DARK

 Xbox 360
  • Publisher: Kalypso
  • Release Date: Jul 9, 2013
  • Also On: PC
User Score
4.1

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 55 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 55
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 55
  3. Negative: 32 out of 55
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  1. Balguren
    Jul 17, 2013
    2
    First off I truly wanted to enjoy this game. I been a gamer from the mid 1970's and own over 1 k games so can say I know what I am talking about when I say this is the worst game I have ever played hands down...and I played thrill kill on ps1.. This games logic is so messed up it hurts.. I will say tge graphics are good and sounds are nice as well but the game just is really not worthFirst off I truly wanted to enjoy this game. I been a gamer from the mid 1970's and own over 1 k games so can say I know what I am talking about when I say this is the worst game I have ever played hands down...and I played thrill kill on ps1.. This games logic is so messed up it hurts.. I will say tge graphics are good and sounds are nice as well but the game just is really not worth buying new or even used..maybe a rent if truly want to play something that will irritate the crap outta you. The game dosent even follow vampire lore. Bullets do not kill vampires more so 2-5 bullets kill the player..total illogical. I am pleased Kylapso tried to make this good but IMO failed baddly. Better to stick to Dungeons rather then fail at a game like this again.… Expand
  2. GameFan365
    Aug 12, 2013
    3
    Dark is a stealth based game by Kalypso Media where you play as Eric Bane a vampire with several powers who must use his abilities defeat his enemies human and vampire alike. This is a game that seeks to mimic the styling of Assassins Creed and the darkness of Dishonored, but unfortunately due to several major flaws fails to live up to the fun or polish of either game.

    Dark is a stealth    Dark is a stealth based game by Kalypso Media where you play as Eric Bane a vampire with several powers who must use his abilities defeat his enemies human and vampire alike. This is a game that seeks to mimic the styling of Assassins Creed and the darkness of Dishonored, but unfortunately due to several major flaws fails to live up to the fun or polish of either game.

    Dark is a stealth based RPG that promises a deep and engaging story with unique settings and abilities all of which is set in the dark and forboding world of vampires. Your abilities are fueled by the energy you consume from your victims and your objective is to use your powers to make your way through the areas and reach your goal. Unfortunately there are more than a few problem this game has when attempting to make good on these promise of a deep and immersive world with challenging gameplay.

    Visit www.GameFan365.com for the full review    … Expand
  3. titantim
    Jul 22, 2013
    2
    I had the displeasure of playing this terrible excuse for a sneaking game. Everyone was complaining about someone else's terrible review that they all inflated this putrid game's score up. Now that his review is gone, the score is far out of balance to what it should be.

    The graphics are on par with an original xbox game, and watching the characters interact is a joke. If you remember    I had the displeasure of playing this terrible excuse for a sneaking game. Everyone was complaining about someone else's terrible review that they all inflated this putrid game's score up. Now that his review is gone, the score is far out of balance to what it should be.

    The graphics are on par with an original xbox game, and watching the characters interact is a joke. If you remember how acting on half life 1 looked like, this is the same.

    The control is infuriating! You'd think that having a teleport ability would be cool! Not this game! It's so difficult to set where you want to teleport to, it makes more sense to walk there. On top of that, teleporting alerts guards from far and wide.

    Which brings me to the 2nd part that bugged the heck out of me. Feeding on people (Which makes no noise) alerts everyone around, whereas doing a giant loud instant kill punch to their back doesn't alert anyone. Go figure...

    The AI is so basic that it gets to be frustrating. As soon as you are found will rush to you, and then slowly back away when you try to get close to do your slow ass punch which makes any combat absolute torture.

    If you want a great stealth game with awesome teleporting fun, get Dishonored!    … Expand
  4. TransEquinox
    Aug 13, 2013
    4
    To put it simply, Dark should not have come out in 2013 and definitely not with a $40 price tag.

    Let me begin by saying that Dark is a game I had looked forward to for some time now. After all, we haven't seen a good vampire based video game since the likes of the timeless Vampire: The Masquerade and BloodRayne Series. Who wouldn't want to stalk the night as a badass vampire? The    To put it simply, Dark should not have come out in 2013 and definitely not with a $40 price tag.

