Darkstone Restoration

Darkstone Restoration brings the 1999 action RPG Darkstone back to modern PCs as a restoration by its original creator, Paul Cuisset, rather than a remake. It retains the original’s combat and gothic atmosphere while updating its presentation and systems. You choose heroes, explore dungeons, complete quests, gather loot and work to stop Draak from plunging the kingdom of Uma into darkness.

The kingdom of Uma

The corrupt monk Draak turned against Kaliba, goddess of life and nature, and transformed himself into a dragon. The Time Orb, forged from Kaliba’s tears, is the only thing that can stop him, but it has been shattered into seven crystals scattered across Uma’s four lands. Recover the crystals, rebuild the Orb and descend into Draak’s lair to end his reign.

Heroes and dungeons

You can choose from eight characters across four classes: warrior, mage, thief and priest. Each has its own strengths and combat style. As you adventure, you find dozens of weapons, spells and talents; dungeons, quests, monsters and loot are randomly generated, and five difficulty levels offer different challenges.

Companions and co-op

You raise two heroes and can switch between them. Buddy mode lets you take direct control of your companion during a fight, reposition them, aim their spells and chain a combo before handing control back to the AI.

In shared-world couch co-op, two players play in one world with one save. A second player can join to control your companion and leave just as easily. Steam Remote Play Together is also supported. Online multiplayer is not included in the current playable content.

Modes and endgame

Hardcore mode gives your hero one life: when they fall, the run ends. It has dedicated leaderboards. Legacy mode restores the original 1999 look and feel. Lairs add randomized farming dungeons and named elite bosses, offering endgame loot.

Companion AI and automation

You can choose a ready-made companion behavior—tank, mage, skirmish or support—or customize how your companion thinks. An optional editor lets you create behaviors visually with Unreal-style blueprints or in JavaScript, with live hot reload and a debugger. You can share your creations through the Steam Workshop or use those made by other players; choosing a ready-made behavior requires no coding.

Optional quality-of-life tools can keep buffs active, drink potions at a set threshold and switch loadouts with a key. They do not target, move or fight for you, so combat remains under your control.

Updated systems

The restoration adds a quick-access spell bar and inventory features including automatic gold pickup, optional auto-sort, quick-equip and item gifting. It also updates the HUD, fonts, quest journal and map, and includes modern lighting and effects such as dynamic shadows, SSAO, bloom, procedural grass and adjustable volumetric fog. Optional modern-play features include a loot filter, autosave and rebindable controls, while Legacy mode offers the original presentation.

The game includes a restored solo campaign playable from start to finish, along with Steam Achievements, leaderboards and stats. It also has a native 64-bit Windows build, support for modern displays and resolutions, borderless windowed mode, a configurable frame-rate cap and controller support across its screens.