Tue Dec 13. 2022
Have you ever wondered what would happen if we were able to go back in time and prevent certain accidents from happening, certain important figures from dying? Darkest of Days takes a stance on the perspective that this has already happened and is actually the reason many of history's great characters survived to make it into the history books. In an original and interesting storyline, it takes the player through a variety of time periods trying to solve history's problems.
Gameplay
You take the role of Alexander Morris, a soldier from the 19th century period who gets rescued by a team of time travellers, destined on keeping history intact by interfering with it whenever needed. As the plot is unveiled, it's revealed that the organization has been working hard to protect certain people from getting killed in accidents, thus preserving the integrity of time as we know it – until their leader had gone missing, causing history to start getting disrupted again.
The player must travel through a variety of time periods, engaging in historic battles, going as far back in history as 79 AD where the protagonist witnesses the eruption of Vesuvius in Pompeii. You can use a large number of weapons, both from the specific time period you're currently in as well as from the future where you came from.
Additionally, there's another group of time travellers tasked with making sure you're doing your job well – if you kill too many innocents, you'll have to fight a squad of those guys, who come with equipment even more advanced than your own.
Graphics and System Requirements
The engine was written exclusively for the game, and incorporates various bits of technology that are needed to cope with some of its specifics. Since you'll be engaging in some large-scale historic battles, expect to see up to 300 characters on your screen at any one moment – so you're probably guessing that there has been a good amount of optimization done to handle that properly.
Still, the game looks very pretty, and all of the historic moments have been depicted with pinpoint accuracy, down to the last detail in the clothing of the characters. Every period looks unique and memorable, and can be easily identified from the others.
The engine is kind of heavy on the system, despite the amount of optimization work done for it – don't expect to get away with smooth framerates if you don't have a strong machine to back you up. A 256 MB DX9-compliant video card is a must, as is a strong processor if you want to handle the particle effects properly and without straining your computer too much.
Other
One of the things we were slightly disappointed with was the short time spent in the more interesting time periods – most of the game is played in a small number of periods, giving the other ones 20-30 minute segments for you to enjoy.
Conclusion
Darkest of Days has an original idea and an acceptable implementation of it – it delivers what it promises, and it has the potential to become one of your favorites if you love intense shooters.