I can’t look into your eyes and tell you that the Dark Alliance is a great game because it is not. Every rational bone in my body knows this. This is a game that you may play for an hour and no longer need to watch it because you have made up your mind. This game, you think, is a bit rubbish. It’s hard for me to tell you the other, because in a way, it’s true. The first impression of the Dark League is terrible. It stumbles and dribbles the ball on you like you are drunk. “What’s wrong with my favorite series?” You will hesitate. “Where is the local co-op?! Why does it look like an Xbox 360 game?! Why does controlling it feel like my thumbstick is blocked by Marmite?! But-there is a but-this is a grower, I promise. After a few hours, I really like it. It’s stupid, yes, but since when is it a bad thing?
Let’s go backwards first. The Dark Alliance is a hack and slash (or action role-playing game, or beat them, or whatever you call it) series of Dungeons and Dragons that people remember 20 years ago, because it allows you to play the same console with your friends. But now, in the reimagining of this series, you can’t. You must play online. Oh. This is also one of the main reasons for its unfavorable start, because yes, you can play it yourself, and you will initially try to do this, but if there is no one else, it will feel lonely and a little aimless.
Alone, when you are knocked down, no one can resurrect you, so you will be forced to be born again. Alone, there is no chance to trigger a powerful team attack. Being alone, there is no chance to breathe, everything will come for you. When enemies flood in from all angles, they will interrupt your attack, disrupt your block time, and kick you when you fall. This is not very interesting.
Me, the barbarian, and my ranger partner. This should give you a fair sense of what it feels like to play the game, even though the village center is not included in the shot. I have learned some better moves since then!
Exacerbating this situation is a dirty feeling of controlling the game. The Dark Alliance has no zippers, and everything you do seems to be delayed: open boxes, pick up collectibles, jump, attack, and even sprint. For action games, this is not great. To make things more complicated, the Dark Alliance is a bit like a monster hunter, how it locks you in the animation when you attack, and quickly consumes your stamina. I used Monster Hunter’s comparison, but it was not done as well in that game. This method will give you a sense of direct control.
Coupled with the usually outdated appearance-I don’t know why they don’t care about the facial textures of the main four playable characters-sometimes stuttering on Xbox Series S (1080p), wooden animations and enemy behavior is so stupid, they Sometimes it seems impossible to move at all. The whole thing seems to lack inspiration or imagination, and it is not well made.
seem -It got better! The moment you play with others will get better. You can host (public or private, by invitation) or use pairing, which works fine. Sometimes it will let you join a game, in this game you cannot play your own role, because other people are, you can only have one per group (there are four roles); sometimes it will put you higher Or lower-level people. However, it is really troublesome when you want to increase the challenge level and someone reduces your combined team strength and you cannot do so. However, generally speaking, it will find people who can be fun for you.
(However, I have not been able to perform in-game voice chat on Xbox Series S. I think it’s there because there are sometimes few voice icons, but no content. However, I enjoy this tacit understanding of its location. You can use Xbox party chat to solve it at any time.)
After grouping, the game suddenly became meaningful. The character is designed as a whole, in fact, it is divided into four. They all praised each other. Big, cumbersome enemies that are almost impossible to defeat in hand-to-hand combat can now fly kites to cause damage to those behind or in range, while small enemies that frustrate more agile characters can be knocked back. Suddenly, the game is full of vitality and vitality, and all the silence between your attacks is filled with others.
The level itself will speed up, because people will collaborate to find and pick up collectibles, which will be automatically distributed among you (although you must collect equipment from the box separately, because it will spray one for each of you). The most important thing is that if you fabricate something and then die, that’s okay, because you can simply resurrect (as far as I know, you can resurrect endlessly). I even thought of the idea of restricting all management (upgrades, equipment, and trading) to the central area of the village, because it prevents people from talking nonsense in the menu and slowing down when performing tasks.
Playing in this way for a period of time, a deeper appreciation of the game will begin to take root, and as the challenge level increases, strategies will emerge. The actions you unlock (you buy between missions) come with various status effects, and you will start to pay attention to what they do and how to best use them. You will start to stop and reduce the recklessness of attacks, and you will start to understand how team attacks are triggered, how executions are triggered, and pay attention to them.
Look, none of this has completely changed the game. The Dark Alliance will not suddenly become elegant and skillful because you play with other people. Enemies will still do stupid things, such as gathering and trying to attack invincible downed teammates (helpful under appropriate circumstances), and the core experience of the game is still very rough. But what you used to endure is now very cute. Now I am used to the rhythm of the battle, I enjoy it very much. I hit the ball with my flying knees, and then used my hammer to swing violently. It was like playing golf to knock the fairies into the air, and then let them fly over the edge of the cliff. Who doesn’t enjoy it?
I was excited about the challenging battle with my new Katie Brie (ranger/therapist) friend, each of us resurrected each other countless times. I am still happy to return to the village center after completing the mission to see what loot I will get. The tasks are usually getting better and better, more impressive and ambitious, and there is much more to be seen. Considering all the different challenge levels (I think this is what the final game involves: re-run them to get the best gear), there are tons of games here.
The Dark Alliance is not a great game, then, but I don’t think anyone is suggesting that it is, so the price of the game is cheaper, so the game is on the game pass. Once you get used to it, it will be comforting. It’s like comfort food: more. It’s not too smart or too laborious, it’s better this way. Most importantly, I want to play more.