    Let me begin by saying that Dark is a game I had looked forward to for some time now. After all, we haven't seen a good vampire based video game since the likes of the timeless Vampire: The Masquerade and BloodRayne Series. Who wouldn't want to stalk the night as a badass vampire? The designers knew we longed for a vampire experience and promised us one. Sadly, it was not what we had hoped (the hype built up around the game didn't do it much favors either).

    I am disappointed and quite frankly, angry. I am not angry because Dark is a horrible game, I am angry because of what it could have been. The only thing worse than a bad game is a game which has great potential and then somehow manages to fall flat; and that is exactly what Dark does.

    Dark is one of those games that sounds magical on paper, but translates to a mediocre experience very quickly. From the moment you start the game up you realize that the graphics are not exactly stellar, and really, who cares? Sure graphics have an impact, but its about gameplay. Even then, I cannot overlook the graphic 'style' of the game. Sure, you can argue that the designers were going for an artsy, graphic novel look but it leaves the models stiff and lifeless. Facial expressions are nowhere to be found and the fluidity one would expect from an agile vampire is replaced with stagnant, choppy motions.

    On to sound. While the game presents some decent music and sound effects the voice acting is just painful to listen to. Most of this is likely due to the script itself which is just about as bland and generic as plots can get. While some characters are voice acted well, others are unforgivably phoned in and even the main character's lines seem to be delivered by someone who would much rather be doing something else. This mediocre acting makes it very difficult for you to care about the character since it doesn't seem like he even cares about himself.

    Gameplay wise, Dark brings up some interesting mechanics but once more it feels very limited and too toned down. You don't feel like a vampire for a majority of the game, you feel more like a glorified leech. While concepts such as the Vitae system introduce a nice strategic element to the game, it ultimately becomes a crutch for the game to be 'more challenging'. Before you know it, every little action which a vampire should be able to do (such as running an actually decent speed) requires a bar of Vitae. And this brings up another issue, for a vampire you are significantly under-powered. Speed is a joke without being fully upgraded, and even then it isn't what you would expect. Your powers, while innovative and useful, seem to fall flat and the lack of any real combat system outside of stealth kills makes the game a quite grueling experience. If you are spotted once, prepare to die. Over...and over...and over. Easily 90% of the time you will only be able to beat a missions after constant trial and error, which we have seen work for some games (e.g. Dark Souls) but it seems very out of place and just down right frustrating in this game.

    Yet, with all that said, I found myself slugging through mission after mission. It could be argued that Dark appeals to a 'hardcore' or as I like to call it masochistic group of gamers who are addicted to difficulty and unnecessary challenges. I often find myself in that category as well.

    As much as I despise Dark for many reasons, I simply cannot bring myself to completely hate it. I think this is due to the fact that Dark just seems to have come out at the wrong time. Dark is a game which should have come out between 2005 2009, not 2013. When you have XBLA titles such as Alan Wake, I Am Alive, State of Decay, Mars: War Logs etc. you expect something more from a full fledged 360 title.
    If this game had come out at a different time, it would have been quite enjoyable but in this day and age there is no place for unpolished games such as Dark especially not at full price. I cannot recommend buying this game, but if you want to experience it try a rental or at least wait till the price drops. Don't go in with any great ambitions though, you will be disappointed.    … Expand
  5. Rox22
    Aug 12, 2013
    4
    A very bland stealth game. It has a few good ideas, but just fails to realize them. Visuals are pretty at points, but then again also very lazy at others, particularly with character animation.

    This game is really nowhere near this generations level that feels and looks, most of the time, like a last gen title. Overall: DARK feels like it could have the potential to be so much    A very bland stealth game. It has a few good ideas, but just fails to realize them. Visuals are pretty at points, but then again also very lazy at others, particularly with character animation.

    This game is really nowhere near this generations level that feels and looks, most of the time, like a last gen title.

