Age of Darkness: Final Stand is an RTS with an ominous story: Can you survive the night?
Age of Darkness: Final Stand is a survival RTS set in a dark fantasy world. The game was developed by Playside Studios Ltd., one of Australia’s largest game developers, creating games over a range of platforms, such as Dumb Ways To Die on mobile and VR title Zombie Riot. Team 17, known for publishing games like Killer Frequency and Blasphemous II, is the publisher of Age of Darkness: Final Stand.
RTS or real-time strategy is a subgenre of strategy video games that does not progress by turns like Turn-based Strategy games but allows the player to play in ‘real-time’. Brett Sperry first coined a real-time strategy to market Dune II, one of the first RTS games released in 1992.
In RTS games, you have to keep in mind that you generally control multiple units, all while you build up your base to its strongest. Base building is always limited, generally, as you need to accumulate resources you gain by controlling a specific point on the map or having specific types of units or structures devoted to gathering your much-needed resources.
Age of Darkness: Final Stand brings a dark fantasy storyline reminiscent of Diablo and Dark Souls in the campaign mode. The game has two modes: Campaign mode, where you can experience the story through the different missions, and Survival mode. This mode lets you pick which of the three factions you can play with as well as which difficulty you play the map at. Each of the three factions has two hero units with specialties and abilities.
The Order, a faction that has a slow build-up in the beginning but with powerful attackers late game, has Edwin Everard, Wielder of the Flame, and Merek Longhold, The Bolstering Might; both are close-range fighters focusing on dealing heavy damage to enemy units. Merek has abilities that buff and heal units around him alongside his damage abilities. On the other hand, Edwin has a passive that emboldens the units in range and powerful flame attacks.
The second faction is The Rebellion, which has a quicker expansion rate than The Order. The hero Units here are Aelis Syren, Queen of Nothing, and Cyrus Bravaris, The Rebel Arm. Aelis is a melee fighter who focuses on abilities that buff her allied units, much like her Queens Rage, which buffs nearby units’ attack speed. Conversely, Cyrus is a long-range fighter, highly capable of slowing down enemy units and sniping them if used well.
The last playable faction is The Volatists, which have a highly aggressive setup when playing. This group is far stronger during the night cycle of the game. The two hero units of The Volatists are Vizargo Oriah, The Consumed Hand, and Aurelia, Daughter of Ruin. While both are close-range fighters, Vizargo can take long-range attacks once night hits; his abilities focus on stuns and lifestyle. Aurelia has no passives, but all her abilities focus on dealing a large amount of damage to her opponents.
You have three classes of units in all three factions: Infantry, your basic melee attackers that are easy to train and quick to get out, and your heavily armored units. Ranged attackers, such as your archer, while having low health, deal damage from a distance and can be used to arm your towers. Finally, you have mages; most tend to be healers, although they can deal some hefty damage themselves. You also have siege units that you can make use of.
Much like any RTS, you need to focus on resource gathering and bolstering your troops during defense missions and going on the offensive during more attack-based missions in the campaign. Your resources are Gold, wood, stone, iron, and a special resource called Dark Essence. Gold, Stone, and Iron can be found in the ground in deposits.
Although you generate Gold from your keep and the housing you create. Dark Essence, however, you will only get by killing Elite Nightmares on a Death Night, so it is something you will only really gather up in Survival Mode. Dark Essence is used for final upgrades to buildings as well as for reviving your hero, as they usually have a lengthy wait time to revive.
The campaign opens up with a well-drawn cinematic setting of the scene of the first mission and explains some of the lore behind Age of Darkness: Final Stand. The world is set within the confines of a dark medieval fantasy where survival against nightmares is everything. These creatures don’t need siege weapons to take down your defenses when a horde comes knocking, which is inevitable in Survival Mode and some Campaign missions. The Nightmares don’t just appear from nowhere, usually spawning from fissures or cracks in the Veil. For those who just want to enjoy the story, there are three acts to play through in the Age of Darkness: Final Stand campaign.
Each mission is a different campaign, with its own difficulties and completion objectives, although one objective stays the same: Keep your heroes alive. If they get killed, that means game over for the mission. For one mission, you could just use your hero to walk through an enemy base, picking up extra units along the way. Next, you may have to scramble to get defenses built as you have to survive wave after wave of Nightmares or Iron Talon.
While there is a set difficulty for campaign mode in Age of Darkness: Final Stand, you can choose your difficulty in Survival Mode. The Difficulties are Easy, Normal, Veteran, Horrific, and Nightmare. Each difficulty comes with its challenges, but you can also set your custom difficulty settings with its modifier.
The overall controls of Age of Darkness: Final Stand is identical to any RTS. However, it has a unique hotkey for selecting every unit not in a currently set control group for easier management. If the key bindings aren’t your liking, you can easily rebind them to how you want them.
The Sound Engineering is well done; the background music and sound effects help create an immersive game where you can lose track of time as you build up your armies and base. The Voice Acting is amazing, especially during the cutscenes, as the voice actors can bring through the emotions and lines of the characters extremely well.
Age of Darkness: Final Stand’s graphics are great, and if the UI isn’t big enough for you, a setting in the options menu can help you change it. The design of the characters and units are unique and suit the dark medieval style of Age of Darkness: Final Stand and give off an old-school RTS feel like Warcraft 3 or StarCraft.
Overall, Age of Darkness: Final Stand is an excellent defensive RTS with a dark yet gripping story that is recommended for those with some experience in RTS. However, if the game is your first trip into RTS, it will be a walk through a zombie-infested park during the feasting hour, as it can be overwhelming in Survival Mode when you have to prepare for the overwhelming hordes on Death Night. While there are a few visual glitches here and there, they don’t detract from the game.
