THE DARK
(Oleg Origin, 1997)
THE DARK: REDUX & LOST PAGES
(Zosya, 2021)
10th December 1993. A date when gaming changed forever. Nothing to do with the demise of the Spectrum though. It was the release date of a game called Doom, a revolution in gory first player shooting. What's that? Wolfenstein 3D came out on 5th May 1992? Ah well, that was good too. Note to self: rewrite intro some time.
And lo, PC gamers played it and saw that it was good blocky bloodthirsty fun. There's no way by now that the prehistoric Speccy could do this sort of thing, people scoffed. Or those who vaguely remembered it did at least. But a mere 4 years later the mighty Oleg Origin said "Hold my vodka" and offered the world the ground-breaking The Dark. It's funny, probably no-one much cared back then, but once it was officially certified as 'retro' it gained much more interest.
This wasn't even just an 'impressive for 2 minutes but then the end' demo either, it was a full playable game. Even more amazingly, you could play it on your ancient 48K machine, if you were a bit odd and hadn't swapped it for a 128 by then. Rumour has it that Zosya are currently working on versions for the unexpanded 1K ZX81, so that should be nice. I bet they could make even that sing.
What's the story of The Dark then? Let's watch the intro, kids. Cue impressive graphics and some rather slow creepy speech. The Land Of Winds was a peaceful place, if a bit windy, when eeeeeevil forces invaded it and slaughtered most of the townsfolk. Some fled including Jane, who soon begat Alexander. That's you! You have sworn to go back and give the bad gits merry hell. In the dark presumably.
There are 9 long levels of monster mayhem to negotiate. Usually your exit requires finding a couple of tokens and at least one key. They're fiendishly designed with extra health, armour and ammo dotted around, and lots of enemies trying to bite you. Your pointy stick is a bit hard going but once you find a gun, you're ready to rock like Duke Nukem! Most enemies take a couple of hits but steer clear of red-hooded reaper dudes - they're immortal, man and mucho hurtioso.
It's well documented just how impressive this game is, so I won't repeat too much obvious stuff. Suffice it to say it's bordering on satanic how Mr. Origin got most of a Doom type game to run, fast as well, on a 48K Spectrum. The graphics are awesome and with plenty of colour. The gameplay is compelling, with the map option an excellent feature, and the variety in the levels is admirable. The sound is relatively minimal, but hey, something had to give in the whole process.
Time passed... Then, a staggering 24 years later, Zosya released a Redux of the game. Who invented that strange term, I wonder? It does sound cool though. A new load screen, a less sinister intro (no speech) and improved status bar graphics were the main draw. Oh, and a bonus game with the physical release! The Dark: Lost Pages is a prequel to the main game, which sees a young 2D Alex trying to find 9 maps. Once found, the game goes 3D again for more familiar The Dark territory. Trouble is, you really need a map for the 2D bit as it's extremely difficult without one. Shame really, it looks the part and sounds great. It's just too hard for this reviewer.
But in conclusion it's impossible to deny that The Dark and its offspring constitute a major landmark in Spectral history. The practically impossible has been attempted and largely achieved, it's a remarkable piece of programming. Just to be awkward, what I would really love to see is a 128K version with all bells and whistles, all games combined in one load with even more amazing features. Go on Zosya, I'd totally buy it, I promise.
THE DARK RECKONING
95%
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