Dark Destiny By Megaman4540 - EGD 2017 Review

Dark Destiny is a game created by megaman4540

More often than not, your chosen creator imposes many technical and design limitations on the games created with it. According to some, Dark Destiny by megaman4540 was a victim of such limitations; they argue that the game has a fun core which is soured by some of the more questionable features of the robot creator. However, I vehemently disagree with this statement. Instead, I would argue that Dark Destiny is plagued more by poor design choices than by its engine, and a simple switch over to another creator would do little to amend the game�s more glaring flaws.

However, Dark Destiny does get some things right. For instance, the difficulty curve is well executed, with the challenge level gradually escalating at a comfortable pace as you progress. The game has very few unprecedented difficulty spikes, with the more difficult segments that do exist allowing the player to first analyse the path ahead of them before proceeding. A great example of this is a sequence near the end where the level turns back on itself, allowing one to see the upcoming challenge from a place of relative safety. This well-designed difficulty curve is enhanced by good health pack distribution, with pickups being placed periodically throughout the levels such that a player never feels that they have too little health to take on the next segment.

Another thing Dark Destiny does well is laying out the levels in such a way that encourages the player to develop varied tactics. Earlier on in the game, there are two sequential challenges that are similar in concept but vastly different in execution. The first uses slippery floors which, in conjunction with the low amount of health the average player will have at that point, encouraging them to keep their distance and avoid close quarters combat. The following encounter uses the same enemy but it takes place in a small, cramped chamber with health packs located outside. This setup favours a more reckless playstyle than the previous one, forcing players to keep on their toes and mix up their strategies.

Outside of these great moments though, Dark Destiny suffers from unnecessarily obtuse level design choices. The most egregious of these is the game�s obsession with unavoidable damage. There are several points throughout the game that forces the player to pass through a corridor lined with turrets that will hurt them without fail upon passing through. Even though the damage dealt is relatively minor compared to the game�s actual encounters, it�s still incredibly annoying to know that you are being punished for seemingly no reason. One of these hallways has so many turrets that it causes the framerate to noticeably drop, all for the sake of a small amount of unavoidable damage.

The game also has a habit of thrusting the player into situations where they must depend on luck as opposed to skill in order to survive. By far the worst example of this is one sequence near the end of the game which essentially boils down to a straight corridor filled with more foes than you can reasonably be expected to fight. The infinitely respawning enemies at the beginning of this gauntlet ensure that you don�t have time to stop and take them out one by one, meaning that the best way of tackling this challenge is to make a mad dash through. When you factor in the clustered enemies, tight spaces and the guaranteed damage at the end, this sequence very quickly becomes a test of patience in which the player blindly hopes that the AI will allow them to pass with enough health in order to survive the turrets. It is a terribly designed section that drags the experience of the entire game down with it.

Though they are not nearly as atrocious, the rest of Dark Destiny�s challenges are rarely enjoyable or well-designed. They tend to be repetitive, with the game�s first section literally using the same encounter three times in a row. Additionally, there is a point very early on that deals heavy damage and is difficult to avoid unless you know that it�s coming, potentially turning it into a death trap on one�s first run-through. Throughout the levels, the skeleton of a story is presented to the player, though it�s hardly fleshed out and the game wouldn�t be much different without it. To top it all off, the visual design of the game is exceptionally drab and boring, with most rooms being simple rectangles that connect to other simple rectangles. All this adds up to create a game that is aggressively mediocre in most regards and that has very few parts that really stand out.

The Verdict

Though it does have its highlights, the poor design choices of Dark Destiny keep it from being an enjoyable experience, regardless of the designer�s choice of creator.