Dark Envoy [Review]

Dark Envoy is a top down asymmetrical strategy/tactics game that has fantasy and magical enemies similar to games like Baldur’s Gate or the Dungeons and Dragons games. It was created by the developer Event Horizon Limited. For games like this the story is often the important part of them but the story didn't grip me at all , so I will be focusing on the gameplay and how it feels. Now keep in mind this review is coming from someone that doesn’t play or often enjoy strategy games and will try to be fair. For starters there is a bland and unnecessary character customization. You are given two characters, Malakai and Kaela, that you get to customize their look and class. Players can choose hair style and skin color and that's about it. Having this option isn't really necessary since the characters are pre-determined characters so the idea of personality is already out the window. The characters should just have a default look since they have a default name, voice and personality already. Now, there are only four classes but each class has three different presets that give the class a different vibe, like the warrior can dual wield daggers like a rogue rather than just have a sword and shield. Though if you find strong equipment later you can switch the daggers to swords or axes. There are also options to have the character’s siblings share physical traits with them, but since you can customize both the siblings you could just give them the same traits if you wish (unless this option is for other siblings they have that I have yet to meet). The setting is in a desert esc world with barren lands, bandits, and plant life like cacti everywhere. While the desert isn’t for everyone I actually really like this aesthetic so I was already enjoying the setting of the game. What I liked is that the game has five different settings, at first I chose normal but as I don’t play games like this and therefore aren’t good at them, I had to change the setting to “story” which allows the player to focus on enjoying the game and story. I was also surprised to see the game have voice acting. The cut scenes and when the characters talk to each other are voice acted well which was great to see.

Enough of the game options, let’s talk about the gameplay. You are in control of the camera and clicking the ground allows the characters to move. There is an option to control the characters themselves that I was trying to use at first. I stopped because it was clear to me that the game is mainly meant to be played in the other mode that is referred to as “tactical”. Every time you enter a battle the game will automatically switch to the mode with you controlling where the character moves by clicking. This tactical mode allows you to play the game at a slower speed or even just pause the action all together so you can give yourself time to choose where to put the character and what abilities to use. Thi becomes extremely useful when you end up finding Kaela and have two characters on your team. I actually tried to play the level with just Malakai because the first time I found Kaela, after I was ambushed, she seemed to disappear and I couldn’t help her up. So, I continued until I couldn’t before going back to find her, thankfully, on the ground for me to help up. I’m sure if I had the two characters when I was supposed to, the enemies wouldn’t have been so tough to the point I had to lower my difficulty.

At first the controls confused and frustrated me. I wanted to just control the character myself and attack. Once I got two characters I no longer felt this way at all and I was able to understand the controls a bit better. When you have multiple characters you often have to switch between them to activate different abilities or to split them up to attack more efficiently which wouldn’t be possible with controlling the characters individually and walking yourself. After getting the hang of it I was able to consistently beat enemies. I had chosen the classes ranger for Malakai and the warrior class for Kaela, so I kept placing Malakai behind cover to have ranged attacks while Kaela fought the enemy physically.

Another thing that surprised me about this game is that it has choices. The first one being whether or not to attack or to strike a deal with a small group of bandits. I decided to split my loot with them rather than fight, I was not confident in my skills to win the fight though now I think I could win against them. After striking this deal I was able to go into the temple without any fight which was nice. The game stated that these choices will actually affect the endings for the characters which is a nice way to change up the formula of games in this genre. 

I ended up enjoying this game a lot more than I thought I would. I started off a little frustrated but I’d say as soon as I got into the temple I started enjoying the game properly. I’d also like to note this game can be played with friends although I was unable to try the co-op gameplay. I feel I would have enjoyed my experience much more.  I’d say this could be a good game for those not familiar with the genre to attempt to get into it, I recommend starting with the difficulty setting of Story or Easy for those people though. That way you’ll be able to properly ease yourself into the game and actually enjoy it. There’s no use struggling with a game if you aren’t used to the genre. I will be re-reviewing the game once I am able to try the online co-op. Dark Envoy is available now for Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC.