Working in the technology sector, wracking my brain all day trying to fit round shapes into square holes, you tend to come home pretty stressed and some days privately wanting to take a hammer to your laptop. Maybe that’s just me? One of the ways I like to deal with those days is to take up a game with friends to experience some fun on my computer, sort of a way to rekindle that relationship so I just don’t associate the pc with work and stress. At least that’s what I tell myself.
If I play with friends I prefer cooperative game play as opposed to player vs player games, I’m old and slow and will end up on the losing side of those exchanges more often than not. So naturally the games we tend to end up playing together are MMOs but lately we can’t seem to find one that we all agree on. We have dabbled in some games here and there but haven’t had one bring us all together since probably Elder Scrolls Online (which I still play often). Last week I decided I’d start researching what new MMOs are on the horizon that might be interesting enough to get “the band back together” and that’s when I found Dark and Light.
Dark and Light was originally released in 2006 by NPCube as a pay to play MMO but received pretty negative reviews until it suddenly went offline in 2008. The developers later claimed the game was released underdeveloped due to pressure from investors and the publisher, which of course generated the negative reviews the game received because of broken game play. Fast forward to 2016 and the game has been taken over by a Chinese gaming company Snail Games as was announced at the ChinaJoy 2016 expo in Shanghai.
According to Snail Games, the new Dark and Light has been in development for over 10 years and sports a revolutionary UE4 engine, the look of the current version and its previous iteration is night and day. The game’s lore and world have been significantly updated, now with multiple universes, three races, and a rivalry between the dark and light that gives new purpose to the game.
Dark and Light now also boasts more magical elements with the inclusion of caster classes like sorcerers and as crazy as it may sound…aliens. Players will be able to explore one of the largest MMORPG worlds that not only feels real and believable but also feels like something new.
Snail Games have announced Dark and Light will use the Buy to Play model however many players familiar with the publisher worry the game will follow some of their other titles with heavy cash shop dependence and a Pay 2 Win structure. Hopefully that won’t be the case or I fear this rebirth of the franchise will meet with the same fate as its predecessor.
Unfortunately they don’t have a website devoted to the game yet, at least its not showing any pages (www.darkandlight.com). They have an official Facebook page although the stream of information is pretty small at the moment. Rumor for a beta phase at some point in 2016 with a likely retail release in 2017. We’ll keep our eye on this one and hopefully it will end up being as good as it looks!
