Kalypso Media has announced that action stealth title DARK has received its first DLC pack, Cult of the Dead, now available for PC and Xbox 360, retailing on Steam and Xbox Live for £3.99/€4.99/$5.99. You can check out the trailer above to see how it looks.

Eric Bane returns and is now on a quest to discover the Book of the Dead, which is said to grant power to its owner. Being the noble soul that he is, Eric decides to locate it before some unsavoury party gets its hands on it. Of course, it also presents an opportunity for him to learn more about himself and his kind. Eric will need to take on the Necromancers and the revitalized M17 Vampire Hunters in the process.

Along with a new mission, you’ll face off against a new enemy type – the Sniper – and a new boss in the form of the Cultist. You’ll also have five new maps for use in the challenge mode.

DARK, the stealth action game from Kalypso Media, in which the player assumes the role of a vampire to stalk and murder prey, will be receiving a new DLC come this December. Cult of the Dead will center once again on series protagonist Eric Bane as he embarks on another gruesome adventure.

Plot-wise here’s what we’re looking at: Eric Bane, after escaping the M17 Vampires that plagued him in the original events of DARK. He hears tell of a mysterious boos, The Book Of The Dead, which promises to give its possessor the ability to control death itself. Eric seeks this book in hops of both learning more about his kind, and preventing harm from coming to both the living and dead.

His newest adversaries are necromancers, who are in cahoots to stop Eric with the remaining forces of M17. Here are some new features we can look forward to:

– A brand new mission centered on The Book of the Dead
– Five all new challenge mode maps
– A new opponanet called The Deadly Sniper
– And a new boss named, The Cultise

The Cult Of The Dead will be available for PC download on December 5th for the price of $4.99.

Sadly, the new vampire stealth RPG Dark from Realmforge Studios and Kalypso Media dispenses with most of that cool stuff and somehow manages to make being a fanged assassin a rather more mundane experience. Turns out our protagonist Eric Bane IS susceptible to gun fire, dies frequently and doesn’t possess the strength of a superhero. Bummer.

"Visually, the game looks reasonable with cel-shaded graphics and a minimal colour palette."

The game opens with Eric in a club called The Sanctuary; the music is thumping and so is his head. Remembering little of what’s left him feeling so groggy, he encounters security guard Tom, owner Rose and twins, April and June – all of whom have a dark secret. The cut scenes that follow explain – with all the subtlety of a brick – that Eric has been bitten by a vampire and must track down whoever was responsible, else he’ll turn into a mindless ghoul. To be honest, he takes the news remarkably well. The dialogue and voice acting is almost comedic, with barely any effort to lip sync the words that spill from the characters’ mouths, which makes the scene even more humorous. It’s not a great start, to be honest… and things don’t get much better.

Visually, the game looks reasonable with cel-shaded graphics and a minimal colour palette. largely consisting of purple and black. However, the character models are clunky and poorly animated. The levels include varied environments ranging from night clubs to a museum, laboratories and offices – but all are much of a muchness, requiring you to navigate a room without raising the alarm using the ample cover on offer.

"That's right, there's no jump button. You can't leap onto on unsuspecting prey, there's no scaling walls or dropping silently behind your target. "

Rooms filled with enemies should be a veritable playground for someone with the skills and abilities of a vampire. Unfortunately, the slightly ropey controls, poor cover system and disappointing powers early on put paid to a promising concept. In my mind, vampires are fairly agile creatures… in this game, you can’t even jump. That’s right, there’s no jump button. You can’t leap onto on unsuspecting prey, there’s no scaling walls or dropping silently behind your target. There is the Shadow Leap ability, which instantly transports Eric to a nearby location or ledge but with this needing a recharge after each use, it doesn’t make life easy when trying to evade multiple enemies and escape an area quickly. Besides which, you’re often unable to direct exactly where you want to go, and end up pointlessly leaping just a few feet away instead.

A bit of parkour like in Assassin’s Creed could have been cool, as would Batman’s ability to soar into the skies to a nearby platform to avoid enemies. Even hiding in a box or cupboard like Solid Snake would have been handy too! Alas, your only option in this stealth-em-up is to hide behind tables or walls and wait for an opportune moment to leave your cover. It’s fairly disappointing.

Holding down one of the triggers hugs you to the wall and allows you to take cover. The other activates your vampire vision, allowing you to see through walls and best plan how to avoid enemies and reach your objective.

To be fair, when the stealth element works, the game can be fun. Watching the routes taken by guards, for example, and waiting to sneak past or take them out is quite exciting. But make no bones about it, this is a tricky game and even on the easiest difficulty setting, you’ll find it a challenge. On the hardest setting, you’ll want to pull your hair out in frustration!

"This is a puzzle game more than anything else, each room may have a few alternative paths but the trick is to find which will get you to the exit without drawing attention."

