Powergaming as an Art Form - Drakensang: The Dark Eye Review

After the relative casualness of Mount & Blade, Drakensang’s difficult combat encounters and strictly linear narrative almost feels deliberately harsh. There are very few opportunities to grind against enemies, and even if the player could over-level an encounter, The Dark Eye’s stat assignment system doesn’t allow them to become too powerful. Radon Labs were particularly attentive to the game’s balance, and so the player must be much more conscious of their options when entering a combat encounter. So while the game offers little in terms of new RPG ideas, it still demands a lot of attention from the player; requiring them to engage with Radon Labs’ design in a way many other similar games do not. In this sense, does Drakensang succeed in turning the balance of a video game into its own art form?

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Introduction: (0:00)
Drakensang Overview: (3:02)
The Dark Eye / Das Schwarze Auge: (5:31)
TTRPG to CRPG: (7:45)
Identity: (10:23)
Narrative: (12:12)
Presentation: (17:54)
Character: (24:09)
Combat: (27:54)
Localisation & Technical Troubles: (32:31)
Recommendation?: (34:35)
Conclusion: (35:13)
Teaser: (36:32)