I have sent this text to RPGCodex in the middle of July. Almost 5 months has passed since then and I got no reply whether it is to be published or it was declined, so I can only assume they are not going to publish it, hence I have decided to just put it in a post. It's a short text anyway, perhaps not really worth its own news. I hope you will enjoy reading it.
Prelude to Darkness
Prelude to Darkness is a turn-based open-world role-playing game with an isometric camera developed by a team called Zero Sum. The most similar games that come to my mind are Arcanum and Fallout. However, unlike mostly light-hearted steampunk Arcanum and somewhat silly post-apocalyptic Fallout, the Prelude to Darkness is set in a sinister and gloomy world that is about to be torn apart. A world that is closer to a nightmare that starts as an average dream but slowly transforms into a strange and disturbing illusions. Although the game was released a long time ago and has an interesting setting, it has never caught an attention of gaming sites. Was it well deserved? Is Prelude to Darkness another indie game that is best forgotten?
Gameplay
The player creates a party of three player-controlled characters, modifying their origins, attributes and skills, and is able to join additional three NPCs during the game, so the party can have up to six characters which are all controlled by the player. Joinable characters do not provide much input in dialogues beyond their quests and they mostly serve as an assistance in combat sequences. They also do not have their opinion on the player's choices and will be happy whatever side player joins or whichever dialogue options he chooses when interacting with other NPCs.
While at the beginning of the game the player combats some animals (animal abuse seems to be a standard in role-playing games), soon the enemies he has to fight with are either human or odd and terrifying monsters that Lovecraft would be proud of. The creatures are disturbing in appearance, tough in combat and many of them play a huge role in the storyline. This is a very welcomed change from typical fantasy role-playing games where there are at least a dozen creatures, which are hostile to the player for no apparent reason other than being a filler.
Combat in the game is turn based and relies on action points, meaning that not every character performs the same amount of actions in a turn, but it is based on characters' attributes and equipment instead. In consequence, this leads to additional choice for a player, as heavy armor deflects many blows but slows characters wearing it so much that they can only move a little on the battlefield, while no armor allows to move quickly and perform many attacks, but leaves characters susceptible to injuries and quick death. Light armors are obviously a balance between those two. In my experience, no armor or light armor allows for much faster combat sequences, either the enemies or the player characters die way sooner and this was more entertaining way to play the game than with heavy armor that leads to long and slow brawls. A funny fact is – boots and helmets have no negative effects whatsoever, so even characters that are acting as mages or light warriors should be equipped with the best and heaviest helmets and boots you find or buy as and they add quite a lot of defense. There are three spell casting skills; the first being Flame that is offensive, mostly defensive Gift of the Goddess, and finally Thaumaturgy allowing enchanting items and summoning creatures . If you side with Rebellion you will lose all spells from the Goddess at some point. Therefore while the amount of spells is disappointing, the combat possibilities make up for it, at least a bit.
Enemy encounters are often quite challenging in the game and some encounters require thinking about positioning characters and considering which attacks should they use, as the game allows a wide arrange of possible attacks – quick, strong, aimed or balanced attacks, each having their advantages and drawbacks. On the other hand, the amount of spells is underwhelming - very few per each casting skill. The combat system is well developed and clearly better than in the games I mentioned earlier - Fallout and Arcanum. It resembles Temple of the Elemental Evil's one, and it is quite tactical and fun. If only the camera and mouse detection were better, then it would be great, but these minor nuisances may frustrate the player when he missclicks in a challenging fight, and hence why they lessen the enjoyment from a decent combat system and a joyful game.
Gameworld
As the introduction to the story explains, the citizens of the Valley region live a happy life and prosper (which is not entirely true), but the Rebellion has risen up and the player's party is recruited to act counter to it, however, during the game – and actually quite soon – the player is able to join the Rebellion. The game has therefore two storylines, but at the same time the player is able to do them both to some extend. The player is supposedly working for the Watchers to bring down the Rebellion, but he can also choose to work for the Rebellion as well. In addition, he can betray the Rebellion at any time (almost every quest allows that, leaving to a different outcome), but doing some quests for one side might complicate or terminate quests for the other. Sometimes betrayal leads straight to death of the party, so it's not really a viable option in every quest.
