A game that was ahead of it's time when it hit the stores. Released during the same time frame as the viking epic "rune", it featured much crispier graphics, supperb level design and showcased a combat system that even today's games haven't managed to duplicate, blade of darkness is a must have for any third person melee combat lover.
Mixing light exploration with a fantasy setting and, as above mentioned, some of the best combat mechanics ever developed, it's only real flaw can be pointed at the lack luster game story and overly simple multiplayer. But I garantee you'll have a blast hacking and slashing your way through hordes of goblins, orcs, trolls and many more dificult opponents, along with some trully challenging boss fights that today's games so often fail to deliver.
Here's to hoping that someone will take this gem and release it via DLC on xbox live or PSN.… Expand

I hate those review magazines..THIS WAS THE BEST F*CKIN AWESOME hack and slash 3rd person game of its time.Period.A TRUE LEGEND!!!The shadows were overwhelming,the music was trully epic,the battles were really hard,the enemies were f*cking awesome and brutal,the fatalities differed if you hit different parts of the body..pure awesomeness!!!Although mainly underrated by the press,i remember PC magazine gave it a 90%!!!Thank god i saw it on the package and bought it immediately!(ps.PC magazine of that time was really nasty on scoring.. ;) )… Collapse

At present I'm playing through my 6th or 7th or so playthough. I truly cannot remember how many times I played this game, it is that great. This is the only time in my life I've played any game so much and yet loved every second of it. If you've played fighting games and have always wanted something more deep and thoughtful, look no further. Above all else thing game excells at it's melee combat. Far better than Dark messiah and Oblivion is a joke to this game. You don't just randomly attack your enemy clicking the attack button, every swipe of your sword must be a planned maneuver. If you attack to early, or you use the wrong combo you could easily find yourself in a bad situation. That brings me to the other incredible feature of this game, the AI. In most games your AI will simply run at you attacking wildly. Well there are some enemies that do that here, but those are the worst. Knights for example are some of the hardest, they will strafe slowly around you shield always at the ready only attacking when it is absolutely best for them to hit you. The AI dictates the difficulty, unfortunately there are some over sights by the developers and some of the enemies they seemed to design to be "hard". I'm talking about golems, they're attacks are some of the easiest to dodge and because of that they are easy to take down. But then there are moments where the AI shines through, enemies with health potions will wait until they are far enough away from you to heal instead blindly healing. Oh yes, healing takes time, it is part of the strategy of the game. You always must ask yourself, heal now or risk having to risk healing in battle(bad). And potions are not easy to come by. Even as a veteran I found my self barely able to stay alive as a dwarf nearing the end of the game. The game scales with difficulty perfectly. Although at first the game may seem clunky and complicated, it eventually unfolds into an epic adventure with you as the hero. Now if you do not like melee combat, I mean real melee combat as I described you'll get bored or frustrated very quickly. There is archery, however it is essentially pointless because you can do maybe 50dmg with a bow to enemies with 1000+hp that charge at you. So if you like a good, real, in-depth melee hack and slash game Severance is definitely for you. And for those who were hoping for a sequel, I hope I will be able to work one out. I'm an upcoming independent developer and I'm looking into making a remake of Severance, this time with archery and without the lock-on control.… Expand

I am only now playing Blade of Darkness. For anyone reading this, this game still is better then most of it's modern counterparts. If you're not a "eew the graphics are not as good as Crysis-whiner", PLAY THIS THING!!!! One note on the audio though: There's a reason the music is fantastic. Most music tracks are live orchestra loops, coming from a premade CD. These loops can be found in numerous budget titles. With this in mind, you could say the audio is the only thing in this game not up to par with the rest. It still is functional though. Also, these loops are converted to mono, degrading the loops in quality. in Stereo, they sound FAR better. I do have one more thing to say: the loops are "beefed up" with additional sampled instruments. Here you can see a hint of the "composer's quality". These additional melodies are outstanding. The tracks where he added horn melodies dubbed by a tenor singer are outstanding en very immersive. Let's hope the composer did better in other games. Conclusively: This game is worth every penny. Pick it up, you WILL NOT regret it!!!… Expand

It just goes to show that the critics havn't got a clue. As a major game player on all formats Blade of Darkness still stands head and shoulders above other medevil fighting games. There are no stupid numbers above opponents heads and enemies fill the screen to give the feel of an actual combat. The lighting and graphic design are superb, this game should definately be remade for the latest computers, if only Codemasters were still around.… Expand

This is a classic melee fighting game, begging to be rediscovered (or even better, sequelized or remade). Terrific bloody combat, great weapons, smart enemies, tons of gore, huge levels, tons of moves, four playable characters, great lighting and shadow effects, and awesome music. What more do you want? Blade of Darkness makes games like Rune and Enclave look like kiddie games.

Only the new Prince of Persia games (Sands of Time, Warrior Within) have equalled this brilliant melee fighting game. The fighting system resemblences games like Virtual Fighter, in that you have dozens of moves you can use and you need to use them wisely to survive. Simply hacking the left mouse button will do you no good (like in Rune). It gives great pleasure to outwit a horde of monsters with series of cool moves. This is a must have for pro gamers, as it is hard, rewarding and long.… Expand

Best medieval game ever, Lot of weapons, lot of combos (more with mods) and a unique system of combat that is the best ever made, you hit where you want legs head arms.

I love cutting things off!! iz funny.

THE BEST GAME EVER PLAYED.

Best hack-n-slash game ever.

My favourite game.