On July 20, 2017, Snail Games released its ambitious and rather controversial project, Dark and Light, into early access. Initially, the studio presented the game as a large-scale MMORPG, but by the time of release, the direction had changed significantly. What opened up to the players was not the usual «online world for hundreds of hours,» but rather a sandbox survival game with MMO and RPG elements wrapped in an atmospheric fantasy setting. At the same time, the servers are designed for a maximum of 128 participants, which makes the gameplay more intimate and dynamic than in classic MMOs.
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Dark and Light Free Steam Account
Back in 2004, a small indie studio NPCube decided to take a swing at the impossible — to create a dream MMORPG. At the same time, the Dark and Light project was presented, which was immediately compared to the giants of the industry — World of Warcraft and EverQuest. The expectations were enormous, and many saw this as a harbinger of a story similar to the infamous launch of No Man’s Sky.
The players were promised a truly huge, seamless world with an area of almost 40 thousand square kilometers. It was possible to travel along it by riding on land and flying mounts or through warp portals. The game was divided into two warring factions — Dark and Light (similar to the «Alliance» and «Horde» in WoW). Character leveling was built around three types of experience:
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Combat (FXP) — for defeating monsters and players.
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Craftsman (CXP) — for working with professions and creating objects.
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Social (SXP) — for promotion within guilds and completing group tasks.
It seemed like the game was supposed to be a new word in the MMORPG genre. But the reality turned out to be cruel.
When Dark and Light finally came out in 2006, several problems hit the developers at once. Firstly, VWorldTerrain studio sued NPCube for using the technology of the same name to generate game worlds. Secondly, the game itself suffered from a critical lack of content and many bugs. Users left the project en masse, and eventually it was closed.
It seemed like the end. But the story has continued. In 2008, the rights to Dark and Light were transferred to the Chinese company Snail Games. For almost nine years, the project was frozen, then returned to development, engines were changed and key mechanics were rewritten. The result was the 2017 version of Dark and Light, which was already launched in early access format. Alas, despite years of improvements, the game was once again in the same condition as the original: bogged down, crude and unable to meet expectations.
So Dark and Light went down in history not as a «WoW killer», but as a symbol of unfulfilled MMORPG ambitions.
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Dark and Light Plot
In the world of Dark and Light, everything starts with a disaster. The players’ home planet, Gaia, was destroyed by a global cataclysm. Only three peoples were able to escape: their cities, transported through magical portals, ended up on a new earth — the planet Archos. But instead of a peaceful refuge, the heroes faced new challenges: dangerous monsters, flashes of dark energy and waves of evil spirits, ready to erase the last remnants of civilization. Here, survival becomes not just a goal, but a real challenge. The player will have to build his own fortress, defend it from enemies and prove who is worthy of the title of the true ruler of this world.
The gameplay of the project differs significantly from the 2006 version and now looks more like ARK: Survival Evolved. And this is not surprising: Efecto and Instinct studios, which previously worked on ARK, worked on the development. Many players even assume that there is some kind of secret agreement between Snail Games and Studio Wildcard, but all this remains just a guess.
From the very first minutes, Dark and Light greets the player with an extensive map, where initially only one zone is available — the «Sacred Path». There are already pronounced MMO elements here: the presence of three opposing factions, the choice of race (elves, humans or dwarves), as well as NPCs from whom you can purchase basic armor, weapons, food and transport. Character creation is also pleasantly surprising: the flexible customization system allows you to create anyone from a noble elf to a bearded and obviously tired dwarf.
Training is provided for beginners, so far available only in English. But if you are familiar with the survival genre, and even more so have played ARK, it will be easy to get used to it. Then the classic sandbox mechanics come into play: resource extraction, crafting items, taming wild animals and even dragons. Special attention should be paid to the needs of the character: food, water and … sleep. Yes, sleeping in Dark and Light turns out to be one of the most difficult tasks. To restore your strength, you will have to use «special» plants, drink potions or relax in bed, and sometimes rent a room in the city.
The pumping system here also deserves a special mention. It resembles the one we saw in Skyrim: using different tools improves professions, of which there are already 33 in the game. At the same time, the character’s level is also growing, opening up new opportunities to enhance characteristics. However, progress is gradual — at the very beginning you will not be able to craft legendary armor. To get to this level, you will have to develop step by step, raising both the skills of the professions and the general level of the hero.
