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. matod
    Aug 24, 2014
    5
    As a fan of whole series i cant recomend this one. Its unfinished like wont mainly of game balance(new spells , crazy unit disbalance) and later maps is almost completly empty.. empty areas and the main thing if you play imposible theres no real enemy that can threat yours army.. this destroys whole experience why you build army and level up when there is no enemy to fight? Game releaseAs a fan of whole series i cant recomend this one. Its unfinished like wont mainly of game balance(new spells , crazy unit disbalance) and later maps is almost completly empty.. empty areas and the main thing if you play imposible theres no real enemy that can threat yours army.. this destroys whole experience why you build army and level up when there is no enemy to fight? Game release date is totaly rushed , but its better than WOTN witch was terrible (2/10)… Expand
  2. el_toejam
    Jan 28, 2020
    6
    I gave it 6 only becose of love for original Legend and AP. But this game is sicking horrible.
    Whole game is a huge disappointment.
  3. Alsmir
    Mar 26, 2015
    7
    I find it difficult to rate this one.

    On one hand it has more features than previous games and more content but on the other hand it feels unpolished. We have some new skills, spells, units and other cool features like capturing prisoners and turning them into undead or demon units, but there's always something... New skills sound good but many of them are quite useless, same    I find it difficult to rate this one.

    On one hand it has more features than previous games and more content but on the other hand it feels unpolished.

    We have some new skills, spells, units and other cool features like capturing prisoners and turning them into undead or demon units, but there's always something...

    New skills sound good but many of them are quite useless, same issue with new spells.
    Rage abilities - why can't they ever be balanced? Once again - you will use some of them extensively and ignore the rest.
    New units - great, but I'm still using the old ones. Few special abilities got re-balanced as well.

    Quests are now more complex but it comes with a price, too often we're not given clear explanation what to do next. I got stuck a couple of times, some of them are very unintuitive and we end up either checking online for solutions or just visiting every single spot on every map.

    Dark Side has some pros and cons, but at the end of the day it's still a very solid game. If you finished every other KB title, give it a try. Combat is still fun and challenging and that's what matters the most for me.    … Expand
  4. MR67
    Dec 3, 2015
    5
    More of the same really if you've played any of the previous games in the series, though now with the added twist of being able to play a bad guy (or girl). Your special units are very limited at the beginning, so you'll only have a handful of these to make do with until later on. To flesh out your army, the game has a lot more spider and snake eggs for you to pick up and use, as well asMore of the same really if you've played any of the previous games in the series, though now with the added twist of being able to play a bad guy (or girl). Your special units are very limited at the beginning, so you'll only have a handful of these to make do with until later on. To flesh out your army, the game has a lot more spider and snake eggs for you to pick up and use, as well as some bottom-of-the-pile troop types at the first safe castle you get to. Apart from that, there is also a new system where you can sacrifice prisoners to create new demon and undead troop types, but it looks like you need to have a LOT of prisoners to create anything really good. Your rage powers are now provided by a strange looking little companion creature named Blackie (though thankfully you can change this name), who can also teleport you to various places in the game as well as handle the sacrificing of unlucky prisoners to create new troops. Character skills are now structured slightly more differently - there are about 5 or 6 levels of skills from the top down, with only the corresponding class having access to the last tier of skills; eg. only the warrior character (the Orc) will have access to the last tier of Might skills. I tried all 3 characters and it seems easiest to play (at least initially) as the Demoness character (owing to her higher Leadership score and the more powerful demon units she has) and hardest as the Orc (lack of offensive magic and decent missile units). However, the Demoness' last tier of skills (in the Spirit tree) do not seem all that great compared to the last tier of skills in the Might and Magic trees. The storyline seems a bit dull (though this may change later in the game) and involves you fixing a sudden imbalance which has come about between evil and good in the world, though each of the characters (the Orc, Demoness and Vampire) has a backstory of their own which makes the game a bit more interesting.

