Darksburg is an exciting, dark roguelite with tons of replayability. The cast of playable characters is diverse in their play styles and these are only enhanced with Team Experience power ups and the Curios. The setting is beautiful and lush – far more than I expected out of a procedurally generated experience. The AI companions are good enough to keep you alive but the game really shines in Co-Op with other players. I would love to see controller support or a dodge roll to make managing the horde a little more balanced, but all in all it’s the kind of experience meant for friends diving into dungeons and just having a great time.

With a few tweaks and a significant injection of new playable content, Darksburg could make for a successful online zombie-smashing good time, but it just feels too lean in its current state.

Whilst certainly competent, Darksburg won’t offer you enough to convince you to try it and it doesn’t do enough to stand out in a market flooded with brilliant alternatives.

I was delighted with Darksburg when I played it’s early build at Gamescom 2019. I don’t know what happened, but since then it has become a mere shadow of itself. Darksburg’s gameplay definitely has considerable potential, but the game is annoying more often than satisfying, and there’s not enough content to keep you playing longer than a couple hours. [13/2020, p.58]

Darksburg has sprinted full force into early access with a definite solid foundation for the game. The world the developers have built is difficult and terrifying, but it can also be immersive and beautiful. There is a story behind the unlucky town of Darksburg that is begging to be told, but it will just take a little more time to unravel. I’m particularly excited to learn more about the Revenants and the source of the Infection, and hope that the creators lean more into the lore behind their world. They’re in a unique position to offer a game with high replayability and a rich story as they continue forward through the early access period. The base mechanics of the game have been ironed out with an interesting cast to execute them. Now let’s throw in a little more spice and kick things up a notch. [Early Access score = 75]

The game as a whole feels a little sparse. What there is to do is fun, but it loses its sheen rather rapidly as you discover there’s little point in replaying the missions. Of course, it’s in Early Access, so this is likely to change, but it’s still kind of annoying. A good shout if you want to get in at the ground level of something that’ll be fun in a few months, but waiting a few months is perfectly understandable too. [Early Access Score = 70]