There are two cultures of people living together in the Valley – often referred to as the Children of the Flame and the People of the River. Albeit they are all living across the whole region, they seem not to be keen of each other, not anymore at least. The player is able to explore the whole world instantly, there is nothing that stops him, except random encounters that might lead him to death. It is worth mentioning that you can also fast travel to any location from the beginning of the game. The world is large, but not as large as for example Arcanum's and the distance between the points of interest in not that enormous either, it's possible to travel without using fast travel and this might lead to discovering some additional small locations like caves, that would not be found otherwise. However, it is rare and usually fast travel should be preferred unless you enjoy exploration as much as I do. While traveling the player will run into random encounters from time to time, some will be an additional combat sequences, while other encounters are carried out in a manner of dialogues.
The quests are designed quite well, apart from some side quests they are not repetitive and very often have multiple ways of resolving them, some ways lead to different results too. This game is open world not only in exploration, but also in quest design. It leads to more creative gameplay and easier failures, which do not necessarily end in a failure in the game. The world and the amount of quests are rather small and substantially smaller than in ie. Arcanum, and in consequence Prelude to Darkness is a much shorter game, even if the played decides to do a complete walkthrough with all side quests. The main storyline ends fairly quickly, at least in case of choosing the Rebellion, as this was my choice, and the ending is rather disappointing, ending abruptly and without any proper outro or text summary of what happens in the region afterwards and what was the impact of the player's choices.
In addition, one could wish the world was a bit more responsive to the player's actions, at least some of them. Nobody ever noticed in a village that I have blew up a temple in the middle of it. My guess is that either villagers really keep to themselves or weren't very religious after all. I like the setting of the game a lot, although it is fantasy, at the same time it is unique and not another Tolkien plagiarism. It is a world that the player will remember even if the story won't interest him much.
Technicalities
Graphic-wise the game is very detailed, albeit for today's standards the textures are quite low resolution and meshes are boxy. The game was made quite some time ago, so it is understandable. Besides, it still looks better than many modern indie games that are selling so well on Steam. The strong point is the design of the gameworld. It is sinister not only in setting and story, but also in appearance. It creates a depressing atmosphere of solitude and suspense. It also looks very pleasing to the eye and people who like the atmosphere of such games as the first Gothic will take a liking to the one present in Prelude to Darkness. It is disappointing that there was not enough time or money for some finishing touches to the technical side of graphics, as sometimes the background blends with items, or the way field of vision works looks odd. In addition, while I very much adore the music in the game, I wish it had more tracks as they way it is the music gets very repetitive.
The game uses an isometric camera, which can be can be turned around 360° and the angle can be changed to some extend as well. Nonetheless, the camera seems to be quite difficult to manage and is quite inconvenient especially during combat encounters. The only way the game is playable seems to be when the camera is at its highest point. Unfortunately, the camera defaults every time the player loads a save game, and therefore he is required to change the camera settings every time. For some reason, highlighting enemies during combat is also a tricky thing, as they often do not seem to be registered under a mouse cursor although it seems to be both over them and their tile.This leads to some annoyance during the gameplay.Graphic interface is not convenient to use either and there is a lack of keyboard shortcuts. The camera and GUI caused me to missclick quite often both during combat and when just browsing menus.
Another major issue are constant crashes. Version 1.8 crashes and fails to run so often that version 1.7 is recommended over it as it is more stable, and yet it still crashes from time to time. Fortunately the game has a useful autosave option that allows for the change of time interval between autosaves, so it it is set to two minutes or less it doesn't lead to a significant loss of progress even if a player forgets to quicksave. Nonetheless, crashes are a major nuisance.
Summary
As always, the most crucial question is whether the game is fun or not. Zero Sum seems to learn from the best without trying to outdo them with too many chances, and in consequence they made a very good game that should be enjoyed by many cRPG fans as long as they can get past annoying crashes. If you are a person who enjoyed Arcanum and Fallout immensely, then you will have just as much fun in Prelude to Darkness. If you have never played any of the above but enjoy turn-based combat and role-playing games, you should give Prelude to Darkness a try as well. Crashes and an annoying camera did not stop me from enjoying the game and immersing in a dreary world of the Valley, and I hope they will not discourage you. One could only wish there were more games like Prelude to Darkness.
