Dark Deity 2
Developer: Sword & Axe LLC
Publisher: indie.io
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $24.99 USD – Available Here
Overview
Tactical RPGs have seen something of a resurgence in recent years, but this mostly was thanks to HD re-releases of classics and a couple of well-known franchises continuing this unique take on the genre. On the flip side, there has been very little in the way of experimentation for bigger titles broaching the genre, leaving things wide open for indie developers, especially those aiming to harken back to some of the classics.
This led to Sword & Axe LLC making their first attempt at a tactical RPG with Dark Deity back in 2021 and now have spent the last four years refining their art, quite literally, to present an upgraded sequel with improved spritework, writing, and more with Dark Deity 2. The question is, does this indie game offer just enough of that old-school feeling to scratch the TRPG itch?
Story
Over twenty years have passed since the Empyrean War (the first game), and the previous leader Irving, is now the Grandmaster of the Order of Eternals, a peacekeeping group in the land of Verroa meant to keep themselves neutral in an effort to protect the land from outliers and unknown threats. He has assigned his three “children” Gwyn, Riordan, and the adopted Arthur, to lead their own unit to investigate a new magical artifact located in a nearby country. While there however it isn’t long before the trio, joined by a bevy of brand new faces that make up their allies including a freshly recruited “adept” from the country, find themselves mixed up in the turmoil of a war boiling over as the town they find themselves staying in is raised to the ground by empire forces. To make matters worse, even the magical elements holding the world together start going haywire and it is up to our small but ever-growing group of heroes to stand up and save the world.
It is worth noting that while Dark Deity 2 is a sequel, it does not really require players to have played the original game since such a large time skip has happened between games and unfortunately there really isn’t a whole lot used from the original games for fans to actually enjoy as callbacks. Irving and a few other returning characters spend barely any time on screen or in the actual grand storyline while the only returning combat character is the now fully grown Alden, serving as something of an advisor to Irving’s three children. One thing that is quite interesting is the fact that, throughout the story, players will need to make specific decisions that can lock them into specific story routes, wiping entire characters from the story in surprisingly solid faction, ensuring players have to replay the title at least a little to see how things might unfold a bit differently, however little it actually does, through the decent enough storyline that plays out once things finally start rolling and make the bigger reveals.
Thankfully, the actual characters themselves are well-written and have strong personalities throughout the story with Gwyn struggling to find her footing as the de facto leader, Arthur trying to find his place in the world, and the goofy Riordan doing what he can to keep everyone together. It is a bit unfortunate that a lot of characters tend to get ushered to the side after they are introduced though. While there are a colorful crew of characters that join the player’s army throughout the story, usually each one given a few chapters worth of storyline, once that is done they are unfortunately shifted off to the sidelines where, unless they happen to be a player favorite, they’ll stay.
This is due to both map’s having deployment limits and the lack of a more… interesting bond system. While units can still fight near one another and raise their bond level with certain characters, there is no romance system of any kind in the game, meaning players can’t play match maker at all with their favorites. Instead, raising bond levels tends to reward either items or money with every other level having a unique interaction between the characters that is sadly unvoiced as well. This does give players something of a unique look at some of the cast that aren’t expanded upon as much as they should be, but it feels lacking in the end.
Gameplay
At its core Dark Deity 2 is designed as an old-school tactical RPG but players have been given a wide-range of options right out of the gate on how they want to customize their approach to the game’s difficulty. Rather than featuring no difficulty options at all, the title offers four versions ranging from easy to so hard that if even a single ally unit falls in battle it results in a game over and even then these difficulties can be modified further. Players can randomize the types of enemies they’ll face off against, randomize ally recruitment, boost enemy strength or ally stat growth, boost money earned and XP earned, and more. These tweaks can all make the game quite broken, one way or another, but are a welcome option for those who want to take and vary things up and give players a chance to experiment, including the entire option of turning off turn limits.
As players enter into a chapter they’ll watch the story play out before beginning a battle where they’ll have some limited selection of where and what units to use in the fight. As mentioned before, every battle has a turn limit of sorts (unless players turn it off) as well as a failure state which generally involves Gwyn or another main character falling in battle. The player can make all of their units move during their phase, attacking and positioning themselves as they wish, before the enemy’s entire team gets the same option. As many would expect with this type of tactical RPG, units not slain by an attack will counter-attack if possible, potentially putting players at risk if they don’t finish off a foe. This also happens to be where “skills” can come into play.
Every battle each unit has a certain amount of mana available to use skills and these can involve healing, buffing allies or debuffing enemies, and directly attacking a foe without fear of retaliation, making it a surefire way to deal damage and finish off a foe that may have special buffs unique to the stage. Should a player lose a unit in combat, they will not die but will be unavailable for the rest of the fight and suffer stat decreases for a fight or two afterwards if not left to rest. It is worth noting that sometimes players will battle with “allied” units on their side and unfortunately the ally AI is rather dumb. These units can often charge headlong into an enemy army and die the next turn, step into trapped locations, or standby and do nothing whatsoever, making them unreliable despite pitching most of these battles as having them play competently.
While the combat itself can be fairly straightforward, the real details involve actually building up the player’s army. While stat gains per level up are randomized, unit customization is extensive to the point that players can not only change a unit’s weapon fitting their class, but even equip two runes to each weapon that offer unique bonuses of their own. On top of this, players can even craft rings using gems obtained throughout battle or buying them from traders and equipping them on units. These rings can have minor effects or be incredibly ridiculous depending on how players make use of them, especially since standard attacks derive different stats from skills.
Alongside this as a character reaches certain level points they will be able to upgrade to a stronger class. Players cannot change the base-class of a unit but at tier 2 they can access four different classes to choose from, each with their own unique properties and attacks. Some are simply stronger versions of the base-class while others drastically alter the way a character might play. To take things further, once players reach the level of tier 3 they can once again advance to an even higher class that is even more varied. There is some overlap at this point but the amount of detail and option here is extensive, especially since players can choose to revert to another class (at the cost of upgrade material) if they don’t like their choices.
Audio & Visuals
Dark Deity 2 makes excellent work of pixel art for its in-game sprites and the environments that the characters will battle in. These battlegrounds are widely varied and have a decent layout, keeping players interested with new threats coming around almost every chapter. Combat animations are also extensive, though it does seem like some skill attack animations have issues playing like they should. When not shown as sprites, the characters are displayed in high quality visual novel style portraits that are impressive looking, albeit lacking a bit in variation for their expressions. Even the menus are displayed with a retro feel to them, even if they are a bit annoying to navigate. It is also worth noting that every map goes slightly off-screen for an unknown reason.
It is rather impressive to say that all of the game’s story dialogue is voiced in English, with the voice work itself being something of a mixed bag. Nonetheless, considering this is an indie effort, having so many unique voices for characters, including side-characters that can vanish entirely from the story is an impressive offering. What is unfortunate, as mentioned before, is the complete lack of voice work for the bond dialogues, making them feel even more like afterthoughts. As far as the soundtrack goes, the game features an impressive array of background music that works well with the game’s stylings.
Overall
Dark Deity 2 makes clear improvements over the original, offering extensive unit customization and difficulty levels to give players as hard of a challenge or simple breeze as they wish. With retro-style pixel graphics that look impressive in motion, strong core gameplay, and a solid enough storyline, albeit one that doesn’t take advantage of its potential, this indie TRPG is one certainly worth checking out, especially for those looking to scratch that retro itch.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
