King's Bounty: Dark Side

 PC
User Score
6.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 98 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 44 out of 98
  2. Mixed: 31 out of 98
  3. Negative: 23 out of 98

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  1. Likeme
    Sep 7, 2014
    3
    I've played previous 3 games in King's Bounty and 'Dark Side' was a major disappointment for me. Instead of making it better, they made it longer. Same units, same magic, 80% of the world copy&pasted from previous series, stupid quests with texts seemingly written by 12-year olds.

    The only positive impression from last game, is that amount of bugs was low and none of them are hampering    I've played previous 3 games in King's Bounty and 'Dark Side' was a major disappointment for me. Instead of making it better, they made it longer. Same units, same magic, 80% of the world copy&pasted from previous series, stupid quests with texts seemingly written by 12-year olds.

    The only positive impression from last game, is that amount of bugs was low and none of them are hampering game progress.

    TL&DR: If you want to play this series, buy previous versions. Same fun, less money.    … Expand
  2. krammerlock
    Feb 18, 2015
    4
    I have played all of the King's Bounty games and it is clear to me that the developers have lost their way. It started with Warriors of the North and has reached a low with Dark Side. I like the idea of Dark side and I like that they kept the GUI and combat system the same. What I don't like is the sloppiness of how the quests are written. I never got stuck on any quests in King's, orI have played all of the King's Bounty games and it is clear to me that the developers have lost their way. It started with Warriors of the North and has reached a low with Dark Side. I like the idea of Dark side and I like that they kept the GUI and combat system the same. What I don't like is the sloppiness of how the quests are written. I never got stuck on any quests in King's, or Armored Princess. The explanation was straight forward. They told us what to do, where to do it and generally kept it on the same area that the quest was given. Yes its simple, but it was fun. You could tool around an island, clear it out and move on. Sadly that is no longer the case. I have gotten stuck on many quests and have been unable to find help on them either. So the game is a big waste of money. I will try it again in six months. Maybe then the walk through's will contain some help.… Expand
  3. blackbird1
    Sep 3, 2014
    1
    Technicaly this game is so much worse than all previous KB Games what i loved.
    The fonts and the HUD are to tiny even on 1680 x 1050 22.
    Aslong you dont fix the tiny HUD and Text i give yau just 1 Point for this.
    I swear i came back and give you 10 you devs fix this .
  4. lifemare
    Oct 18, 2014
    2
    King's Bounty was such a nice surprise when it came out. The Heroes of Might & Magic franchise was getting worst and worst and no one else seemed to care to develop this strategy genre. KB changed all that and quickly climbed to the top of my list of favorite games.

    Unfortunately every subsequent release has offered little more than a different campaign, never adding any more depth or    King's Bounty was such a nice surprise when it came out. The Heroes of Might & Magic franchise was getting worst and worst and no one else seemed to care to develop this strategy genre. KB changed all that and quickly climbed to the top of my list of favorite games.

    Unfortunately every subsequent release has offered little more than a different campaign, never adding any more depth or perfecting gameplay (actually downgrading it on a few occasions). So, playing Armored Princess, or Legends, to me, pretty much felt like playing the same game all over again. Redoing pretty much the same tedious quests (i should say "errands"), fighting with the same units, conjuring the same spells, etc, etc, etc.

    KB Dark Side follows this great tradition of boredom and fear of change, adding yet more hours to the never ending KB campaign. This time however the little creativity there was on previous titles has completely extinguished. Bottom of the barrel stuff. The story is so infantile and the dialogs so horribly retarded i found myself feeling like i was playing a toddler's game. On a game entirely cloned from its previous installment (again, with almost zero new units, spells, weapons & armor, environments, etc), the only redemption would be its narrative.
    But no, even that received the same half-assed treatment - there's simply no redeeming qualities to this title.

    Regarding bugs, i'm very surprised to hear people consider this release better than previous ones. I don't remember having these many issues with all other titles *combined*: Broken quests (plural!) and overall very bad information on dialogs and quest log, crashes, item buffs that don't work, serious combat glitches (enemy units becoming invulnerable to attack for a turn). If you managed to finish the game without coming across one of these issues, i must be the unlukiest guy in the world.

    As much as it pains me to bash a strategy game in this depressing age of Action and FPS games, unless you're really into doing menial tasks and enjoy riding a virtual horse up and down a narrow path for hours on end, stay the hell away from this game!    … Expand
  5. yshylov
    Jun 16, 2015
    0
    It has nothing in common with previous series. The plot is awful and it is written in internet slang. The locations are just boxes with a couple of enemies, there is no decoration at all. The game is heavily disbalanced, it's very tough at the beginning and not interesting at all as you have no possibility to avoid plot fights, can't get extra spells and can't change your army.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 13
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 13
  3. Negative: 0 out of 13
  1. Games.cz
    Dec 3, 2014
    70
    King's Bounty: Dark Side is tasty sweet for fans of the genre and the series. Game offers the chance to play for the bad guys together with a sophisticated gaming system and several interesting innovations. We would appreciate the game play and technological improvement though.
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  2. CD-Action
    Oct 22, 2014
    70
    The biggest strength and simultaneously the most notable weakness of Dark Side is the fact, that it’s the first King’s Bounty all over again. It’s still fun, but how much longer? [Sept 2014, p.66]
  3. DarkStation
    Sep 30, 2014
    80
    It isn’t much of a problem for this game, but for future iterations, the developer will either have to get creative once again or give the series a big makeover.
    Read full review
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