Is Dark and Light 2017 Worth Playing? Pros and Cons
The world of Dark and Light in the 2017 version retained the scale of the original 2006 — a whopping 40,000 km2. However, only a small part of this territory is still available to players. And yet, even it seems limitless: after spending more than 20 hours in the game, I still couldn’t explore everything, although I managed to cover considerable distances. New encounters awaited me at every turn: from harmless fluffy hares to majestic dragons and formidable elementals. The special charm of the world is that it lives its own life regardless of the player’s actions. Birds of prey hunt herbivores, packs of wolves hunt down deer, and death with a scythe and armies of skeletons do not understand who is in front of them. Even in the starting area, you can encounter a lot of chaos. But at the same time, the world of Dark and Light is still softer than in ARK: it is easier to survive here, and the beginner does not feel helpless.
The game runs on Unreal Engine 4, and visually the picture is really impressive: huge spaces, good detail and impressive range of rendering. But there is a caveat — optimization. Like most early Access projects, Dark and Light is still suffering from FPS drawdowns and lags. On my 750ti, you can only play comfortably at medium settings, and in cities you have to reduce the graphics to a minimum. There is beauty here, but only owners of more powerful systems can truly appreciate it.
The mechanics of the battles are very similar to Skyrim. A lot depends on the choice of class and leveling characteristics. The player decides for himself who he will become: a combat magician, a shooter, a warrior, a peaceful wizard or a hybrid of several directions at once. Weapons are available in 14 variants, and there are more than a hundred spells, and a significant part of them are combat. Interestingly, the control system varies depending on the equipment. For example, with a sword in hand, the right mouse button launches a powerful attack, and with a staff, aiming. But once you take a shield or an additional spell in your second hand, new options appear: protection, block, or cast from both hands. Animations look natural, without being too wooden.
Another striking point is the range of attacks. You can destroy a target from a great distance by launching several powerful fireballs, and the prey will not even have time to approach. However, this «cheat» is not available to everyone: a lot depends on the graphics settings and the stability of the game.
Like many Early Access projects, Dark and Light is not without its drawbacks. Players encounter bugs, rare crashes (I’ve only had this happen once in 20+ hours), long server loads, and class balance issues. There are often «dead» NPCs killed by other players.
The main disadvantages that are most often mentioned by players:
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poor optimization and server lags;
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rare client crashes and errors;
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class imbalance and vulnerable mechanics;
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logging in to the server is taking too long;
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borrowings from ARK (assets and part of the gameplay).
However, most of the content in Dark and Light is unique, and the atmosphere of the game makes up for many of the rough edges.
Dark and Light (2017) is a large-scale world with its own laws, an interesting combat system and beautiful graphics, which still suffers from poor optimization. The game can be fascinating, but, like any early access project, it needs to be improved. Despite borrowing from ARK, Dark and Light remains an original project capable of giving a lot of impressions to fans of fantasy sandboxes.
Dark and Light Системные требования
Dark and Light System Specs
Как играть Dark and Light for free on Steam via VpeSports
Try to imagine that you find yourself on the edge of an unknown world, where nature itself breathes magic, and every step opens up new secrets for you. Dark and Light is not just a game, it’s an opportunity to live a different life. Here you can experience the joy of your first victories, the bitterness of defeats and the indescribable feeling when you tame your first mythical beast or build a house that becomes a real fortress.
What in other games seems like just mechanics turns into a live experience here. When you mine a stone, you don’t just need it for crafting — it becomes part of your story. When you meet an enemy in the wildlands, it’s not just a fight, but a test of your courage and perseverance. Dark and Light gives you the feeling that every action has weight, and your path consists of dozens of small decisions that together form a unique adventure.
And the best part is that you don’t have to worry about complicated settings or spend money to try it out. We made everything simple: you register, log in to your profile, and the game is already waiting for you. You can launch it through the free steam account, following the clear instructions. We want your first steps in this world to be easy and exciting.
We are always happy to hear the players’ opinions. Your impressions are what keeps the community alive. Share your review, and after moderation it will appear on the website, and you will receive your login information by email. If you want to keep up to date with events and feel like a part of the big world of Dark and Light, take a look at our Telegram: there is always fresh news, updates and conversations about what players are worried about.
And don’t worry if something turns out to be unclear. To do this, we have compiled a whole guide «How to play for free«, where all the steps are described in detail. And if that’s not enough, just write to us in the чат — we are always ready to prompt and support.
