Dark and Darker mobile preview

It took me three plays through the mobile version of Dark and Darker before I finally got the hang of it. It was my first time playing the sword and shield extraction genre and I wasn’t sure how to go about it. The beta had a bit of a rocky start as there were still some issues to iron out, like some text not being translated into English and only partial controller support. By my third playthrough, I was starting to understand how to work with the game systems and pacing instead of against them, while also enjoying the fun sense of fear the game evokes.

For those of you who, like me, have never played Dark and Darker, it can be simply described as fantasy Escape from Tarkov mixed with battle royale mechanics. You create a character, pick a class, and jump into a randomly generated dungeon with a few other players. As you explore, loot, and fight AI enemies (or humans), a timer counts down and a safe zone shrinks. Just like in battle royale, anyone caught outside of that circle takes heavy damage until they get inside or die. Dark and Darker has already garnered a cult following on PC, but I think it could become popular again in the mobile space.

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A tough start

It’s not yet time for prime time

Most of my issues with Dark and Darker were technical and should be fixed by or during the actual beta next month. Aside from those, it took me a while to get hooked on the game. My first two playthroughs were pretty mundane and boring. I wandered around the dungeon, fought some goblins, looted a few chests, found an escape portal and got out through it. Combat is very slow and deliberate, each swing has a big preparation animation and delay, and even basic movements feel very sluggish. The best comparison is playing Skyrim in third person at half speed. I had no idea what I was looting or why, and the whole thing just didn’t feel very deep or strategic.

As I mentioned, it wasn’t until my third run that I finally got the true Dark and Darker experience.

Instead of mindlessly killing NPCs, I regularly encountered other players. Fighting other players on mobile suddenly made the pacing of combat make perfect sense. The ability to quickly get in and out of range makes using touch controls a nightmare, heavily favoring controller players. The pacing requires you to carefully time your approach to lure in attacks and counterattack, much like in a fighting game. And that’s before the mobs get involved.

Directing another player towards an AI enemy while you try to heal yourself, only to have a third person pounce on you from behind, was fun and chaotic. At least, until it wasn’t. One thing Dark and Darker needs to get on mobile is its heavy use of auto-targeting. One-on-one duels require touch controls that allow you to move around your target and attack without making a mistake. This is a double-edged sword when fighting multiple enemies in the tight caves and passageways you’ll spend most of your time exploring. It’s never fun to auto-target small mobs when you have a great opportunity to attack other players for free.

The mobile version also includes some handy quality-of-life toggles that iron out some of the system’s quirks that you might not notice on PC, but which can get annoying on a touch screen. The biggest benefit is the auto-loot and auto-interact options. With this feature enabled, you can simply stop and look at a door, chest, or fallen enemy and your character will interact with it without you having to reach out and tap an icon. It’s a small thing, but in a game where you’re constantly facing doors and trying to grab loot as quickly as possible to stay alive, I really appreciated having this feature.

After each playthrough, your loot is tallied (assuming you survived and escaped) and XP is distributed between your account and character level. There are five classes available: Fighter, Barbarian, Rogue, Ranger, and Cleric, each with their own starting weapons, armor, and abilities. For someone who isn’t all that keen on the repetitiveness of looting, or who gets too hung up on losing a piece of gear, this light RPG element is what kept me playing Dark and Darker for longer than usual. Taking on different quests to fill up my collection meter gave me another goal to chase, and made me feel rewarded for my progress even if I failed.

I’m not primarily a mobile gamer when given the choice, so I’m always skeptical of “core” games being ported to a platform. Most of the time it’s not an issue of performance or control, but rather whether the game is designed for how many people play mobile games. As it’s a competitive online game, you can’t pause it, but you can adjust your run to some extent depending on the time. You can choose to quickly smash and grab and try to escape with the first teleport stone you see, or try your luck and hang in there for nearly 10 minutes until the end.

Dark and Darker Mobile may not feel like a good fit at first, but give it a chance and you’ll get the hang of its controls and combat flow after a few plays.

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