Darkdire

Darkdire is a rogue-like RPG set in randomly generated kingdoms and dungeons. You possess the cursed magic sword of Sir Tomas Weryn the Torn, a knight who once defended his kingdom from evil with a blade containing a powerful angel. Weryn fell fighting the Dark Remnant’s undead army at the Battle of Blackshield, alongside King Blackshield, and was buried with his sword in a grand mausoleum. Now the blade is said to have returned from the grave, changed by evil, and several factions are seeking it. Anyone who tries to wield it is said to die.

Explore and grow stronger

Explore procedurally generated kingdoms and dungeons, raid enemy kingdoms for loot, and sell what you find to build wealth and power. You can take quests from NPCs to earn fame in your nation, and may eventually become powerful enough to rule a kingdom. The world is shared across your characters, and there are no save games.

Each character chooses four skills from a selection of more than 50, letting you develop different types of characters. You can craft armor and weapons to suit your character, learning skills such as blacksmithing, fletching, tailoring, gem cutting and alchemy. Rogues and Magic-Users can use invisibility to move stealthily, while the scouting skill helps you track them. Spells and arrows are physical projectiles that you can dodge by moving out of their way.

Kingdoms and nations

The world includes more than 30 nations, each with its own mix of allies and enemies. Alongside randomly generated areas, it contains predesigned cities and adventure zones placed in different locations from world to world. To rule a kingdom, you must first defeat its current ruler in combat. You can then rebuild the kingdom as you wish, hire or fire NPCs, and control its stores, where you can roll new equipment.

You can rescue the princess and bring her back to your kingdom to become your queen. Once armored, she can help you in combat. Every new character also gets a farmhouse for storing equipment, as well as a cat and a dog.

Dungeons and combat

Staircases lead down into bottomless dungeons, where greater danger brings better loot; you need a lantern to explore them. You can fight on horseback, swinging a weapon or jousting with a lance. The world’s biomes include forests, plains, swamps and snow mountains, as well as the smaller crystal, primordial and volcanic biomes.

Shared worlds

Other players on your local network can connect at any time and share your game world, whether as friends or rivals. Music and sound effects were created by Strangelette.