When I look back at all the games I regret buying - this tops that list. Even above Alpha Protocol which says something.

As for comparisons with Dishonoured - are you kidding me?

 

[Gerrard]

DM is a piece of manure. I don't even know how it received some high reviews.

It's a crime against humanity that Steam has it now for 9.99

PC Gamer UK 88
There's really nothing that can match Dark Messiah's combat. The mixture of weaponry and convincingly cause-and-effect physics really does take first-person fighting to new places. [Nov 2006, p.62]

Gamers' Temple 64
With more action and more engaging levels and storyline, Dark Messiah may have been a great game. As it stands though, it feels like a demo in search of a full game or a game brought to market a year before its time.

When I look back at all the games I regret buying - this tops that list. Even above Alpha Protocol which says something.

As for comparisons with Dishonoured - are you kidding me?

 

[CreamyBlood]

Oh geez, Dark Messiah was super ridiculous fun for me. One of the better times I've had with gaming in the last decade.

 

[pippin]

Game's fun but I can't really get over how twitchy the combat is... everything happens way too fast and the leves are too linear to take advantage of stealth, although you can find secrets and the occasional alternative path to avoid certain enemies.

 

[Kutulu]

DM is a piece of manure. I don't even know how it received some high reviews.

It's a crime against humanity that Steam has it now for 9.99

PC Gamer UK 88
There's really nothing that can match Dark Messiah's combat. The mixture of weaponry and convincingly cause-and-effect physics really does take first-person fighting to new places. [Nov 2006, p.62]

Gamers' Temple 64
With more action and more engaging levels and storyline, Dark Messiah may have been a great game. As it stands though, it feels like a demo in search of a full game or a game brought to market a year before its time.

When I look back at all the games I regret buying - this tops that list. Even above Alpha Protocol which says something.

As for comparisons with Dishonoured - are you kidding me?

Arx Fatalis > Dark Messiah > Dishonoured
as always old tops new.

 

[tormund]

Melee combat and magic are insane fun, but I also can't remember any game that made bows so satisfying and rewarding (and broken I guess) to use. They can even make some sections completely trivial, like catacombs for example. Those zombies can be annoying due to their numbers and poison attack, but with bow you can just stand away and keep headshoting them. They make cyclopses ridiculously easy too, and final boss is trivial with that dragon bow if you take relevant path. Quiver with endless ammo can be found as a secret early, and there is at least one later that is impossible to miss so eventually there is no need to even think about ammo.

 

[Suicidal]

DMMM is basically fantasy jackass. It's one of the very rare games I played more than once because of how many silly unscripted deaths it was possible to cause.

 

[JarlFrank]

It was a fun game. I should replay it one of these days. Kicking is awesome. Level design might not be great but it's solid enough, and the combat is fun. Nice, unpretentious action romp that doesn't even pretend to be more than it is.

Good game.

 

[tormund]

Levels were essentially linear, but some of them were surprisingly large with rewarding exploration. Visuals were p great at creating sense of scale, so some levels even felt bigger than they were.

 

[DramaticPopcorn]

You guys are just making me replay it for the 8th time

 

[pippin]

You guys are just making me replay it for the 8th time

Deus Ex, Bloodlines, Dark messiah...