Darkfall gets January release date

By Oli Welsh Published 10 December, 2008

Ultra-hardcore MMO is nearly here.

Here's a snippet of MMO news which we missed at the end of last week: Darkfall Online, a barmy Greek MMO which has been in development for over seven years, finally has a release date.

The developer Adventurine and publisher Audio Visual Enterprises announced on Friday that Darkfall would be released across Europe for PC on 22nd January. A North American launch will follow, but for now, North American players "are also welcome to participate in the European launch".

Darkfall, as we explained in September, is a hardcore fantasy MMO with a player-versus-player focus.

While it makes the usual claims for innovation (real-time combat with manual aiming, real-world physics, no levelling, weather and so on), it's the aspects of Darkfall that hark back to MMOs' roots that some players will find most appealing. Player-versus-player combat is entirely unrestricted, there will be harsh death penalties, and all player corpses can be looted of all items, including precious weapons and armour.

A player-driven economy and storyline, and support for large battles between 200 players or more, suggest that Darkfall is following some of the open-ended design of space MMO EVE Online. Although it will have discrete servers (unlike EVE), each will support a single, non-instanced world of up to 10,000 players.

We'll be taking a closer look at Darkfall around the time of release. In the meantime, you can see shots and video on the Darkfall Online gamepage.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • XAleX360 #1 3 years ago

    Finally some Darkfall news on Eurogamer. Anyway, it is important to note that the game fundamentally mirrors the open-ended, sandbox gameplay of Ultima Online and Asheron's Call.
    Don't expect something polished since Aventurine is a 30-men company with relatively low budget (they spent 10 millions € overall on this game), but the game definitely promises to be the hardcore, dynamic MMORPG a lot of old-school MMORPG gamers have been waiting for; let's just hope it delivers, succesfully carving its own niche in a similar way to EVE Online.

  • TheBoyChris #2 3 years ago

    Anything which mimics the old days of UO gets my vote!

  • Fodder #3 3 years ago

    Presumably this is unrelated to the adventure game series by XXv?

    [link url=http://en.wiki pedia.org/wiki/Dark_Fall
    ]http://en.wiki pedia.org/wiki/Dark_Fall
    [/link]

    Wonder if they trademarked the name.

  • Gurgeh #4 3 years ago

    Will this game be Ebonlore's new home after Vanguard?

    (woops looks like they biding their time on Warhammer atm)

    Edited by 1 at 10/12/08 @ 17:04

  • Eraysor #5 3 years ago

    It sounds both horrifying and awesome in equal parts.

  • illusiondance #6 3 years ago

    despite the chances of me ever playing this are about zero - i do like the sound of the basic idea.
    "hardcore old-school mmo"
    from the video they may as well call it 'Be as cruel and cheating as ya can'. fun

  • boyscout #7 3 years ago

    ill belive this when i see it.

  • coojam #8 3 years ago

    @ Fodder

    It's a shame really as Dark Fall 3 is due over the next couple of years. Good traditional adventure games too. Couldn't the MMO people think of a different name?

  • MaxiSleep #9 3 years ago

    Ganking with permanent consequences for the ganked.

    Question

    Who could possibly find this fun other then those who like ganking people?

    Follow on - so will the game not be filled with people who like ganking?

    Prediction - EPIC FAIL.

  • Whitewalker #10 3 years ago

    Sounds great...looking forward to DF from this Indi company.

  • illusiondance #11 3 years ago

    but think about it. a game where everybody is pretty much encouraged to 'gank' like a bitchturd.
    it will attract the most vicious sneeky bastards in the world and they will all keep cheating and killing and stealing.
    i would love to watch this as a broadcast.... just not play it.

  • Nill #12 3 years ago

    As far as the ganking goes, yeah, that's the idea. You survive by getting into gangs - or guilds or whatever you want to call them - creating a truly socially dependent game. It's oldschool, it's fun and it certainly gives a lot more magnitude to the MMO aspect of the game, something many of the new so called MMOs - looking at WoW here - is failing hard at. It's the same for EVE.