The AI is abysmal. Some bad guys won’t react if you wander past them, whereas other eagle eyed enemies can see you from miles off. Before long, however, you’ll realise that there’s little point in painstakingly creeping through a level only to be seen and shot to pieces. You’re sometimes far better off attracting the attention of an enemy, running away and hiding behind a wall ready to pick off all hapless AI bad guys one by one as they come searching for you.

Combat is certainly one of the weaker aspects of the game and involves getting close enough to a target to press a button for an insta-kill. Alternatively, holding said button allows you to sink your teeth into them – this option often not worth the risk as it takes an exorbitant amount of time to drain your victim and, for some inexplicable reason, Eric’s a very noisy eater and therefore likely to attract the attention of a nearby guard. Should you be able to pull off the bloodsucking attack without being discovered, it will fill a segment of your all-important Vitae gauge. Without this you’ll be unable to use any of the powers you unlock and you’ll remain a fairly limp killing machine rather than a reasonably powerful assassin.

This is a puzzle game more than anything else, each room may have a few alternative paths but the trick is to find which will get you to the exit without drawing attention. Otherwise, there’s also no real need or incentive to explore, except to find a couple of PDA collectibles that are dotted about the levels.

There’s nothing more irritating part than having spent the best part of half an hour navigating a level only to be seen and be set upon by a mob of angry, gun-wielding enemies. As soon as your cover is blown, you’re pretty much screwed and destined to play through the entire section again because of the miserly checkpoints.

"It’s definitely a grower but you can’t help but feel it’s a bit of a missed opportunity."

XP from kills and completing objectives allows you to pick from the various skill trees to unlock inherent, vampiric and passive powers. Many of these have cooldown periods and use your vitae, so some strategy is required when using them. Some of the abilities (Shadow Kill, Domination, Obfuscation, Domination) when fully levelled up, do at least give Eric some decent powers and make you feel slightly more badass!

To summarise, Dark doesn’t quite live up to its early promise but it is a decent enough game if you persist and power up. My initial impressions weren’t great but I persisted for the purpose of this review and am now very glad I did. Unlock some of the better skills, learn the game’s quirks and the experience becomes far more enjoyable. It’s definitely a grower but you can’t help but feel it’s a bit of a missed opportunity.

 This game was was reviewed on the Xbox 360.

Game Overview:

DARK is a stealth action game along with role playing elements (like skills/levels). Players take a role of a vampire and features a world full of darkness.

The game is developed by Realmforge Studios and published by Kalypso Media.

The game is available for the PC and Xbox 360.

Check out the video walkthrough of DARK below and let us know if you have any questions in the comments section below.

DARk follows the story of Eric Bane, a recently turned vampire who has no memory of how he came to be a creature of the night. Now, he’s on a mission to find his Sire and drink from his blood to complete the transformation. It has been hinted that a more sinister purpose is afoot with a corporate conspiracy involving Geoforge and the Vampire Elders. But you’ll need to play the game to find out more.

As it is, DARK is primarily a stealth action game, though there are RPG elements including leveling up and earning new abilities. You can either choose to viciously decimate enemies or sneak by them – of course, plenty of blood-sucking and murder is on the cards, either way.

DARK will be releasing for Xbox 360 in North America on July 9th.

RealmForge Studios will be releasing DARK for PC and Xbox 360 this Summer, with no word on whether it will be hitting the PS3. Players in the game will be able to use vampire-esque powers to take down enemies and sneak past unawares. It also features an interesting cel-shading mechanic to give it a light graphic novel feel.

Unlike the sparkle-tastic image vampires occupy in today’s mainstream culture, Eric is one of the more animalistic, vicious types as he shreds through enemies when he’s not feasting on their still beating hearts. Check out our interview with RealmForge Studios’ art director Victor Linke to learn more about the gameplay and setting of the game.

The powers showcased in the trailer include Vampire Vision, Distract, Shadow Leap, Celerity and Shadow Kill. We’re sure there’s a lot more where that came from, and this isn’t including the variety of killing techniques that protagonist Eric Bane can utilize to dispose of foes.

DARK is currently in development and will release on the Xbox 360 and PC this Summer. It involves Bane’s struggle against a monumental corporation and finding out who he was prior to becoming a creature of the night. Stay tuned for more details regarding a concrete release date.

Ravi Sinha: It’s been a while since anyone attempted to do a serious vampire role-playing game. What was the incentive for making one with Dark?

Victor Linke: After we finished our last game (Dungeons – the Dark Lord) and were discussing ideas for our next project, we noticed that we had a lot of fans of Thief and Hitman in the team and it didn’t take long until we agreed to do something stealth focused. When it came to deciding which kind of world and characters would best fit a gameplay style based on themes like “sneaking in the dark” and “hunting from the shadows”, vampires came to mind almost instantly. Since there haven’t been many games with them recently we also had the chance to show them in a fresh new way.

