Play Darklands Online

Darklands is a role-playing game released in 1992 for the MS-DOS platform. Developed by MPS Labs and published by MicroProse Software, it is set in a fantasy version of medieval Europe and features real-time gameplay. Players manage a party of characters whose development is shaped by their life choices and careers.

The player controls a party of up to four characters, beginning the game by either selecting a premade group or creating custom individuals. Character creation involves choosing a social background and then, at age ten, an initial career path such as soldier, peasant, or bandit. Over five-year periods, characters gain experience in their chosen professions, which can be manually allocated to improve a wide array of skills including weapon proficiencies, stealth, healing, and language. There are no rigid class definitions, allowing characters to develop into roles like warriors, clerics, or alchemists through skill use and career advancement. Religious characters can learn about saints and pray for benefits, while alchemists must find ingredients to brew potions using discovered formulae.

The party starts its adventure at an inn in a randomly selected town. The primary long-term objective involves confronting a demonic cult, but this plot only unfolds under specific in-game conditions. The broader goal is to accumulate fame for the party by completing quests, which unlocks higher-ranked missions with better rewards. Players freely explore a vast map of the Empire, visiting towns, castles, and villages represented through text menus and background images. Activities in settlements vary based on character skills, local reputation, and unique location traits, such as investigating devil worship in a village or improving standing by defending citizens. The game includes large isometric dungeon areas like mines, which contain puzzles and quests. Combat occurs on separate isometric screens in real time but can be paused to issue orders, allowing for tactical control over attacks, item use, and targeting. Defeated characters may be wounded or killed permanently, requiring replacement, as all characters age and eventually die over the course of the indefinite campaign.