    I can see why it's not for everyone though, especially in this day and age of casual gaming. It can be frustrating at times even for fans of the concept, but the rewards are all the bigger. It's hardcore - I guess.


    As for this particular game: I love the sound of it. It's just a shame it's so very very low-budget.

  • Goolz #13 3 years ago

    I have visions of Dark and Light here..

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #14 3 years ago

    Pritty much agree on the whole DnL bit - Darkfall presumally offers everything a MMOer wants (ala the 'holy grail' MMO) it's been in 'interal testing' for years now, plus it's had very little beta time of any sort, it would be all sound if the company was hugely funded or the dev team consisted of more then 20 ppl.. I want the game to do well, it's about time an indy comp gets thru proving that you don't need the uber publisher behind it. but it's offering far too much to work off the bat..

    Thing is AoC tried this whole 'FFA PVP' this year and LOADS complained about being 'perma ganked' and it was 'unfair', how is people belave DF will be any fairer? Darkfall will suffer a LOT from overhype and expectations even IF the game is above board...

    Shame it seems like every MMO these days suffers from the 'expections' bit

  • Dizzy #15 3 years ago

    Oh dear... the Darktide players will be happy :)

  • Olemak #16 3 years ago

    Clearly, Darkfall is not for everyone. But it will probably be the best game ever to the player it does apeal to.

    As for ganking hell, yeah - it will be a pretty dangerous world. Mostly becaust the players actions have rather grave concequences. Hang around alone in a dangerous area - and you risk loosing your stuff. Taht puts some players on their toes, and some players like that. some hate it. Fair enough.

    But the thing to remember, is that "ganking" will have consequences. First off, there wond be huge differences between noobs and veterans, as there are no levels per se (but skills and stuff). So it's not like WoW.

    Second, the game seems to guide the PvP towards conflicts between guilds, factions and races. So - "gankers" are rewarded for killing who the game defines as their enemies (such as orks killing elves), but same-race murders will be punished (elves killing other elves) to a certain extent, it I understand it correctly. So, "gankers" indiscriminately killing players of the same race and faction, might find that they are attacked on sight by city guards, and that vendors will reect their business et cerera.... in effect turning gankers into outlaws.

    Personally, I find this whole concept a lot more appealing than meaningless squabbles over the Barrens etc. that used to pass for open-world PvP. Very much looking forward to this, been watching it for a good while.

  • MaxiSleep #17 3 years ago

    "so called MMOs "

    wtf does this mean?

  • iokthemonkey #18 3 years ago

    Nill, what you seem to forget is not every MMO player wants to engage in PvP. Those who do, fine. But for a lot of people, the social aspect of MMO playing is a vital element but in a game where everybody is running around like a 12-year old on Xmas morning on Red Bull and speed because they're too busy trying to "PWN" each other, that goes out the window.

    More power to anybody who wants to play a Free PvP game, but don't criticise those who don't or dismiss them as not being "hardcore" enough if they don't find the concept of watching circle-strafers bouncing around all day to be particularly appealing.

    Different strokes for different folks and all, you know? Some people look to assert their online persona through achievements such as exploration, others through organising raids and coordinating others and some by "killing" other players. Neither is more right, wrong or "MMO-ish" than the other.

  • iokthemonkey #19 3 years ago

    MMO'ers who dont want to engage in PvP are fucking homos

    ----

    MMO'ers who only want to engage in PVP are insecure children who need to "PWN" everybody because outside of this virtual world they're strong in, they're weak, sad little losers. :D

  • levitate #20 3 years ago

    Doesn't sound like my cup of noodles at all. I predict a fail.

  • actionfitz #21 3 years ago

    "they spent 10 millions € overall on this game"

    maybe they should have hired some artists then, atm looks like 'PRART' (programmer art).
    what engine they using? Shockwave 3D?
    is this a browser-based MMO?
    O.o

    /sarcasm off.

    im sure this will have its own 'hardcore' following to an extent... probably the same lowlifes that made AoC so 'fun' to play in open pvp.

