Deal | “The Dark Souls of the ’90s”: Old-school RPG back under $2 on Steam for the first time in years

Anyone looking for a truly old-school RPG experience can currently find a rare deal on Steam: Darklands is available until June 25 with a 75% discount for $1.74 instead of $6.99. According to SteamDB, there has not been a comparable offer in over five years. Developed by MicroProse and released in 1992, the RPG takes players to the Holy Roman Empire of the 15th century – essentially medieval Germany. Darklands not only depicts historical realities, but also medieval ideas such as demons, witches and alchemy.

At the start, players create a party of four adventurers and then travel freely across a large map with cities, castles, monasteries and mines. There is no overarching goal. The aim is simply to gain fame and fortune with the adventuring party. Gameplay mainly takes place through text windows and selection menus: in cities, players accept quests, buy equipment or improve skills. Battles run in real time, but can be paused to issue new commands to party members. Instead of fixed classes and levels, individual skills such as swordfighting, alchemy, healing or negotiation improve through use and experience.

On Steam, Darklands currently has 240 reviews, 90% of which are positive. Players particularly praise the game’s enormous depth, including its complex character creation, open game world and many possible approaches. The fact that some Steam users refer to Darklands as the “Dark Souls of the early ’90s” is mainly due to the game’s harshness. The RPG explains little, barely guides players and immediately punishes bad decisions. Anyone who can handle that and is not bothered by the dated graphics gets a glimpse of what role-playing games felt like 30 years ago – all for less than $2. The game is also playable on the Steam Deck.

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