Before I first “Jacked In” to the world of computing, I used to hang out at the library a lot. I read a lot of books, but my favourite kind, and this is ultra nerdy, were “Choose your own adventure books.” Not the ones about Pirates or Train Controllers. I read DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS choose your own adventure books. (Looking back I was a real dork but I am not going to lie about it, it’s true.)

Right now I am going to tell you about a defining moment in my life. The point in time exactly when I realized that these choose your own adventure books were old news, and yes it once again involves me sitting in my Gramps’ chair and him telling me to check out this rad new game he has bought.



The depth that this game really brought to the table compared to the flimsy pages of the old choose your own adventure books was astounding. Unlike Elite, it didn’t make you FEEL like you were an elfin warrior with a +10 shimmering sword of gruntslaying, but I remember feeling really involved at how detailed the character creation process was. This was the pioneering RPG for me, long before Final Fantasy 7 or World of Warcraft. You actually got to create your characters and choose how they would develop, and at the time that was something I had never seen before.



The game also had an amazing sense of mood. I’ll be honest the storyline was a little lacking, but when you actually got to playing the game, you felt so involved that it didn’t matter. The premise is that you are four adventures, searching the forest, when you stumble across the Temple of Darkmoon. Upon entering, all is not right, so you choose to explore it further and uncover the story as you go. It really was D&D on screen, but it didn’t matter because once you started playing you become so involved in your characters development and the story that you forgot about everything else.



Darkmoon for me, was also the first game that really required you to think about the choices you were making. These days in a game you will make a choice and it will directly affect what is happening at that point in time. In Darkmoon you will make a choice and the consequences won’t become apparent until you are so far into the game it is impossible for you to just reload an old save. Every choice you make is an important decision that will be with you until the end of the game. Backstabbing party members, members who will leave if you don’t treat them well, people who won’t help you later in game if you made the wrong decision earlier and Making the choice to rescue people from certain situations. You CAN play through the game killing old women and digging up graves (which each have awesome benefits) but it might not be the best choice for later in the game.


I also don’t want to give too much away but there is a turn of events that can happen in this game, that left me feeling backstabbed and betrayed, and a second point where the decision the betraying character made will have it’s own repercussions MUCH MUCH LATER by your own hand. (And that was DEEP.)

Finally, the game promotes conservative gameplay. There were very few healing items in the game, which made Magical Healers very valuable, and once one of you characters died, they were dead for good, making the game a real challenge. There are no Phoenix Downs here...

The replay value of the game is almost second to none. The infinite possibilities of character creation and development, the different choices and paths that you can take through the game and the endless amount of secrets. Ten plus years of playing this game over and over again, I haven’t found them all and the game is more fun every time I play.



Darkmoon really stands out from all other games of the same genre and I think it’s a great game to play, even if you aren’t a fan of the old D&D RPG’s. The game is deep, the gameplay is non-linear but not to the point where you never know where you need to go next. There is tons of exploring to do and great character customization. If you enjoy that kind of thing, make sure you check it out.