  • darktideac2 #22 3 years ago

    Finally some mention of this innovative mmorpg, that is breaking the trend of recent mmorpgs, by doing away with instances and going back to the root of mmorpgs, where players had full freedom and endgame was all about player guilds fighting for land and ressources, instead of the recent mmorpgs quest/pve driven easy-mode grindfest.

    I will use this post to point out some mistakes in the article, and some general misconceptions. The author seems to be have misunderstood almost everything about this game, sounding very sceptical and almost sarcastic in his comments. My background is I have followed the game through 5 years development (or 8 years depending if you count the first 3 years pre-Aventurine where the 4 norwegian guys had it as a hobby), and have played beta 1 month now.

    Ultra-hardcore?
    DF is not ultra hardcore at all. If you are a new player, the first day you login you can go adventuring with you friend who played for 2 years, and you can even be quite useful, especially if your friend can spare you some equipment. You don't have to first grind your way to lvl 80, then spend 1 year in battlegrounds + areana in order to catch up equipment-wise in order to become competitive. In that regard WoW is much more hardcore.

    Sure you do a bit more damage when you play longer and your sword skill goes up by using sword, or you gain some new spells. But you can still compete as a newbie. In fact 3 newbies has a very good chance of taking down one veteran who played for 1-2 years.

    So you can argue that WoW is more hardcore because you are forces to grind endless boring pve (alterac valley etc) to become competitive in pvp or to stay competitive.

    Up to 10.000 players
    The correct number is 10.000+ players online at one time. Meaning there is room for maybe 70k+ players accounts on one server. One character per server, so you are held accountable for your actions. You can't have an evil outlaw char that runs around killing everyone, and you can then log on to your goodie goodie char and do trading and such.

    there will be harsh death penalties, and all player corpses can be looted of all items, including precious weapons and armour.
    Huh? There are no death penalties at all, where did you hear that? You just loose the equipment you are carrying, which is not at all precious, since this is not an item driven game like WoW. You basicly just grab a new set in your bank. Of course you then have to make up for the lost set somehow spending an hour or so pve'ing with your friends another time, or killing some other players and taking their equipment.

    Graphics
    This was not mentioned by the author but was a comment of one of the posters. I can only say that graphics are great. Polycount is kept low in order to allow big battles with hundreds of players involved, but overall its quite amazing really.

    Edited by 1 at 16/12/08 @ 10:09

  • astimodeus #23 3 years ago

    I can't wait for it to come! I've always wanted a new sandbox mmo since the time of ultima online. UO has actually been screwed up by EA and, besides, 2d graphics discourages me to keep playing it, even if I'm not a special fx addict. I just want some new title with the traditional UO gameplay :)

  • darkfall #24 3 years ago

    @MaxiSleep ... there's another online game with hard consequences called Eve Online. Every other week they're breaking records for concurrent users, like over 50k players at one time. An entire guild of a dozen people could work on one spaceship for an entire year and have it blown up in 1 night. One spaceship could be worth literally $30,000 USD if the isk used to purchase it were bought with real money ... be valued at more than a real-life BMW, and can get destroyed and they would lose everything. So yes, there are people who like to play a game with real danger, and I'm certain there are many who can figure out how to not get ganked, or play the game both as the gankor and the gankee.

    This is definitely another type of game. I have a blog article about whether or not someone would be interested in playing Darkfall Online as opposed to another carebear kind of game, <a href=http://dftreasures.com/blog/2009/03/will-you-l ike-darkfall-online/>will you like Darkfall Online</a>. It won't be an Epic fail, for a very large amount of players this is exactly what they want.

    You can see by the amount of people in this thread who are saying they want something like old Ultima Online, the game will carve a niche just like Eve Online, that there's alot of people who can't wait to get in Darkfall Online (myself included).

    Edited by 1 at 04/03/09 @ 22:47