One laughing and one dark eye

The advantage of having no expectations is well known: You are never disappointed. As usual, I approached the score for The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav with this mantra in mind. A point-and-click adventure game from 2012, developed by the German studio Daedalic, which recently failed with Gollum and - unsurprisingly - set in the pen-and-paper world of The Dark Eye (DSA for short). A quick listen and ... I like it!

German developer studio, German fantasy world, plus this style ... something rings a bell. A quick search of the names and ... bam! Not only does composer numero uno, Dominik Morgenroth, work at the soundtrack forge Dynamedion, but composer two, Daniel Pharos, also worked on Gothic 1 . As a result, listeners can expect decent to very decent fantasy fare that ranks between the Anno-, Gothic- and SpellForce-series.

This becomes particularly clear with the main theme Chains of Satinav, which with its initial harp sounds evokes memories of Vista Point from Gothic 3 . In combination with the female voice singing a lovely aria, I was immediately struck by a pleasant feeling. This runs through the majority of the score, which accompanies the different areas and set pieces of the game as is typical of the genre and ranges from emotional (The Journey, Follow the River) to menacing (The Brinusk Marshes, Dreamscape Palace) to atmospheric (Ambush, End Credits). All in all, well worth listening to!