The Dark Eye: Demonicon will be based on the rule set and in game world of the original ‘The Dark Eye’ series, a German role playing game that was released in English under the title Realms of Arkania. The game is was launched on Microsoft Windows on October 25^th 2013, while it will launch on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 sometime in 2014.

• 1. Development
• 2. Gameplay
• 3. Story

Development

The Dark Eye: Demonicon was originally being developed by Silver Style Studios (the creators of the browser based MMORPG Kerokon Online) for the publisher TGC. However, when TGC went into administration sometime in the summer of 2010, the publishing studio Kalypso Media moved in and bought TGC as well as their intellectual properties and 17 development staff that were in the employ of Silver Style Studios. From this, they founded their third in house development studio (under Kalypso) that was named Noumena Studios. As of now, according to Kalypso the studio consists of 45-50 dedicated developers.

The Dark Eye: Demonicon will be running on the 8^th iteration of Havok Vision Engine, called Vision Engine 8. Developed by German company Trinigy and Irish company Havok: who have worked on software that was used in hit titles such as Saints Row IV, Sly Cooper Thieves in Time and The Last of Us.

The Dark Eye: Demonicon is based on German source material, “The Dark Eye”. The Dark Eye is a German role playing game that was created by Ulrich Kiesow and was launched in 1984. During its time on the market, it was the most successful role playing game on sale, even outselling the smash hit Dungeons & Dragons, which is still massively popular to this day.

Gameplay

The Dark Eye: Demonicon is played from a third person perspective. The game serves primarily as an action rpg wherein the player can perform “brutal melee attack combos” as well as “dazzling magic spells”. The elaborate, complex story and deeply developed world of The Dark Series is rife with plot twists and decisions are the main driving forces for the gameplay. Similarly to the Dark Souls series of games, when the player is in combat, well timed attacks and defensive measures, as well as the appropriate battle tactics will be the key to your survival and ultimately success.

The game is said to boast a unique system for magic, but there is no information currently available regarding it. Items can be crafted by the player after the correct materials have been gathered. This includes healing poultices and potions that will help regain health and cure poisons. Poisoned blades can be used to help bring down tough opponents by draining their health or inflicting status ailments. Stronger armours that have been enchanted with mystical powers to help you defeat your foes can also be crafted; these will offer the player a certain degree of strategic advantage if they know what they will be fighting soon.

The richly developed and much loved universe of The Dark Eye has been a long standing testament to the dedication of both fans and creators and the gameplay fully reflects this in both it’s level design and overall theme of oppression and struggle.

Story

The Dark Eye: Demonicon tells the tale of both a brother and sister who become ensnared by dark magic and sinister forces in a harsh and unforgiving, cruel world. In a world as bleak and twisted as theirs, the love they have for each other is both their blessing and curse. While demonic forces whisper in their minds to try and sway them from a life of good, they must overcome these trials by fighting through hordes of creatures that bay for their blood whilst making a series of hard moral choices.

The destiny that this pair shares and the choices that they make will ultimately decide the fate of their continent and all those that dwell on it. The dark hordes of demons and fiends will try and block their path, but they have to battle onward with sword and magic in hand to try and break free of the darkness.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

After being promised a marriage to the Lok of Duke in order to secure peace across the lands, Cairon discovers his sister Calandra has gone disappearing in a cave, and presumes it to be an escape route out of the fear of marriage. However this is far from the case, as Calandra’s real reason for leaving is in the hunt for a cannibalistic monster that has been terrorizing a village.

Little to their knowledge the real threat is the resurrection of a great and ancient evil as seen in the game introduction,that’s set about bringing darkness and chaos to the entire world. Demonicon is a dark world with an incredibly grim and moody atmosphere. This is present within all the game’s content with everything from the in-game music and combat, to the visuals and the lack of hope that’s heard in the character dialogue.

"Playing as Cairon with Calandra being alongside you for the majority of the game. Her presence provides the character with a feeling of progression aswell as being motivated to press onwards."