    Overall:
    DARK feels like it could have the potential to be so much more. It feels like an alpha version of a much bigger game. Such a shame that this is what they decided to release. Not worth buying, a cheap rental at best.    … Expand
  6. ethanvenzin
    Feb 15, 2014
    0
    this game is very very bad,it's just gives you into a **** gameplay a **** story it's just **** awful,this is the game that people should avoid,don't buy this game,this game is the worst
  7. TheDahaka
    Mar 18, 2014
    1
    This game is an abomination. I can get passed the cheesy and poorly voice acted dialogue and uninspiring story, but the poorly implemented and barely functional controls kill any iota of fun this game could have had. This game never should have been released without a major gameplay overhaul.

    Visuals: 7/10 Sound: 4/10 Gameplay:1/10 Re-Playability: 5/10 Overall: 1/10 I really    This game is an abomination. I can get passed the cheesy and poorly voice acted dialogue and uninspiring story, but the poorly implemented and barely functional controls kill any iota of fun this game could have had. This game never should have been released without a major gameplay overhaul.

    Visuals: 7/10
    Sound: 4/10
    Gameplay:1/10
    Re-Playability: 5/10
    Overall: 1/10

    I really cannot recommend this game to anyone. Don't even be tempted to get it at a discount, this is one of the few times the reviewers were right.    … Expand
  8. FlushtheFashion
    Oct 16, 2015
    4
    With stories of vampires being portrayed in various media now a days, we gamers occasionally get a title release containing these mythic and sometimes brutal creatures of the night. DARK is one of these said titles, pieced together by Realmforge Studios and sent out into the darkness by Kalypso Media.

    Starting the game we are met by main protagonist Eric, neon lights, amnesia, and a    With stories of vampires being portrayed in various media now a days, we gamers occasionally get a title release containing these mythic and sometimes brutal creatures of the night. DARK is one of these said titles, pieced together by Realmforge Studios and sent out into the darkness by Kalypso Media.

    Starting the game we are met by main protagonist Eric, neon lights, amnesia, and a headache of our own just from the graphics alone. Suffering from the amnesia, you must help Eric stumble along to regain his memories and learn what caused him to be this way. It doesn’t take too long to find out you have been turned… into… a VAMPIRE… dun dun duuuuunn! To stop you completely changing into a mindless ghoul hell bent on sucking the blood from every living creature, you must follow the triad of missions to drink the blood of your sire (the one who turned you) or that of an ancient vamp. You meet a parade of main characters along the way, none of which offer any decent amount of conversation, put forward in a Mass Effect dialogue selection, generating mundane vocab throughout.

    The main aim of the game is to use stealth, cunning and vampire skills which you gain by an in game level up system. This would be ideal and a break from the norm of all guns (or fangs) blazing, if the combat controls and camera angles assisted you, instead of constricting you into not using moves or combos that could be really effective if you found yourself in a compromised position and needed to bash heads.

    I was forced to not complete the game down to the frustration and boredom I was dragged into upon playing DARK. The basis of the game and idea is great in theory and the problem with some smaller studios/ indie devs is that ideas sometimes need more money which I think is the case here. Don’t get me wrong some can generate unforgettable gaming experiences but not DARK. As the game is titled, is how it will remain in my eyes, away in the dark and live as a myth just like the vampires you control and come across in game.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

75
#75 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
38

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 21
  3. Negative: 17 out of 21
  1. GameCritics
    Oct 20, 2013
    45
    With a lack of both polish and ambition, Dark will never be anything but an also-ran. As a budget title it's a passable entry-level stealth game, but there's not enough here to justify recommending it when there are so many superior games in the genre. When a game's best selling points are that the stealth is predictable and that the player is a vampire, something has gone terribly wrong.
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  2. Games.cz
    Aug 28, 2013
    30
    Dark's concept is totally out of line, and its technical issues are not helping it. Sometimes, a good theme occurs, but its bad gaming mechanics tread in the game quickly. It's bad as a stealth-action game. It's even worse as a vampire title.
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  3. Everyeye.it
    Aug 27, 2013
    40
    Dark is a complete failure. The game has poor storytelling, repetitive gameplay and poor visuals. The picture of a video game to be avoided.
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