    Pros - same enjoyable tactical turn-based combat as the previous titles, different experience playing as a villain.
    Cons - little overall difference in graphics or gameplay from the previous games in the series, more difficult (at least in the early part of the game) than any of the previous games, still some minor translation issues in some of the in-game text, playing as a villainous character might not be to everyone's taste. Game also still suffers from a number of bugs (crashes to desktop occasionally when playing for a long time and entering a new area or starting a big battle, or enemy units' attack, defence and initiative scores inexplicably get reduced). Game seems overly long and gets tedious after a while and certain quests are poorly done, eg collect certain items with no indication of where to get them. I have spent over 120 hours playing as the Orc where I reached level 53 but have given up owing to boredom and frustration with the bugs. Have revised score from 7 to 5.    … Expand
  5. PeakTop
    Jan 16, 2021
    7
    Достойное продолжение одного из шедевров ру-игропрома, способное в очередной раз приклеить к монитору на долгие часы. С момента выхода игру прошёл трижды, то есть по разу за каждый класс, и могу составить законченное представление об игре.

    Действия DarkSide разворачиваются в новом мире, состоящем из островов и подземелий. Из биомов всё по классике: земли людей, шахты гномов, лавовый мир    Достойное продолжение одного из шедевров ру-игропрома, способное в очередной раз приклеить к монитору на долгие часы. С момента выхода игру прошёл трижды, то есть по разу за каждый класс, и могу составить законченное представление об игре.

    Действия DarkSide разворачиваются в новом мире, состоящем из островов и подземелий. Из биомов всё по классике: земли людей, шахты гномов, лавовый мир демонов, пиратские острова, эльфийские леса и т.д. Принципиальным отличием является возможность играть за "злых", а значит, нам придется проходить кампанию задом наперёд. В отличие от предыдущих частей, здесь мы будем очищать территории от зажравшихся светлых паладинов и эльфийских карателей, истребляющих невинных орков, демонов и вампиров.

    Из геймплейных нововведений отдельно можно выделить Убежище тьмы, которое необходимо улучшать и прокачивать, свозить туда пленных и прочие ресурсы для наращивания боевого потенциала. Есть новые юниты, заклинания и способности ярости. На этом список обнов заканчивается. В целом это всё тот же Кингс Баунти, а значит фанаты серии останутся довольны – кардинальные изменения тут практически отсутствуют, геймплей не пострадал :) Для кого-то это, конечно, станет минусом.

    А вот теперь о недостатках.

    В глаза бросается заметно сниженная сложность. Особенно, в сравнении в Легендой о рыцаре, где можно было тупо застрять из-за нехватки войск/денег или огневой мощи. Тут такое вряд ли случится, ведь уже на старте имеем много халявы – сундуки, союзные войска, трофеи на карте, несколько островов для лута, множество магазинов с войсками, свитками и артефактами.

    Много вопросов вызывает музыка. В DarkSide разрабы почему-то решили рандомизировать все треки, и теперь у нас во время битвы может играть мирный релакс, а во время путешествий – боевая тема. Нехорошо вышло.

    Обилие затянутых квестов в стиле "сходи/принеси/подай". Некоторые из них почему-то переплетаются с основной сюжеткой и порой вызывают путаницу и желание посмотреть прохождение на форумах. Тем не менее, разнообразие присутствует, как и юмор. В плане сюжета менее всего мне зашёл Воин Севера – я так и не смог добить его до конца :)

    В целом, если закрыть глаза на неадекватную музыку и запутанные квесты, то это – всё тот же ламповый и завораживающий Кингс Баунти от Katauri. Как поклонник ставлю игре 7 / 10 баллов. Считаю, что лучшей частью была изначальная дилогия о принцессе и рыцаре.    … Expand
  6. hileger
    Oct 21, 2022
    6
    ХЕРОИ мне лично не заходит ХЕРОИ мне лично не заходит ХЕРОИ мне лично не заходит
  7. FRIST_008
    Jun 14, 2021
    7
    После война севера я говорю игре ДА, но я после многочисленных обзоров начал играть с модом "Патч v.1.1 к Глобальному моду", и суммарно от игры очень положительные впечатления. Юмор конечно убили в край, он заменился сюжетом собранный полностью из отсылок. Но меня всегда интриговали в игре механики, и тут как со стороны развития серии, их более чем достаточно. Именно игровых механик целом,После война севера я говорю игре ДА, но я после многочисленных обзоров начал играть с модом "Патч v.1.1 к Глобальному моду", и суммарно от игры очень положительные впечатления. Юмор конечно убили в край, он заменился сюжетом собранный полностью из отсылок. Но меня всегда интриговали в игре механики, и тут как со стороны развития серии, их более чем достаточно. Именно игровых механик целом, а не только боевых.… Expand

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.
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