14 DAY TRIAL // 
Wave of Darkness targets hardcore CRPG players everywhere, but it fails to make the experience enjoyable at the same time.
As far as hack & slash games go, there is no deep philosophy at work to make them fun. You kill as many big monsters and demons as you can, you look for the shiniest weapons and armor sets to put on your characters, and you keep upgrading your skills to cause even more carnage. Unlike in pure RPGs, the story is pushed in the background, and you are generally not concerned about choices or reputation.
Wave of Darkness demands to be a member of this libertine club by trying to please everyone at once. It fancies itself as a treat for the hardcore crowds, but it confuses simplicity with vagueness.
The game has all these great ideas and features that would theoretically send its target public into an uncontrollable fit of ecstasy, but it presents them in one of those annoying plastic wrappers that can only be opened with bolt cutters. It’s difficult to approach, it keeps things from you, and above all, it trades pleasure for frustration.
Story
The events take place in the fictional realm of Narr, which is a classic mosaic of fantasy concepts, including different races, demons, abominations, and the usual cultists.
Magic plays an important role in everyday life, thanks to powerful spells and runes that can transform anyone into a fearsome wizard. Naturally, war is brewing all over the land as well, with rival factions at each other’s throat ready to unleash a bloodbath at a moment’s notice.
You are part of this conflict, but the character you create is no one in particular. The name, class and general attitude is left to you, which theoretically encourages free will and a dynamic experience.
Furthermore, the plot is flexible and ready to subside whenever you don’t feel like pursuing it, because the world map is open to exploration right from the beginning. This freedom is double-edged, on the other hand, because it creates a lot of confusion from the first moments of gameplay.
Quests are given by NPCs, which means that you have to talk to them and see what they want. The only way you can know that an NPC has something to tell you is by looking at the map or by clicking on every person you see. Exclamation marks on the world map signal a quest nearby, but they are not at all precise.
There could be five or ten characters in the general area, so you often have to result to trial and error to figure out who needs your help. It’s frustrating, especially when you know that it would have been so simple to make it more obvious. The cherry on top is that in some cases you are not even told when the objectives are complete until you check with the NPC.
Gameplay
When it comes to actually playing Wave of Darkness, it’s just a whole new bunch of bad choices and sketchy approaches. The focus is obviously on combat, given the hack & slash nature of the game, but even that is sour and difficult to swallow. For some reason, there is no auto-attack function, so you have to keep clicking on the enemy for every swing of the sword.
It’s even difficult to target the foes sometimes, not to mention the severely cumbersome looting system. You can either manually drag-and-drop every item into your inventory, or take everything at once.
Many of the items are junk, however, so you are kind of forced to slowly pick what you need and carefully place it in the bag. A simple double-click function would have sufficed.
Another thing you’ll notice after a while is how slowly your character gains experience. You’ll be at level one for an unnatural period of time, and you’ll die a lot as well. This wouldn’t be a problem if you at least had some skills to experiment with, but there’s usually nothing.
You are stuck clicking on enemies, and you have to do this for a long time until more abilities and spells are gained. It gets boring, and by this point, there are just so many reasons to stop playing altogether.
There are nice parts as well, on the other hand. The fact that you are free to explore the map as you see fit from the get-go is a pleasant surprise in the genre, since you are usually confined to dungeons or small areas in the beginning.
It can get disorienting, at least until you familiarize yourself with the scale of the map and the portals that allow you to travel large distances. The lack of proper tooltips and descriptions is again annoying, but we can somewhat ignore it this time and call it the thrill of exploration.
Crafting is yet another positive aspect, because there are countless materials, scrolls and ingredients that can be gathered by paying attention to your surroundings. You can create useful potions, weapons and armors, which help a great deal in the later stages of the game.
Again, it’s strongly advised to give the game guide a read before you venture into this aspect, otherwise you might give up before figuring out what needs to be done and how.
Graphics and audio
It must be said that the game world is beautiful and quite inviting, with many different environments and landscapes awaiting exploration. The graphics are not flashy in any way, nor are they a serious contender for gems like The Witcher III or Pillars of Eternity, but they are more than decent.
It’s obvious that the designers have put a lot of work into the game, since every corner of the map is decorated with all sorts of plants, ruins, or random objects that enrich the general atmosphere.
Interface-wise, on the other hand, it’s yet another round of bad choices. You play from a top-down perspective, which is a good choice for the genre, but the field of view suffers whenever there’s terrain elevation around you.
If you are looking uphill, you are practically blind to what’s farther than a few meters away, which can cause you to run into hordes of enemies when you least expect it. By zooming all the way in, things get slightly better, but not enough to solve this issue.
The soundtrack and the general sound effects are not impressive, but they’re not intruding either. When everything else seems to be working so hard against you, it’s weird to think that a dull audio presentation is actually a positive aspect.
Still, when you are eviscerating monsters for hours on end, it would be nice to have a good soundtrack playing in the background, as Diablo already proved this many years ago.
The Good
- Great character progression options
- Big map open to exploration
- Interesting story
The Bad
- Cumbersome looting system
- Lack of in-game tooltips and guides
- Unrewarding combat mechanics
- Interface issues
Conclusion
As long as you realize that there are going to be annoyances that are out of your control, you can still have a blast with the game. The character progression system is very intriguing and rewarding, since there are many options at your disposal, especially in the spell department.
Still, the developers have a monumental task ahead. Most players will most likely get frustrated on the tutorial island, and things don’t get much easier to deal with after that either. Hence, you are advised to wait for more patches and improvements from the developer.
Softpedia Giveaway
In collaboration with Dreamatrix, Softpedia is giving away 5 Wave of Darkness Steam keys.To get one, all you have to do is post a comment below during the next week and tell us what you like or don't like about Wave of Darkness, or what you would like to see changed in future patches.
We will then pick the 5 best comments and send you an email with a Wave of Darkness key. Make sure to enter a valid email address to be considered for the giveaway. Please note that only comments left on this page will be eligible for the giveaway promotion.
