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The Messiah without a following

This is the game review. Here you can find the music review of
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic.

There's hardly any other game I've raved about as much as Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. Looking back, perhaps a little too much? It's a good game, no question, but does it deserve my praise? I'll attempt a more neutral review, today, 13 years after the original release. So as not to become repetitive, I'll link below to the episode 'WohnGameinschaft', a university project in which we tried to copy GameTwo - or, to put it more correctly, were inspired by it. In the episode, I talk about the single player and the story of the game - and I even strip off my clothes! So if that's not teaser enough? This text is therefore more about the multiplayer, which I didn't cover in the video review, and why it influenced my rating so much.

Well, alright, here we go. Dark Messiah came out in 2006 and was rated 18+. Too bad for me, because I was only 14, but the reviews had nothing but good things to say, and I had already played games like Command & Conquer 2: Tiberian Sun (1999, rated 16) and even Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2003), which was also rated 18. Mom, if you're reading this: Sorry! But did it do me any harm? Maybe a little... I digress. Getting hold of the game was actually the minor problem. But what was an insurmountable obstacle was the copy protection: Steam, an online platform via which the game had to be activated - unavailable to me at any rate, since I had no internet access. So I didn't play the game until new technologies was discovered at my parents' house. The waiting time and stories from my brother, who had been able to play it at a friend's house in the meantime, had increased my thirst for Dark Messiah immeasurably, and when I was finally allowed to play it myself, it was the fulfillment of a gamer's dream.

A Whole New World

The game immediately reminded me of Half-Life 2 - of course, it was the Source engine. The graphics, the pinnacle of creation at the time, gameplay and sound meshed wonderfully and the world of the Heroes of Might and Magic-series did the rest to ensure that Dark Messiah quickly landed on my top list. As soon as I had finished the single player, a whole new world opened up, something I only knew from the many LAN parties that took place regularly in our basement: Multiplayer. Online. How I loved it. How many hours, days and weeks did I spend on the servers, which by then had already been dwindling to a manageable number - because the game had peaked long before my arrival and large parts of the player base had left. But the handful who played the game regularly became a kind of second family to me. Like a village where everyone knows everyone else, the small community was a place of refuge that soon became a breeding ground for megalomaniac ideas.

Because multiplayer brought a whole new dynamic into my life: the clan. Suddenly you could write an abbreviation in front of your name and you belonged somewhere. The original gag 'Die Uberrusher' later became '[TSH] The StormHawks', a small group of buddies became a community of over 20 players. At the top: my brother and me. A website was built, a forum installed, a server bought and scripts written, all learning by doing. Training, tournaments, clan wars, first in Dark Messiah, later in other games such as Battlefield: Bad Company 2 or Team Fortress 2. When you joined the TSH server as a clan player, you had cult status and a feeling of omnipotence as an admin. At some point, the whole thing petered out, the group became smaller - all because the story of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic was over. At least for me and many others. Too unwieldy, too niche, simply too old. But even today I still have people in my Steam friends list who make the multiplayer unsafe.

Multiplayer with sharp edges

The multiplayer part was never perfect or remotely comparable to eSports top dogs like Counter-Strike - too unbalanced, too unclean, too asymmetrical. What do we mean by that? Well, in the typical game modes such as Conquest, Capture the Flag or Deathmatch, two teams compete against each other: Humans and the undead. The player can choose from five different classes, warriors in close combat, archers in ranged combat, cunning assassins from the shadows, mages and priestesses with healing and damage spells - all before games like Team Fortress 2 or Overwatch. Kills are rewarded with experience points, which can be used to level up to a maximum of level 10 in each match. Perks and abilities can be unlocked with each level, such as fireballs for the mage and slowing thorns for the priestess. This also allows the classes to specialize. The rogue can improve his stealth or carry more bombs, while the warrior can either take or dish out more damage. A good thing in itself, if it hadn't led to a serious problem: Those who are good are rewarded, those who are bad or enter the match later are dragged along until they finally reach the maximum level.

In addition to this unfair mechanic, the multiplayer also had other problems to contend with: many things had to be patched by the community because some classes were simply too strong. The servers ran self-written scripts with restrictions to prevent unfair bugs or abuses such as scripts, bunny hops or animation canceling. But this do-it-yourself character also had something unifying about it. The publisher Ubisoft didn't comment on community feedback, let alone fix bugs, so people simply took matters into their own hands. This mindset also extended to map building, as the game runs on the Source engine, which can be modded reasonably well with the appropriate tools. The result were custom maps and challenge courses à la Counter-Strike, of which I even built a few myself. Of course, I couldn't compete with master builders like Dakkir, who recreated and re-scripted the Battle of Helm's Deep from The Lord of the Rings . But even if it was awkward, it was still fun and, above all, motivating.

A reluctant confession

However, these are all my personal experiences, which, objectively speaking, should not be taken into account. That's why, with enough distance, my assessment is somewhat different than it might have been a few years ago. Dark Messiah of Might and Magic was still a milestone in its day. Graphics, physics engine, atmosphere - top. At least in single player. Coupled with the driving orchestral soundtrack by Sascha Dikiciyan and Cris Velasco, the story about the dark messiah still takes you through interesting settings even years later. On the other hand, sentimentalities still resonate for me, which, viewed soberly, elevate a fun but mediocre multiplayer game to a pedestal where it doesn't really belong. The game is no must-play; anyone who hasn't played it will hardly be able to sympathize with my enthusiasm. There are simply too many compromises to be made. In my opinion, you can still have fun for a few hours for a small price, because bloody fantasy shooters in first-person perspective are not a dime a dozen. And if you can still find a populated multiplayer server, then say hello to Eldis for me.