Links:
Download Prelude to Darkness
Official PtD forum at RPGCodex
Prelude to Darkness
Prelude to Darkness is a turn-based open-world role-playing game with an isometric camera developed by a team called Zero Sum. The most similar games that come to my mind are Arcanum and Fallout. However, unlike mostly light-hearted steampunk Arcanum and somewhat silly post-apocalyptic Fallout, the Prelude to Darkness is set in a sinister and gloomy world that is about to be torn apart. A world that is closer to a nightmare that starts as an average dream but slowly transforms into a strange and disturbing illusions. Although the game was released a long time ago and has an interesting setting, it has never caught an attention of gaming sites. Was it well deserved? Is Prelude to Darkness another indie game that is best forgotten?
Gameplay
The player creates a party of three player-controlled characters, modifying their origins, attributes and skills, and is able to join additional three NPCs during the game, so the party can have up to six characters which are all controlled by the player. Joinable characters do not provide much input in dialogues beyond their quests and they mostly serve as an assistance in combat sequences. They also do not have their opinion on the player's choices and will be happy whatever side player joins or whichever dialogue options he chooses when interacting with other NPCs.
While at the beginning of the game the player combats some animals (animal abuse seems to be a standard in role-playing games), soon the enemies he has to fight with are either human or odd and terrifying monsters that Lovecraft would be proud of. The creatures are disturbing in appearance, tough in combat and many of them play a huge role in the storyline. This is a very welcomed change from typical fantasy role-playing games where there are at least a dozen creatures, which are hostile to the player for no apparent reason other than being a filler.
Combat in the game is turn based and relies on action points, meaning that not every character performs the same amount of actions in a turn, but it is based on characters' attributes and equipment instead. In consequence, this leads to additional choice for a player, as heavy armor deflects many blows but slows characters wearing it so much that they can only move a little on the battlefield, while no armor allows to move quickly and perform many attacks, but leaves characters susceptible to injuries and quick death. Light armors are obviously a balance between those two. In my experience, no armor or light armor allows for much faster combat sequences, either the enemies or the player characters die way sooner and this was more entertaining way to play the game than with heavy armor that leads to long and slow brawls. A funny fact is – boots and helmets have no negative effects whatsoever, so even characters that are acting as mages or light warriors should be equipped with the best and heaviest helmets and boots you find or buy as and they add quite a lot of defense. There are three spell casting skills; the first being Flame that is offensive, mostly defensive Gift of the Goddess, and finally Thaumaturgy allowing enchanting items and summoning creatures . If you side with Rebellion you will lose all spells from the Goddess at some point. Therefore while the amount of spells is disappointing, the combat possibilities make up for it, at least a bit.
Enemy encounters are often quite challenging in the game and some encounters require thinking about positioning characters and considering which attacks should they use, as the game allows a wide arrange of possible attacks – quick, strong, aimed or balanced attacks, each having their advantages and drawbacks. On the other hand, the amount of spells is underwhelming - very few per each casting skill. The combat system is well developed and clearly better than in the games I mentioned earlier - Fallout and Arcanum. It resembles Temple of the Elemental Evil's one, and it is quite tactical and fun. If only the camera and mouse detection were better, then it would be great, but these minor nuisances may frustrate the player when he missclicks in a challenging fight, and hence why they lessen the enjoyment from a decent combat system and a joyful game.
Gameworld
As the introduction to the story explains, the citizens of the Valley region live a happy life and prosper (which is not entirely true), but the Rebellion has risen up and the player's party is recruited to act counter to it, however, during the game – and actually quite soon – the player is able to join the Rebellion. The game has therefore two storylines, but at the same time the player is able to do them both to some extend. The player is supposedly working for the Watchers to bring down the Rebellion, but he can also choose to work for the Rebellion as well. In addition, he can betray the Rebellion at any time (almost every quest allows that, leaving to a different outcome), but doing some quests for one side might complicate or terminate quests for the other. Sometimes betrayal leads straight to death of the party, so it's not really a viable option in every quest.