Playing as Cairon with Calandra being alongside you for the majority of the game. Her presence provides the character with a feeling of progression aswell as being motivated to press onwards. Unlike the majority of games where a female companion is nothing more than an escort mission, or an object of protection, Cairon’s relationship and interaction towards his sister is more in-depth as opposed to how most games treat women. Being just as skilled as Cairon when taking part in combat not to mention more outspoken and visually dangerous.

Calandra’s aggressive outlook coupled with the caring nature she has for her brother adds depth, emotion, and a real sense of humanity to the game. Cairon’s mentality is mostly neutral to his sister but as Demonicon is a decision-based game your personality is largely reflected through Cairon. Depending on how you choose to interact with the other characters of the world will have a visual impact seen through their reactions and hand drawn animated cut-scenes. The game wants to make you aware of the consequences of your actions and the method in which it chooses to do so is effective.

The conversation topics that take place within the cut-scenes and the scroll-wheel choices are something of a controversial nature. The discussion of Calandra’s marriage for instance, along with her deep and repressed feelings that she has for her brother, is something which the game is not afraid to present. It’s this kind of deep and direct form of storytelling that although some may find repelling, is actually quite genius in the way that the game deals with it.

"Despite the game's overall dark setting there are some finer parts to the world. The peaceful music of these more tranquil and pleasant surroundings add a certain level of harmony to the madness of its world."

Alot of games in the past few years have been venturing into controversial topics. Be they racism or feminism, the story-telling used to back them up is something that gives these games a great deal of weight to stand on. It’s also what has made them quite memorable and a step in the right direction, regardless of what genre the game is coming from.

The game’s visuals aren’t any of the sort that will break boundaries or catch your immediate eye, but it does show-off some fairly rich textures within its levels and environmental assets. The detail within the game’s levels such as the skeleton littered walls and smoke simulation within its swamps and caves, demonstrate the effort taken to fully immerse you within its world. Demonicon’s visual style manages to nail medieval fantasy in an authentic and accurate way, and it’s this attention to detail that makes the game stand out to you once you’ve spent a fair amount of time within its world.

Despite the game’s overall dark setting there are some finer parts to the world. The peaceful music of these more tranquil and pleasant surroundings add a certain level of harmony to the madness of its world. It lessens the overall feeling of everything being doomed and falling into darkness, and delivers a sense of hope.Th e darker moments of the game such as battling the undead and other supernatural creatures, are also complimented by the appropriate music that it adds to its tortured backgrounds. The use of sound within this game is very effective in that it gives the right level of immersion towards the player.

"The Mass Effect like scroll wheel that gives you the option to control the outcome of certain events effects the characters attitudes towards each other. This gives the game some depth to it and requires you to think before proceeding."

Exploration is something of a semi-open world, meaning it works in sectioned of sand boxes. As you explore you’ll find more things will become available for you to take advantage of. Side quests that feel like they’re part of the main game bring enjoyment, and market stalls and traders help to advance your ranking and stats.

The game leaves the outcome of character dialogue and character interactions up to the player. The Mass Effect like scroll wheel that gives you the option to control the outcome of certain events effects the characters attitudes towards each other. This gives the game some depth to it and requires you to think before proceeding. Some choices require you to have a certain rank before being able to make it. Without this added touch of choice I feel the game would have weakened and taken away one of the things that gives it importance and strength.

Combat works in a slow-paced hack ‘n’ slash method that required precise attacking and dodging. Your main arsenal consist of swords, clubs, and axes, with plenty more to unlock. You’re also equipped with magic attacks that provide different strategies and options for battles. A comprehensive crafting system allows for creation of potions, poisoned blades and enchanted armour. It’s once you start levelling up and creating your own alchemy and customising Cairon to your own liking, that the game really starts to get exciting.

"Things such as magic, damage points, clothing, and character endurance can all be upgraded to improve your chance in battle. "

Assigning your own spells to your own button arrangement is satisfying, when you find yourself engaged in combat. As you fight with the undead, necromancers and the like, you earn magic essence from dealing damage. This is what allows you to wield your magic but the option to buy and scavenge items allows different character traits to kick in, such as faster healing and restoration.The game also gives the player the option to upgrade character abilities through the use of item looting and experience gained in battle.

