It's hard, but I think with a twinge of balance tweaks it can be in a great spot. Not having access to medkits at the beginning is a poor choice I think though. Funnily enough, playing hyper light drifter already lays the foundation of basic mechanics for you. Dashing in and around combat to engage with melee attacks and avoid getting hit, this is all something that the player would have done if they played HLD.

Once you actually try to learn enemy patterns and be patient, it's pretty fun and I'm reliably extracting without a hassle. The bosses are still a bit relentless with ADS (although this can be a strength based on how you build bonus DMG from killing enemies). However I've found that utilizing move speed /attack speed slow on the bosses does help deal with them.

I've only played solo but I absolutely adore this game and it's only growing on me more and more. Some people seem to not care for the durability mechanic which I can respect, maybe allow people to repair stuff they like? But the value of an item being finite/destructible makes the game feel more thrilling and exciting when you do have good gear. Not only does it add excitement, but it encourages the player to always be itemizing new kits to their best fit at that moment rather than railroading a particular style.

The first thing I want you to take away from my review is:
"Is Dark and Darker a fun game?"
And I would say yes, it is. It's a very fun game to play solo to master, or with friends to goof off and take the edge off. I've put about 120 hours into it at this rate and I can genuinely say I've enjoyed my time with the game.

So, I purchased the full game, thinking it would be a great slowburn to come back to time and time again with friends. And it's so much fun, between goofy PVP encounters and the enemy diversity, there's a good chunk of replayability and fun to be had.

But there's no point. All progress you make, levels, inventory and such, will be reset, every season. In the early access I can understand this, sure the game was a beta and free, there's going to be wipes. But now, had I known about the gimmick of progression wiping being a long staying element, I can say without a shadow of a doubt I wouldn't have invested more time into this game, let alone money.

As a free to play game to hop on every once and a while, sure it can be a perfectly viable game. But as a player who paid for the full game, who has a full time job and other hobbies I see no point in putting more time or effort into this game, when my progress is going to be wiped. What's going to happen is I will most likely play for the rest of the season, as this is the only season I've played in. But after losing a few hundred hours of progress, I genuinely do not feel like I'll want to play this game ever again. Interesting design choice.


Who knows maybe they'll change their mind and let you maintain some semblance of progression. But I got no time for this pointless grind of having my progress deleted. If you value your time, I would say avoid this game.

Amazing art style, music and even the character designs are great. Absolutely love this world design, cannot get enough of the silly one liners and goofy characters.

The combat however, is leaving much to be desired. It was great on the first floor/boss of the game. The combat is simple and easy to get a hold of. Parrying is shown to be a very powerful tool, regenerating skill meter, preventing damage, and even staggering the enemy. Combine this with the cool and interesting duck and weaving, uppercuts and side swipes you can do and the combat does an absolutely great job of making you feel like a badass when you're doing well and nailing your moves. The fights were fast paced and engaging.

Then I got to the second floor. And it quickly degraded from there. Enemies that now, punish you, when you parry them are introduced. Not only is it just a raw "parrying does nothing", no, it's a flat out, parrying is still a deleterious option. As such, combats with such enemies is longer and drawn out. God forbid you have 3-4 of these enemies that can ensnare you and remove your movement, should you make the absolutely heinous decision to parry them with a well timed input. Bosses that do this exact same shenanigan and have summons in the fight? Oh joy, what a slog fest. Oh the summons ensnare you? Cool. Oh the boss ensnares you when you parry his projectile or him? Oh boy.

But I persevered, thinking it was just a small speed bump in the game. I was wrong. The game only further embraces such mechanics in later floors, with the bosses and enemies all the while, artificially kneecapping my parry ability for the sake of making combat more difficult. This makes the game so boring.

Couple this with the obtuse map controls (or complete lack thereof all together) and the multi-floored aspect of each level, the game really does begin to feel like a chore, which is a shame, because it is such a charming and lovable aesthetic. I find myself dreading encounters rather than excited to participate in and see new enemies.

I understand it's to appeal (I guess?) to the punch-out aspect of strategic fighting and not just spamming a flurry of punches. But if that's the goal maybe make enemies (really the bosses) vulnerable windows longer, or actually making parrying a viable utility in important fights.

It's a very solid hero-like team shooter. But don't come into it expecting rigid classes like Overwatch or Paladins.

This game has it's own style and take on the hero team shooter. I love it to death. It had a rough start with terrible server connectivity issues at launch, and I really feel that did a major disservice to this game's popularity.

It's a good game, it's free. You have nothing to lose playing it. Give it a try

CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF THIS.

An amazing fast paced single player shooter. Even outside of the story. The arena is absolute fun massacring wave after wave of enemies.