Dark and Light Preview

Unrealised potential and shattered dreams. That’s it. That’s the whole preview. Everybody can put their swords away and go home now.

If you really love Ark: Survival Evolved and medieval fantasy you might look at this game and think you’ve found the jackpot. Unfortunately it is plagued with bugs that just aren’t getting fixed and it’s pretty much been left in a half-finished state. Though still in Early Access (after nearly five years) the last update was in late 2020. Finding a well-populated server is difficult but if you manage to do so there are still some good times to be had.

There’s all the building blocks of a good sandbox survival with base building, adventuring and taming fearsome, fantasy beasts like dragons, elementals, and…rabbits. The various tameables are the major selling point of the game. Exploring near a lake at night and spotting a light elemental for the first time is a magical experience, well at least up until you’re attacked by a panther. From the humble sheep to the towering treant, there’s no shortage of gorgeous and exciting creatures. Just don’t get caught by the goblins or they’ll knock you out and make off with all your belongings, leaving you clearly disadvantaged for round two.

(We’re all thinking about creating an army of goblins now, aren’t we?)

The dungeons are tons of fun when the boss hasn’t glitched under the world, leaving you stranded at the end with no way out if you haven’t prepared beforehand. Slash through ice imps to get to Bytorg (if he bothered to show up) or descend into the Scalding Abyss and try not to burn your toes off. The loot may or may not be worth it but it’s gotta be done if you want to make those high-tier forges. They can get old fairly quickly if you run them enough times but it provides a fair bit of excitement.

Whoever designed the building pieces deserves a raise, they are stunning. You could go crazy with the potential to build huge castles or forts. Quaint lakeside cottages are also an option if that’s more to your tastes. The snapping and structure placement on the other hand…you have to jump through many hoops to bring your creation to life. Even then you will most likely have to make many modifications just to get it to work.

There are three major factions: Talos (Humans), Estel (Elves), and Ironfast (Dwarves). Each faction has a main city where you can find merchants, just don’t try to go into enemy cities or the guards will take you down. Alternatively you can git gud, gear up and slaughter all the guards but just don’t be surprised if actual players retaliate. For PVP it creates a fun dynamic and a reason to go to war but it would be nice if you could disable faction hostility on PVE servers.

Having cities with the potential for leaders was a great concept, they just never fleshed it out. House leaders can sign up and potentially be voted in as lord but other than the fancy title there isn’t really much point. Merchants that you can invest in and level up to gain access to certain rare resources is certainly handy. Running around punching barrels to get gold while your inventory fills with spoiled meat and apples is surprisingly a lot of fun. It would be amazing if the little apartments up for rent worked probably but they’re easily exploited and some don’t even have doors.

Visually it’s a beautiful game, the world design is quite well done. Going on adventures and walking beneath the branches of giant trees or scaling the volcano (and dying very suddenly near the top, then having to spend the next hour trying to get your horse back down) is so enchanting. The graphics could do with some improvement, some of the textures are quite grainy but overall it’s a good fit. The artwork for the bestiary is lovely and gives an old school fantasy feeling.

Then there’s also server management to take into consideration. You can set up your own server to play with your friends or try to start up a community but it’s going to be a hassle. Many of the settings don’t actually work and there’s very little documentation. So a normal, clean set-up is doable just don’t expect to pull off a lot of customisation.

Dark and Light is playable but it’s a bittersweet experience. The majority of the bugs can be worked around, especially if you’re used to them, but it’s a short-lived experience. To play it you really have to go in with the mindset of “This is as good as it gets” and just enjoy the game for what it is.