Legacy: Dark Shadows Review — Part 3

Legacy: Dark Shadows is easily one of the most ambitious adventure games currently in development. Equal parts science fiction and horror – with a mystery thrown in for good measure – LDS spans two different periods of time and two different main characters.

The game begins in 1942 as reporter Jack Black undergoes a strange occurrence during the Battle of Stalingrad and then leaps forward to the distant future of 2138 and private investigator Ren Silver. Something happened in 1942 that has had repercussions on a future generation unaware of their tenuous hold on life.

The alpha build we played was – understandably – a bit unstable at times, but it was more than enough to whet the appetite. Legacy: Dark Shadows is a point & click lover’s dream game, heavy on dialogue and inventory. The characters are 3D against a 2D background and will travel across over 100 locations divided into 14 chapters. Inventory is handled with a quick tap of the right mouse button.

Almost everything in the game can be interacted with, even if only to get a brief description. Though much of the dialogue is non-linear (and there is a lot of dialogue!), certain dialogue choices will trigger key events in the gaming universe. An entire new world has been created for gameplay shrouded in a backdrop of political intrigue amid a backdrop of a new Earth created from the ashes of a cataclysmic war. This is not a quickie game for the casual gamer!

Legacy: Dark Shadows is a first-class production all the way and it shows even in the alpha build. Professional actors have lent their talents (lip-synching has yet to be implemented) and a music score has been composed for the game. A resolution of 1024 x 768 with 32-bit color and 60 fps adds a vibrancy to even the smallest of details.

The sheer scope of Legacy: Dark Shadows is impressive and reminds one of a more fleshed out version of Nightlong: Union City Conspiracy. Equally remarkable is the amount of background material that Razbor (www.razbor.net) has provided on the Legacy website. This is one game that has the potential to please even the most discerning adventure gamer. We’ll have more details soon, but in the meantime, to learn more about Legacy: Dark Shadows:

Click here to download an in-depth pdf file about Legacy: Dark Shadows.

Click here to download a 146 MB alpha preview of Legacy: Dark Shadows.