Darklands (1992)
Darklands is a 1992 role-playing (rpg) video game made by MPS Labs and MicroProse Software, Inc..
Darklands sets four companions loose in a 15th-century Germany where history and folklore carry equal weight. The Holy Roman Empire here is built from documented sources: real cities, guild politics, and alchemical formulas drawn from period texts, alongside the creatures and saints of German medieval legend. You navigate a world where praying to the right saint before a skirmish is sound tactical thinking, and where robber-knights and highway bandits are as likely to threaten your party as anything supernatural. Combat is pausable and tactical. The world does not scale to your level.
Quick answers
What is Darklands about?
Darklands sets four companions loose in a 15th-century Germany where history and folklore carry equal weight. The Holy Roman Empire here is built from documented sources: real cities, guild politics, and alchemical formulas drawn from period texts, alongside the creatures and saints of German medieval legend. You navigate a world where praying to the right saint before a skirmish is sound tactical thinking, and where robber-knights and highway bandits are as likely to threaten your party as anything supernatural. Combat is pausable and tactical. The world does not scale to your level.
When was Darklands released?
Darklands was released on 31 December 1992.
Who made Darklands?
Darklands was made by MPS Labs, MicroProse Software, Inc. and Ziggurat Interactive.
Similar games
Explore Darklands guides
Darklands in our writing
- Companion guide: The CRPG: The Complete Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games
- Companion guide: The Golden Age of the CRPG: 1981 to 1999
- Companion guide: MicroProse: Flight Sims, Sid Meier and the Empire of One More Turn
A few thoughts on Darklands
Few RPGs have attempted this kind of rigorously historicized fantasy, grounding its magic in period alchemy and Catholic hagiography rather than invented spell schools. Players who want more of this register, a medieval setting taken seriously enough to build its superstitions from primary sources, will find Darklands still largely in a category of its own.
Tactical fantasy RPGs where politics matter as much as combat
Darklands sends four companions across a Holy Roman Empire built from real guild disputes and documented alchemical formulas, where the wrong prayer or the wrong noble can matter more than a blade. The Witcher 3, GreedFall, Skyrim and Torchlight III share that same real-time tactical rhythm, where reading the local politics keeps a party alive as often as good swordplay does.
Real history and legend built into the same adventure
Darklands builds its Germany from documented sources: real cities, guild politics, alchemical texts and the saints of medieval legend layered right on top. Asterix, Fullmetal Alchemist, Gorin no sho, Saint Seiya and Rurouni Kenshin all pull the same trick, grounding their adventure in real history or a real historical text before letting legend take over.
Small crews surviving the road, one threat at a time
Darklands' four companions face down robber-knights and highway bandits as often as anything supernatural, with no level scaling to soften the blow. Red Dead Redemption 2, The Last of Us, God of War, Half-Life 2 and Refugee all strand their people on dangerous roads too, where the next threat could be a bandit, a soldier or just the terrain itself.
Epic fantasy that treats its world like real history
Darklands treats its 15th-century Germany like real history rather than generic fantasy set dressing, down to the alchemy and the saints. House of the Dragon, Game of Thrones, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Return of the King's score and King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King all build that same weighty, lived-in sense of a world with centuries behind it.