Darkhaven Preview: A new name carves a path in a beloved genre

Some of the creators behind Diablo II are back with their own action role-playing game. And I've spent some time investigating whether it's something to look forward to. Although the game is in an extremely early stage, there is a lot to appreciate in the preview version. When you start the game, you are greeted by the hooded face we saw on the cover of Diablo II, but now with a purple aesthetic. It's clear that Moonbeast Productions is inspired by its previous creations. Several of the developers at this studio created the very first and second games in the series at Blizzard Entertainment. It's a little exciting that one of their biggest competitors today is a game they helped develop. Especially considering the renewed interest Diablo II has received thanks to its new expansion.

Darkhaven begins in a ruined fort, with desolate music. You stand in the middle of the ruins and take on the role of a seemingly human character. You don't have much equipment and your character is relatively weak. For those of you who have played action role-playing games before, this probably sounds familiar. I thought so too, and immediately set out into the world. I simply wanted to start beating up monsters. The first thing I noticed was the destruction of terrain. When I struck with my axe, both the ground and buildings disappeared. I'll be honest and say that I haven't played a game in this genre with this feature before. You can dig up treasures, open up holes with monsters and even caves. You can then enter these places to loot and defeat enemies. It's much more fun than it sounds and fits the genre well. It feels good to open a path and find a hidden chamber with treasures. This also helps to make the world in this genre even more interesting. Behind every wall, there may be things to find.

Because of how early this is in its development, I can forgive things like the user interface, fonts, and other elements not looking like they belong in the same game. I can also forgive optimisation problems and technical shortcomings. Unfortunately, the demo suffers from these types of problems. From what I've played, this looks like a prototype, an attempt to show that Moonbeast Productions has something interesting in the works. Although the tone, aesthetics, and design are somewhat reminiscent of Diablo, I think the pace is similar to Titan Quest. Things are a little slower and it doesn't feel as snappy. On the other hand, you can jump and it feels more like a full-fledged 3D game than many of its competitors. I found that, just like in Donkey Kong Bananza for Switch 2, the camera can get stuck and become awkward when you're digging and fighting underground. This is probably a problem the developers will fix, but it's something that's clear in the preview version. Of course, much of this can be overlooked at this stage of development.

The reason I like destructible environments is how the entire title is built around this. You can drain water from lakes and open up flooded ancient ruins with monsters and treasures. The environments also remember where you have fought and what is happening in the world. Destroyed things remain destroyed. If you don't like this, you can also build things in this game, which really sets it apart from titles like Path of Exile or Titan Quest II. It's not your classic Torchlight or Diablo, but something different and exciting thanks to this functionality. It's not quite on par with something like The Forest or Rust, but rather a title similar to V-Rising. It's a little unclear how much building will be included in this title. The difference between this and V-Rising is that the latter is based more on the survival aspect than Darkhaven seems to be. Darkhaven is much closer to Titan Quest, Torchlight and Diablo than that title is. You can multi-class your character in this game, which I like. You can also combine up to three skill trees, which contributes to a setup that makes your character unique. It reminds me a bit of the system in Titan Quest and its sequels.

If you are like me and have tried many action role-playing games over the years, this may be of interest to you. However, how this title turns out depends somewhat on whether their Kickstarter campaign is fully funded. I am positive about this, even though the demo version is more of a prototype than a finished experience. I also think the developers are on the right track with their approach of allowing players to build their characters based on more than one class and incorporating elements such as gems, runes and similar items with bonuses. The developers also promise that there will be major world events that shape the path you fight on. In the limited version we were able to test, there was only one such event. It unlocks when you've been following the main quests for a while, and when it sweeps across the campaign world, you immediately notice that something is wrong. It's a wave of undead sweeping across the campaign world, which in practice means more undead enemies and a world that is slowly dying. I like it because you can stop it or let it happen. The choice of how to deal with these world events is yours, and it affects your campaign in more ways than one.

If you're hungry for something different, Darkhaven might be for you. With its destructible and dynamic world, it stands out from its competitors. Thanks to great music, game design and fantastic ambient sounds, it manages to create something unique. Although the experience itself is not difficult compared to its competitors, there is a lot of potential with this setup. It is rare to see something so different in this genre. Whether or not this will become a full-fledged game remains to be seen. However, I can say with a clear conscience that I want to try the finished game. Hopefully, Moonbeast Productions will manage to deliver a different, yet familiar, entertaining and rewarding action role-playing game. It is definitely something that those who appreciate the genre need to keep an eye on.