Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance Reviews
In closing ill say it again, Dark Alliance is not a perfectly executed game but the fun to be had when everything works is worth enduring the little issues. It delivers a fun D&D adventure with some epic combat moments. Even with the issues that I experienced I think this is a solid game and with a bit more polish via patches will fit quite nicely among its dungeon crawler brethren.
Dark Alliance is a game that seems destined to be forgotten, which is a shame because there's a lot of old-school PS2-style fun to be had. Once split screen is patched in we can see ourselves going back to it regularly in order to relive those couch co-op days of yore, though the game is enjoyable solo as well if you choose your difficulty setting wisely. It's nothing to set the world on fire but it's a perfectly enjoyable throwback to dungeon crawling hack-and-slash classics that'll work for you all the more if you've got a group of friends who yearn to go back in time to a simpler experience. Future content updates will only improve Dark Alliance and we'd urge you to give it a try for yourself.
Dear Dark Alliance: those of us that were fans of the original PS2 game and the Dungeons and Dragons franchise came ready to enjoy you. You waved your fancy pedigree and showed us your impressive environments, only to disappoint us once we paid the price of admission. So, fix the AI. Balance the single player game or ditch it entirely. Let the players create real characters that express themselves. Above all, kill the bugs. Do those things, and maybe we’ll come back, because it could be a nice little house to live in for a while.
Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance is a double-edged sword. The setting and the characters are sure to appeal to an R. A. Salvatore fan, and there are hints of a fun, entertaining game here and there. But they are often overshadowed by the many issues, such as extremely poor enemy AI and questionable design choices.
Review in Italian | Read full review
With some friends, you can have a lot of fun exploring Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance without needing to roll any dice, but inconsistent combat and frustrating bosses make the experience more of an ordeal than it should be, not to mention unenjoyable by yourself.
Dark Alliance has the core of a fun game, but many design decisions and some very spotty enemy AI prevent the game from fully taking flight. While the game still feels early, there is some fun to be had running around and taking advantage of Dark Alliance's many issues. But with time, this game will become a mid-tier action adventure-which is exactly what it should be.
D&D Dark Alliance really brings the world of Dungeons & Dragons to life, with great monsters, tones of atmosphere and no microtransactions but is tragically held back by bugs and poor AI. The story is serviceable but I expected a little more from a D&D game based on a much-loved book series. Dark Alliance will appeal to D&D fans for its setting and characters and is a lot of fun with friends, especially when you work together to take down a might behemoth however, it feels like is severely lacking polish. If you were expecting a slower-paced, RPG, story-led experience this might not be for you, Dark Alliance is an ambitious, monster-slaying hack and slash but doesn't quite nail the landing.
Dull and clunky, this is one hell of a weak, uninspired action game that's plagued with poor design choices and technical issues.
Dark Alliance is the type of game for people looking to blow off steam with their friends. It's such an exploration ride that I just wanted to keep playing it all day long. The fun combat and loot system kept me coming back even if it is a shame the story set in the D&D universe written by a prolific writer fails to live up to its potential. It's also baffling that almost no love was given to the game on the PS5 to utilize its power or even the DualSense controller. At $40 though almost all of its flaws can be overlooked for just plain old fun.
Overall, Dungeons & Dragon: Dark Alliance is a fantastic example of a third-person action RPG, offering a great amount of story and lore through varying missions. With only a few minor setbacks aside, I’d have no problem saying that Tuque Games has brought my Drizzt Do’Urden and companions fantasies to life in all of the best ways. I’ll be seeing this game through to the very end without a shadow of a doubt, and have no issue recommending it to anybody that enjoys action RPGs. Grab some buddies and head to Icewind Dale — you won’t regret it!
D&D: Dark Alliance is a game that is designed for those who already know the intrahistory of the Dark Elf and who know how to forgive the failures in the gameplay. With all this, if we are consistent, we are facing an enjoyable proposal, especially in cooperation with four friends.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
I wanted to love Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance so badly. I grew up reading R.A. Salvatore’s novels about Drizzt and his companions. Baldur’s Gate was my first CRPG that I ever played. The original Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance and Dark Alliance II are probably my favorite games from the PS2 era. But sadly, Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance just misses the mark in so many categories. It was a slog to get through, and there is almost no reason for me to ever pick it up again.
Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance has the potential to become a fun showcase for the long-running franchise. Despite the issues, none of these are game-breaking bugs, and it is a passable RPG. Now we just have to see if Tuque Games has what it takes to turn things around. Fans of Dungeons & Dragons, of which there are untold millions, will love the lore and story of Dark Alliance. Who knows if their love of the franchise will translate into enough sales to warrant a sequel? If so, then there is a lot of work to do, but we've seen plenty of comebacks before, and we'll no doubt see more in the future. With any luck, in the not-too-distant future we'll gather 'round the virtual campfire and enjoy a higher-scored adventure in the Icewind Dale thanks to the lessons learned from Dark Alliance.
It's difficult to recommend Dark Alliance to anyone else than biggest fans of Forgotten Realms's lore. The game definitely lacks of polish and doesn't shine at all when you talk about its gameplay, graphics or even its multiplayer options.
Review in French | Read full review
Overall, Dark Alliance needs a lot of work to truly warrant a playthrough and can only be recommended in its current state to massive fans of the book series who just want to know what happens in between books 1 and 2. The game itself is a masterpiece to look at, but falls short in the gameplay department, making this a tough sell for anyone who wasn't already going to pick it up and play simply based on its source material.
Dark Alliance returns after about sixteen years of oblivion. Tuque's work, which became an in-house development studio at Wizards of the Coast, despite having a rather grandiose name and glorious past, starts from scratch adopting some rather drastic (and not always winning) solutions, for the canons of the hack 'n' slash genre.
Review in Italian | Read full review
A cheeky take on Dungeons & Dragons lore isn't enough to carry the lacklustre combat, sluggish controls, and dodgy enemy hitboxes.
Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance is a game with great promise but poor-to-mediocre performance, depending on your affinity for action-oriented loot hunting and patience for AI and other technical shortcomings that should have been nipped in beta. But with promise comes optimism; Tuque Games has a robust DLC and expansion roadmap planned, so its continued investment in the game could lead to patches ameliorating my gripes. If it does, you’ll find that Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance reaches the lofty heights of its renowned spiritual predecessors. But if Tuque Games neglects these issues, Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance will remain a fun but prohibitively frustrating game I can recommend to series devotees and few others.
Ultimately, DA is one of those games that just about goes tit-for-tat on pros and cons. With some patching, this game could really break through to another level of quality, but we’ll have to see what develops in that regard. I understand that Tuque has several things lined up for the next six months. They’re planning on new free DLC and a new expansion, Echoes of the Blood War, and that’s cool. However, I think they really need to take a hard look at the base game and make several major adjustments to it before worrying about DLC, because if the base game doesn’t get right, there might not be much of an audience to bring back in with DLC and expansions.