Things such as magic, damage points, clothing, and character endurance can all be upgraded to improve your chance in battle. Although the game offers you these choices constant levelling up and making sure you’re making the most out of your ranking and character progression isn’t necessary. You can always beast your way through enemy encounters and upgrade your skills now and then.

With that being said the game doesn’t do well to explain itself in using skill points, and there’s no tutorial to these fairly detailed menus. It’s upto the player to spend time here and figure things out for themselves. Some may naturally adjust to this independent form of navigation and some may find it tedious. It’s really down to preference and your own self patience in learning how these things work. Because of the enjoyment of combat and the game’s deep storyline this little flaw doesn’t discourage you from continuing on with the game. You’ll find that the more time you invest into the game the easier things will become to understand.

"Rats run the dying streets, civilians moan, pots of food brew and boil, and posters hang the streets. The inability to communicate with anyone in this world outside of the game's main characters inevitably tell you for what it appears to be, which is dead."

While the game gives a sense of life within its environments thanks to the decent number of NPC’s populating the streets and such, their non-interactive nature makes you feel like a ghost in their presence. This is a real shame because the detailed environments and atmospheric sound effects breathe life into its apparent busy world.

Rats run the dying streets, civilians moan, pots of food brew and boil, and posters hang the streets. The inability to communicate with anyone in this world outside of the game’s main characters inevitably tell you for what it appears to be, which is dead. Despite their stiff animations and lack of depth within their facial expressions, characters involved in the main story have plenty of personality and it’s their attitudes that drive the story forward and keep you engaged.

In earlier section of the game I did run into some collision problems when moving through the environment. Not being able to walk over small cracks or stones or drop down from minor ledges become a common nuisance. This makes the game feel slightly unfinished and could do with a quick polish. It’s not a game breaking bug but knowing in advance to swerve to the left. Because you’re already aware that your character won’t be able to traverse something is an annoyance.

Regardless if you’re playing with a keyboard and mouse or a controller, the game suits well to both methods of play. With the option to remap your keys and the controller friendly form of menu navigation, scrolling and flicking through different options is a breeze. Because of the game’s emphasis on upgrading and its crafting system, PC gamers will most likely feel more adapt to the traditional method rather than siding with a controller. Force of habit but it’s optional.

Overall, The Dark Eye: Demonicon is a game of choice, consequence, and emotional attachment all wrapped up in a blanket of darkness, violence and grim. Invest your time and money into it but only if you are a big fan of the genre.

This game was reviewed on the PC.

Sound appealing enough? The Dark Eye – Demonicon releases on October 25th for PC, but will also be heading to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2014. So stay tuned for more updates.

The Dark Eye – Demonicon tells the story of a brother and sister who become enslaved by sinister forces of darkness. They face moral decisions which will not only test their bond but that of the world. Of course, they will need to battle against said forces to ultimately triumph. The game promises various ethical dilemmas to go with a twist-full narrative.

Gameplay involves hacking and slashing with timing, along with using magic to fend off enemies. There will also be various events that will be a part of The Dark Eye history to look out for.

The Dark Eye – Demonicon will be releasing in October 2013 for PC, while home console versions for the game release in 2014.

The Dark Eye is known to and beloved by RPG fans the world over as one of the best tabletop RPG’s around, most notably notably in Germany, where the game originated, and regularly has outsold the better known Dungeons and Dragons. The fourth edition of The Dark Eye was the first to be published in English in 2003, prompting the release of several video games and novels, released under the title Realms of Arkania, until the rights switched hands and the series resumed production under the name The Dark Eye.

Seven games later, we now await the release of The Dark Eye: Demonicon. Demonicon tells the story of a brother and sister making their way through a world tainted with evil, forced to rely on weaponry and magic to survive and aid those in need. The game play will feature pin-point timing, tactical combat, and a unique magic system.

Demonicon will be the first game in the series to see release on any platform other than computer. It is set to release for Windows in October, and a release for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 is slated for sometime in 2014.

