Drakensang: The Dark Eye Impressions

This seems a bit oddly timed with the game already being out, but Eurogamer has decided to go with hands-on impression piece of Drakensang: The Dark Eye rather than a full review.

Straight off the bat, or menu, is the excellent character creation screen. A generous spread of classes are unfurled from the fantasy picnic basket, some familiar, some not. They’re arranged into ‘style’ groups, with three separate flavours of each available, apart from the one-off Pirate and Amazon classes. All of the classes are race-specific, with most roles being filled by members of the various human kingdoms, and Elves and Dwarves getting three each.

There are staples like Warrior and Rogue, but there are also more esoteric fantasy figures like the Metamage and Burglar. These can be picked ready-built, or fine-tuned to fit your particular needs. Indeed, the wealth of perks, skills, attributes and combat actions available pay great tribute to Drakensang’s origins in the Dark Eye ruleset, despite its much-reduced digital incarnation. Sadly, there was no physical tweaking to be done, meaning you’re stuck with the somewhat anodyne character models which the game picks for you.