There are two cultures of people living together in the Valley – often referred to as the Children of the Flame and the People of the River. Albeit they are all living across the whole region, they seem not to be keen of each other, not anymore at least. The player is able to explore the whole world instantly, there is nothing that stops him, except random encounters that might lead him to death. It is worth mentioning that you can also fast travel to any location from the beginning of the game. The world is large, but not as large as for example Arcanum's and the distance between the points of interest in not that enormous either, it's possible to travel without using fast travel and this might lead to discovering some additional small locations like caves, that would not be found otherwise. However, it is rare and usually fast travel should be preferred unless you enjoy exploration as much as I do. While traveling the player will run into random encounters from time to time, some will be an additional combat sequences, while other encounters are carried out in a manner of dialogues.
The quests are designed quite well, apart from some side quests they are not repetitive and very often have multiple ways of resolving them, some ways lead to different results too. This game is open world not only in exploration, but also in quest design. It leads to more creative gameplay and easier failures, which do not necessarily end in a failure in the game. The world and the amount of quests are rather small and substantially smaller than in ie. Arcanum, and in consequence Prelude to Darkness is a much shorter game, even if the played decides to do a complete walkthrough with all side quests. The main storyline ends fairly quickly, at least in case of choosing the Rebellion, as this was my choice, and the ending is rather disappointing, ending abruptly and without any proper outro or text summary of what happens in the region afterwards and what was the impact of the player's choices.
In addition, one could wish the world was a bit more responsive to the player's actions, at least some of them. Nobody ever noticed in a village that I have blew up a temple in the middle of it. My guess is that either villagers really keep to themselves or weren't very religious after all. I like the setting of the game a lot, although it is fantasy, at the same time it is unique and not another Tolkien plagiarism. It is a world that the player will remember even if the story won't interest him much.
Technicalities
Graphic-wise the game is very detailed, albeit for today's standards the textures are quite low resolution and meshes are boxy. The game was made quite some time ago, so it is understandable. Besides, it still looks better than many modern indie games that are selling so well on Steam. The strong point is the design of the gameworld. It is sinister not only in setting and story, but also in appearance. It creates a depressing atmosphere of solitude and suspense. It also looks very pleasing to the eye and people who like the atmosphere of such games as the first Gothic will take a liking to the one present in Prelude to Darkness. It is disappointing that there was not enough time or money for some finishing touches to the technical side of graphics, as sometimes the background blends with items, or the way field of vision works looks odd. In addition, while I very much adore the music in the game, I wish it had more tracks as they way it is the music gets very repetitive.
The game uses an isometric camera, which can be can be turned around 360° and the angle can be changed to some extend as well. Nonetheless, the camera seems to be quite difficult to manage and is quite inconvenient especially during combat encounters. The only way the game is playable seems to be when the camera is at its highest point. Unfortunately, the camera defaults every time the player loads a save game, and therefore he is required to change the camera settings every time. For some reason, highlighting enemies during combat is also a tricky thing, as they often do not seem to be registered under a mouse cursor although it seems to be both over them and their tile.This leads to some annoyance during the gameplay.Graphic interface is not convenient to use either and there is a lack of keyboard shortcuts. The camera and GUI caused me to missclick quite often both during combat and when just browsing menus.
Another major issue are constant crashes. Version 1.8 crashes and fails to run so often that version 1.7 is recommended over it as it is more stable, and yet it still crashes from time to time. Fortunately the game has a useful autosave option that allows for the change of time interval between autosaves, so it it is set to two minutes or less it doesn't lead to a significant loss of progress even if a player forgets to quicksave. Nonetheless, crashes are a major nuisance.
Summary
As always, the most crucial question is whether the game is fun or not. Zero Sum seems to learn from the best without trying to outdo them with too many chances, and in consequence they made a very good game that should be enjoyed by many cRPG fans as long as they can get past annoying crashes. If you are a person who enjoyed Arcanum and Fallout immensely, then you will have just as much fun in Prelude to Darkness. If you have never played any of the above but enjoy turn-based combat and role-playing games, you should give Prelude to Darkness a try as well. Crashes and an annoying camera did not stop me from enjoying the game and immersing in a dreary world of the Valley, and I hope they will not discourage you. One could only wish there were more games like Prelude to Darkness.
Links:
Download Prelude to Darkness
Official PtD forum at RPGCodex