"Blade and 30 Days of Night certainly influenced the decision to give Dark a "graphic novel" aesthetic instead of a photorealistic graphic style."

- Victor Linke, Art Director, Realmforge

Ravi Sinha: What major bits of culture played a part in molding the world of Dark?

Victor Linke: Of course Blade and 30 Days of Night were a huge influence regarding the modern approach we took with the design of our vampire lore. They are also both routed in comic books, so that certainly influenced the decision to give Dark a “graphic novel” aesthetic instead of a photorealistic graphic style.

Still we tried to make the world of DARK unique, so while there are certain similarities the game is not based on anything that already exists. A completely new vampire mythos for players to explore!

Ravi Sinha: Has it been difficult to pitch the idea of murderous vamps in today’s Twilight-infested world?

Victor Linke: Honestly by now it would have been even harder to pitch the idea of any more romantic-sparkling vampires. Our wish was to make vampires cool again because to some extent the image of those vicious dark creatures has been damaged a bit recently. Our vampires kill and drink blood like they should and we think players will appreciate that.

Ravi Sinha: Hasn’t the amnesiac vampire bit been a little overplayed in story terms? What does Dark do to keep things interesting?

Victor Linke: Eric Bane, the main character, is not completely amnesiac, he’s just missing the events that lead to him becoming a vampire. As a story device it is also really just the starting point, because the plot mainly revolves around his race against time to find a way to become a full fledged vampire. Of course there are also some surprises waiting.

Ravi Sinha: What are your thoughts on Troika’s Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, the last major vampire RPG to be released? Any ideas it presented that were worth preserving?

Victor Linke: A lot of people still love Bloodlines and we certainly do. I think to this day it stands not only as one of the best vampire games but as one of the best games of its time in general. We tried to capture some of the atmosphere from Bloodlines and if you look for it we also included a small reference in DARK that fans will certainly recognize.

" Based on our experience it will take players around 10 to 14 hours to finish the game and then there is a challenge mode with several maps."

Ravi Sinha: What kind of length are we looking at for Dark? Will it be a linear RPG experience, or can we expect a large open world to explore a la Skyrim?

Victor Linke: DARK is mainly a stealth game with some RPG elements like an upgrade skill system and multiple choice dialogues. Basically there is a nightclub in the game called “the Sanctuary“ which serves as a hub where the player is free to explore and talk to different characters. The missions themselves are linear, but still quite large. Based on our experience it will take players around 10 to 14 hours to finish the game and then there is a challenge mode with several maps.

Ravi Sinha: Concerning gameplay missions in Dark, will they be created to accommodate different play styles?
How can different kinds of players approach the same mission?

Victor Linke: Players have several vampire skills at their disposal that cater to different playstyles. Mostly we ecnourage players to take a stealth approach but there are certain powers you can use to try a more aggressive approach. The levels are also quite huge and often provide different possibilties to reach your objectives.

Ravi Sinha: Have there been any plans or thoughts about Dark for the next generation? What is the general consensus on the PS4 and Xbox 720 around Realmforge?

Victor Linke: DARK is our first console game and we have been working on it for the last two years so it was still too early to think about next gen when we started the project. But if the fans like the game and it does well then who knows? The PS4 certainly looks interesting from a developers perspective and we think the next few years will be extremely interesting both for consumers and the industry, so there will be a lot to look forward to!

"The PC version is still in development and will feature several improvements like higher resolution and framerate, high-res textures, better lighting and shadows and more NPCs."

Ravi Sinha: What are your thoughts on the rumors of the next Xbox restricting usage of second hand games and an always online requirement?

Victor Linke: We really can’t comment on that since we know nothing about Microsofts next gen plans.

Ravi Sinha: How is the PC version of the game shaping up compared the the console ones? Are we going to see advanaced graphics options?

Victor Linke: The PC version is still in development and will feature several improvements like higher resolution and framerate, high-res textures, better lighting and shadows and more NPCs.

Ravi Sinha: Is there anything else you want to add about the game?

Victor Linke: DARK could very well be described as “back to the roots” in many ways – stealth based gameplay, challenging difficulty, a fresh graphic style and vampires who do not sparkle. If one of these things sounds good to you then you should certainly take a look at DARK!

Put simply; the powers: from Shadow Leap, which enables protagonist Eric Bane to leap across short distances in puffs of smoke and the night vision-esque Auspex to Shadow Kill and Shadow Grip – we’ll let you guess what those do – there’s plenty of room for stealth and plain murder. Then there’s domination, which allows Eric to mind control enemies.

And then there are the finishing movies. Because of course there are.

DARK is slated to release for Xbox 360 and PC this June.