Had your fill of ‘Baldur’s Gate 3’ yet? Looking for something new in the roleplaying game with real-time strategy elements? Then developer and publisher Event Horizon has just the game you’re looking for. With ‘Dark Envoy’ being only their second game, they are fast learning the ropes of what their audience is looking for in roleplaying games with real-time strategy. Though not perfect, much of what is offered can be improved with patching. I for one, was extremely surprised at how drawn into the world I was.

You take control of a group of relic hunters on a world called Jaan. Jaan, once predominately a peaceful world, is now currently war-ravaged by the two factions, ‘The Empire’ and ‘The League of Old Races’. Humans not native to Jaan, started the war with the Elves, Shadows, and Krannites when they used the natural magic of the planet to create mana-fueled technologies and established themselves as The Empire. The Elves, Shadows, and Krannites being the original inhabitants of Jaan, who are magically aligned with the planet formed ‘The United League of Old Races’ to rise against The Empire. With very different philosophies the war between the two factions has raged on for centuries.

Consequently, there are many opportunities for individuals to take advantage of the war and plunder the ruins for artifacts. Artifacts that are prized above all others are those found in the remains of ancient structures predating the Elves, Shadows, and Krannites. Brother and sister, Malakai and Kaela, are two such relic hunters that are the focus of Dark Envoy’s story. As you follow the siblings’ story not only will you learn more about Jaan and its races, but you will also reach decision points that will shape how the story unfolds.

These decision points are not alone in creating replayability for Dark Envoy, the roleplaying is also remarkably solid. With a character creator for both Malakai and Kaela allowing customisation diverse enough to make them your unique characters. But wait there’s more. You then get to choose between four classes you want Malakai and Kaela to play as. Choosing between warrior, ranger, engineer, and adept will start you out with a base skill type. Upon reaching level seven you can then choose one of three specialisations in that class giving further diversity to available skills.

As you level up you will also gain ability points to assign to your statistics of might, speed, endurance, power, and mastery. Choosing where to spend your points can change how your characters function much like the equipment you give them. With such a broad range of melee and ranged weapons, light, medium, and heavy armours, including shields, and rings, and amulets. You can really build quite a unique range of characters as almost nothing is restricted. The only restriction I found was once you have chosen a class, specialisation and assigned an ability point they can’t be changed. Everything else even where you have spent your class and specialisation skill points can be reset at no charge.

Lastly, when it comes to replayability for Dark Envoy the crafting, enchanting, and researching are very interestingly incorporated. You will have access to all three fields and as you gather resources you will be able to expand on those fields. In the research field, you can choose to spend your resources however you want. Want to maximise crafting so you’re not relying on found equipment? You can do that. Want to maximise enchanting so you can bolster your equipment further? You can do that. Want to research global buffs that your whole team can benefit from? You can do that. Want to mix and match between all three? You can do that. The diversity of the roleplaying creating a level of replayability is staggering.

Now, let’s talk about the other half of Dark Envoy, the combat. Dark Envoy is presented in an isometric view allowing you to survey the entire field. However, you can only see what your characters can see, so you will need to adventure out into the unknown to reveal your surroundings. Once you have revealed that section of the map you it will always be visible,

but shrouded under a fog of war once your characters can no longer see it. This creates great gameplay as even terrain blocks line of sight allowing not only opportunities for you to surprise your enemy, but if you’re not paying attention, they can sneak up on you too. When combat begins it will be in real time. The normal speed of the game is quite fast, and with you having to control up to four characters is quite hectic.

There is a function to slow combat down to 12% of normal time and pause time completely. You will have to utilise this function to better your strategy against your enemies. This solid use of real-time strategy with slowing and pausing is fantastic for planning your movement, using your skills, and dodging enemy attacks. Dark Envoy also comes with online co-op, so you can also enjoy the experience with others at the same time.

Dark Envoy’s graphics are outstanding. The models and environments being a blend of technology and magic intertwine seamlessly. This allows for not just a fantastical appearance but a realistic one as well. The animations though, unfortunately, are janky and only get worse.

As more animation glitches become noticeable the jankier the animations get the further along you get into the story. This is something I truly hope Event Horizon patches up.

The music is orchestral and is very fitting with not only combat but the story beats as well. There was never a moment I could recall being annoyed at the music and having to turn it down or off. The combat sounds and ambient noise were just as unintrusive to the overall enjoyment with nothing sounding out of place or becoming annoying. The voice acting however was a different story. Though it is evident that genuine effort was put in, some of the voicing is a miss compared to others.

There were also times when some conversations would stop abruptly, and another would begin in the middle of a sentence, conversations would talk over the top of each other, and some lines would be repeated twice. Again, these problems worsened the further along you get into the story. This too is something I truly hope Event Horizon can patch up.

If you want to play a real-time strategy roleplaying game that blends technology and magic then give Dark Envoy a try. Being Event Horizons’ second outing, they are certainly on the right track for being successful in the real-time strategy roleplaying genre. If you’re willing to overlook the graphical and audio problems now or wait for some patching Dark Envoy I believe will not disappoint. Dark Envoy is most definitely a dark horse in this year’s lineup of games.

Written by: Ashley Barnett-Cosgrove