• “Knights, Orks and Skeletons (of course)”
  • Severance Blade of Darkness (2001) is an very very old (almost 20 (!!!) years now) open world adventure game almost a “Lara Croft” in “the middle ages” meeting Orks from “Lord of the Rings”
  • can be played on GNU Linux with wine
  • download a vailable for free (?) https://www.myabandonware.com/game/blade-of-darkness-455#download
  • in contrast to Lara Croft: no guns but swords (the player can even throw them!) and bows (but slow and hard to hit anything X-D)
    • it is pretty innovative also the level design is nice
      • sometimes enemies “hit” each other by accident and then start to fight each other X-D (for a while)
      • so funny - the large ork hit the knight by accident - now knight fights back X-D

        so funny – the large ork hit the knight by accident – now knight fights back X-D

      • formation: enemy tactics: enemies with less health point “fall back” and let the one with more health points take the lead
    • solving riddles and finding the right path can sometimes be tricky
    • “In its short lifetime, Rebel Act Studios only released one game, Severance: Blade of Darkness.
    • Despite critical acclaim for the graphics and controls the game found no commercial success, yet is till considered an underdog classic and widely respected for the sophisticated implementation of melee combat mechanics.
    • After the swift demise of Rebel Act Studios, three of the former employees went on to found software designer Digital Legends. A few other members went on to form MercurySteam Entertainment.” (src: giantbomb.com)
    • developed in Spain (!)
    • “Rebel Act was created in 1996 by the Spanish game distribution company, Friendware. The development team consists of over 18 people, including Xavier Carrillo as the project manager.” (src: mobygames.com)
  • the game tries to embeds itself into a “more or less logical” story but it is narrated nicely, read “full” story down below (wonder where they got that from?)
    • basically story is “forces of good” (you) needs to destroy “forces of evil” (Orks, skeletons and evil Vampire magicians)
    • there is some “magic” Sacred Sword but when playing the Savage, the Sacred Sword is not of much use X-D (wtf? X-D)
    • would have been GREAT to have some companions fighting along side or a coop mode, but game was hasty released and failed financially (fist and last Game of Rebel Act)
  • the dark levels, with superb lighting and audio effects are still great and create a lot of tension
  • there are magical weapons (ice, fire and vampire (!) swords and shields (!) when an enemy hits the players vampire-shield, health points are transferred to the player)
  • chose from 3 characters: Savage, Knight, Dwarf and Amazone with different skills
    • Savage
      • strong but slow: can handle large two hand swords and axes (some combos draw as much as 5000 health points)
      • favorite weapon: SigSag Sword
      • timing attacks and combos is hard
      • (finished game with this character, saving & loading after each and every enemy is almost necessary)
    • Knight
      • is fast has deadly combos
      • uses one handed weapons and shield
      • overall probably “the best” character
    • Dwarf
      • probably good with hammers and shields (never tried)
    • Amazone
      • fast and good with bow (never tried)
  • controls are kind of “tricky”
  • still great lighting effects, there are mods, that even further enhance the graphics
    • download ENBSeries v0.242 beta for Blade of Darkness
    • (click here to download the mod)
    • First beta version for this game, it just use post processing features of the mod and draw everything to hdr. Preset is default from debug version, tweak yourself.
      WARNING! Put files of the mod to “Bin” folder of the game and in video options set “r3Dfx Voodo 1-2” render device.
      v0.242: First beta version for this game, it just use post processing features of the mod and draw everything to hdr. Preset is default from debug version, tweak yourself.
    • src: http://enbdev.com/mod_bladeofdarkness_v0242.htm

random screenshots:

OpenGL was used (DirectX on modern cards is unable to render the menus!)

LASERS!

GOT LASERS! (but no sharks)

pretty nice light and shadow effects

pretty nice light and shadow effects

temple of ianna where the useless sacred sword is hidden

temple of ianna where the useless sacred sword is hidden

a large stone man

a large stone man

a large ice man

a large ice man

another stone man

another stone man

destroyed stone man

destroyed stone man

the bow is necessary to open up some doors by shooting at symbols

the bow is necessary to open up some doors by shooting at symbols

luckily this arrow ork ain't seen the player

luckily this arrow ork ain’t seen the player

throw the book

throw the book

no need to fight animals (shame on Lara!) X-D

no need to fight animals (shame on Lara!) X-D

this is the egypt level

this is the egypt level

knight and large ork have a quarrel

knight and large ork have a quarrel

no adventure game is complete without sceletons (of course X-D)

no adventure game is complete without sceletons (of course X-D)

this guy looks nasty - superb animations - luckily enemy is even slower whan savage

this guy looks nasty – superb animations – luckily enemy is even slower whan savage

full story:

“The Lord created Chaos and divided it into two parts, the Light and the Darkness.

He gave to them life and thought, and so were born the Spirit of Light and the Prince of Darkness.

But the Prince held the unspoken desire of supplanting his Father.

He learned the secret language of Creation and tried to create a new being.

But the newborn would not accept the commands of the Prince of Darkness, and growing stronger, took part of his own essence and created terrible monsters and demons.

The Lord and the Prince of Light tried to stop it, and they waged a great war.

Gradually, the being was weakened and finally defeated, but after this, the Father was exhausted and withdrew into the depths of the Universe.

The younger gods, proud of the victory, completed the creations of their father, giving shape to the Sun, the Moon and the Earth.

However, the Prince of Darkness attempted to corrupt the souls of the fledgling race of man, amidst the confusion of a new war incited by dark creatures of his own creation.

The Earth was in a moment of extreme danger, so one of the younger daughters, Ianna, cast a powerful spell that expelled the gods from their dwelling place and kept the Earth closed to them.

The Spirit of the Light went to the Sun and from there protected the Earth during the day.

Ianna went to the Moon, to protect it during the night.

Thus began the cycle of Day and Night, and a new age of balance was born over the Earth.

But all of the gods’ creations remained, leaving mankind to contend alone against the diabolical fiends.

The struggle continued for many years until a young hero emerged to defy the Darkness.

He was chosen by Ianna to wield the Sacred Sword and fought the Evil in its own lair.

The Darkness was defeated, but the hero was mortally wounded, and his friends buried him with his Sword in the Temple of Ianna.

After that, they hid four magical gems, which unlock his tomb, where the sword is kept.[2]

But all that was long ago.

Now, something strange is happening.

The signals are clear.

Foul creatures are awakening from their dormancy and spreading terror and destruction.

The Darkness has returned, and the end is near.

A new hero is needed, a chosen one who will wield the Sword, and destroy the Enemy forever.[3]

This “evil blade” in the game title is in fact, the “Sword of Light” when it is possessed by the forces of darkness (as shown in the intro video).

It is liberated and becomes the Sword of Light when the hero comes and imbues it with the six magical runes.”

src: wikipedia.org

gore:

gore might be disabled per default, unless user unlocks it in the options with password: “Sesame”

liked this article?

  • only together we can create a truly free world
  • plz support dwaves to keep it up & running!
  • (yes the info on the internet is (mostly) free but beer is still not free (still have to work on that))
  • really really hate advertisement
  • contribute: whenever a solution was found, blog about it for others to find!
  • talk about, recommend & link to this blog and articles
  • thanks to all who contribute!
admin