Combining the aura of Stonekeep with the critical thinking of Zork and the magic of Strife, Dark Realms is sure to please any die hard Hexen fans with a sweet spot for puzzles and quests in a role playing environment. Set in a post-apocalyptic world of devastation and scorched earth, you are, to your knowledge, the last human alive on this planet. Your mission, at first, is simple: avenge your species and obliterate the evil dudes! But, as you quickly learn, the MOD becomes far more involved and complex as you journey deeper into the heart of Dark Realms. This is no dungeon hack - it's a flat out revolution in the long obsolete Doom engine! Curently, DR has 16 levels, divided into 3 hubs. It also has 3 different endings, depending on how you choose to play. Gameplay in this mod is open-ended and non-linear. The end product will have 4 hubs. If possible, the 3 classes will be merged into one, who will bear all their weapons and then some (ideally as many as 40!). As the game...
This mod is very much a different species from the ones I have played since finishing Hexen last year. It is really odd, the first 2 maps are pretty confusing, spending quite some time running around the place looking for that key. In some cases I found it downright impossible to find the key without noclipping. Such as the rusty key in the first map.
The second map I had to quit playing because although there was a horn key, it was guarded by a boss... that literally traps you into a very small room with. This part is what I can only refer to as "trolling".
The boss even spams Arnold Schwarzenegger quotes, if it wasn't been obnoxious enough.
What really pains me though is how clearly bipolar this mod is. The first 2 maps are very boring to look at, tight corridor-fest. The maps after it are rather tediously big without any good architecture or clear sense of direction.
+-focus on story can be good or bad depending on whether you can find yourself to care
-level design is hit and miss, mostly a miss.
-difficult, in the bad running around alot way.
-some trollish moments