They have also released the official box art of the game which you can check above.

When we asked Hilmar whether they found any advantages for the PS3 over the 360 and vice versa, he replied in perhaps the best way possible.

“Both consoles have their advantages and disadvantages. On PS3 we use the always existing hard drive to minimise the loading times which will lead to a smoother gameplay experience. On the other hand is the better graphic chip in 360. We could render some of the effects in higher quality because we are not forced to calculate many things in half precision. We try our best to get best out of both platforms but at the end their will be some slight differences,” he explained.

He also explained why development was easier for them on the PC and challenging on the consoles. “On PC we have a special user interface for all gamers who want to play with mouse and keyboard. All other gameplay features were identical to the PC version, so all gamers will have the same experience when they play Demonicon. The visual quality is very close to the PC version because we are not forced to switch off effects or to reduce dramatically the quality,” he said.

“The development of the console version was a tough experience for our team, because we were developing only PC-games in the past. Our partner studio Gaming Minds (Port Royale-series, Patrician-series) helped us a lot with their experience so that we can release a fantastic looking version for both consoles.”

The Dark Eye Demonicon is published by Kalypose Media and will see a release in 2013. And you should keep an eye out for it. It is shaping up to be solid game. You can read our full interview here.

What do you guys think about Hilmar’s comments? Do you agree with him? Do you disgaree with him? Let us know in the comments section below.

Read on for the full interview below.

Kartik Mudgal: For people who are not aware of The Dark Eye: Demonicon, can you please describe what this game is about?

Hilmar Dietrich: The Dark Eye: Demonicon is a Dark Fantasy RPG focused on battle and storytelling. While trying to find his kidnapped sister Calandra and examining the strange demonic gift he carries, the main character Cairon travels the Shadowlands – a world full of mutation, demon spawn and heretic teachings. Hence there is no clear difference between good and evil in this world; he has to make hard moral decisions which have immediate impact on the world.

Kartik Mudgal: The official description states it’s a third-person RPG with brutal melee combos and dazzling magical spells, so what type of gameplay mechanics will we get to see here. How is it different from other third-person RPGs out there?

Hilmar Dietrich: The main character has a demonic gift which enables him to perform magic using his enemies’ life essence. This mechanism is directly connected to special, TDE-specific attacking maneuvers and hit chains. So, magic and combat elements support each other, while the player can focus on his preferred fighting tactics.

Furthermore, The Dark Eye: Demonicon provides a dynamic skill- and crafting system: Depending on your skilling strategy, you can, for example, brew potions and poisons using collected plants, improve your equipment and find hidden secrets. Other skills enable you to influence the story largely and to find out about magical objects and weaknesses of your enemies.

Kartik Mudgal: Was there any specific reason why you guys went the RPG route, instead of making it something else from a genre that will be easier to market?

Hilmar Dietrich: We are huge fans of the “The Dark Eye” pen-and-paper roleplaying system – some of us grew up playing it for whole weekends. Thus it was only natural for us to go that route.  Developing an RPG opens vast opportunities of storytelling, and the Shadowlands provide a great background for extreme topics, action and humor.

Kartik Mudgal: Can you describe the story a bit, specifically the part where it says “believable conflicts and ethical decision-making opportunities”?

Hilmar Dietrich: The story deals with mature topics like incest and ruthless exploitation of bodies and souls – therefore, it’s a game for adults. We think it’s important to take the influence of demonic corruption on the characters seriously and show how they cope with the permanent presence of the undead, demonic temptation and black magic everywhere.

A typical example is the quest of a cannibal who kidnaps people and eats them to empower his blood- and flesh-based magic. After you defeated him, you can decide if you want to kill him. If you do, all his prisoners will die with him because their bodies are connected to the cannibal’s life. Authorities will thank you for this, but people who lost relatives will hate you. If you let the cannibal live, he will release his prisoners, but you can’t be sure if he will keep his promise and stop his murderous trade. People will love you for having their families reunited, but as soon as people start disappearing again, this will come back to you. Shortly after this decision, you can start a side quest in which you get to know the cannibal’s teacher and get confronted with the teachings of flesh-magic yourself.

Kartik Mudgal: How’s the battle system like? Being an RPG, it has to be quite in-depth, so can you give us a few examples?

Hilmar Dietrich: Demonicon makes use of a fast and action oriented fight mechanic. During the cause of the game Cairon encounters a wide variety of opponents based on The Dark Eye lore.

There are the undead, spiders, bandits, mages and powerful demons, which are defeated using swords, axes, throwing weapons and the demonic gift. The demonic gift allows Cairon to cast devastating spells and helps him survive battles against more advanced monsters.

Kartik Mudgal: Tell us something about the vision engine, and the graphics technology powering this game.

Hilmar Dietrich: The Vision Engine is a multiplatform engine developed by a team at Havok, which was formerly an independent company known as Trinigy. On top of that we added many graphical effects like HDR rendering, software occlusion culling, spherical harmonics based illumination and a gamma corrected rendering pipeline.

Kartik Mudgal: How big is the game’s world? And how many hours of gameplay can we expect from the game?

Hilmar Dietrich: The game will have 20 – 25 hours playing time. The player will see the City of Warunk (4-5 small levels), Clawmoor, Moloch Mountain and a secret Monastery of the Borbarad.

Kartik Mudgal: For the PC version, the possibilities are endless when it comes to mods and other things. We can also expect fantastic visuals, are you guys planning to open the game up a bit so that people can tweak it to their liking, especially when it comes to graphics?

Hilmar Dietrich: It’s important to us to deliver the best possible experience not only in terms of graphics. This is true for all platforms. Still the PC will have clearly an advantage regarding the graphics. So it’s not a secret to say it will look better on a strong machine. PC-players will also have the possibility to tweak the settings to their liking and fitting towards the power of their machine.

Kartik Mudgal: How will the console version be like? Will there be visual parity and are you guys finding it easy to develop on it?

Hilmar Dietrich: On PC we have a special user interface for all gamers who want to play with mouse and keyboard. All other gameplay features were identical to the PC version, so all gamers will have the same experience when they play Demonicon. The visual quality is very close to the pc version because we are not forced to switch off effects or to reduce dramatically the quality.

The development of the console version was a tough experience for our team, because we were developing only PC-games in the past. Our partner studio Gaming Minds (Port Royale-series, Patrician-series) helped us a lot with their experience so that we can release a fantastic looking version for both consoles.

 Kartik Mudgal: The game is also releasing for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. While developing for consoles did you found any advantages for the PS3 over the 360 or vice versa?

Hilmar Dietrich: Both consoles have their advantages and disadvantages. On PS3 we use the always existing hard drive to minimise the loading times which will lead to a smoother gameplay experience. On the other hand is the better graphic chip in 360. We could render some of the effects in higher quality because we are not forced to calculate many things in half precision. We try our best to get best out of both platforms but at the end their will be some slight differences.

 Kartik Mudgal:  As a developer what is your take on DRM? Do you think non-intrusive DRM would work better in some cases? Because fans seem to have a lot of problem with the intrusive kind?

Hilmar Dietrich: It’s still not decided yet what kind of DRM we will be using for The Dark Eye – Demonicon.

Kalypso’s line-up thus far for Gamescom 2012 includes:

Legends of Pegasus (PC)
The Dark Eye: Demonicon (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC)
Dark (PC and Xbox 360)
Omerta: City of Gangsters (PC and Xbox 360)
Port Royale 3 (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3)
Alien Spidy (PSN, Xbox Live and PC)
Dollar Dash (PSN, Xbox Live and PC)

Of these titles, Omerta: City of Gangsters and The Dark Eye: Demonicon will be playable via consoles and PC during the Con.

They may sound relatively unknown but Kalypso has been behind quite a number of titles since it’s inception in 2006, either as publisher or developer.

These include Tropic 3 & 4, Sins of a Solar Empire, Theater of War, Disciples III, The First Templar, Boulder Dash XL, Galactic Civilizations and much much more.

It’ll be interesting to see what they unveil at this year’s Gamescom.