Blade of Darkness looks new again thanks to modding Last year, I found out about Severance: Blade of Darkness, a hack-and-slash PC game from 2001. While its combat - the sort of. Blade of Darkness is a video game published in 2001 on Windows by Codemasters Software Company Limited, The. It's an action game, set in a fantasy and barbarian themes.

Oct 23, 2003  Blade of Darkness (a.k.a. Blade) is a 3D action game developed by Rebel Act studios. It combines RPG and adventure elements into a mind-blowing, real. It worked fine for me on windows 10 a few weeks ago, crashes now though. EDIT: I got mine working again. I did three things all at once so I have no idea which solved it for me, sorry! 1) I reran DXSetup.exe in Darkness II Drivers DirectX9 2) I reran vcredistx86.exe in Darkness II Drivers VCRedist2008 and chose the 'repair' option.

So that's the hype out of the way, then. If the truth be known, once the initial amusement has worn off, being able to dismember your opponents is a bit of a gimmick, and compared to a good honest sword, the limb of some goblin (or similarly stereotypical fantasy bad guy) doesn't make much of a weapon.

Severance sees players taking the role of one of four characters, each with his or her own fighting style and choice of weaponry. The knight uses one-handed swords and shields, the barbarian prefers two-handed, heavy broadswords, the more agile amazon uses staves and bows, and the sturdy dwarf employs, you guessed it, an axe. Nothing new there, then.

But the game's environmental modelling is rather more novel. Similar to this month's Hostile Waters, it has an understated physics system, so stacked crates, stools, tables and Severance's other props move and behave as you would expect. Flaming torches can be used to burn other flammable objects, and cast real-time, realistic shadows on walls and other scenery. Often the first warning you'll get of an impending fight is seeing the shadow of a bad guy round a corner; this is an atmospheric touch.

Though the castles, cliffs and dungeons of Severance are well-textured, detailed and lifelike, they carry quite a processor overhead. Those real-time shadows don't help either, and it was often necessary to turn them off to maintain a reasonable frame-rate. Owners of low-end machines need not apply.

The plot is the usual nonsense about the forces of evil and a legendary sword, but makes a convenient excuse for the action. Each character starts in a different location, and goes about retrieving the sword in a different way, so once you've finished the game (or become irretrievably stuck) as one character, there's still plenty of replay value. Simple puzzles are involved occasionally, but rarely venture outside the familiar 'kill-the-orc-and-get-the-key' or 'press-the-button-and-open-the-door' varieties. Commendably, though, thanks to some useful text labels and a carefully designed interface, it's always obvious which level elements can be interacted with, and which are just window dressing.

Combat is straightforward enough - the controls are mouse-and-keyboard, and feel much like Ritual's Heavy Metal: FAKK2. Pressing different directional keys while attacking gives different attacks, and various combos are possible with button sequences. As your character kills enemies and gains levels, you'll get new combos and stat increases. There's a lock-on button to make sure you're always facing your foe, so it's possible to dodge and roll sideways while still being ready to attack - almost a 'circle-strafing' kind of manoeuvre. Characters with shields can block attacks, but too much of that behaviour will cause your shield to break.

More interestingly, there's a stamina bar that decreases with each attack. Using a weapon that is too heavy for your character will cause it to deplete rapidly and leave you standing breathless and vulnerable. This forces players into a more thoughtful fighting style than, say, Oni - the button-bashers will soon find themselves lying on the floor, probably with something less than a full complement of limbs.

Though the weapon-collecting and levelling-up of Severance invite comparisons with Diablo, this is a much more action-oriented game. Higher levels just mean more health and the ability to use larger swords - both always welcome, but it doesn't go any deeper than that. Severance is much more akin to Rune, but with a much more intuitive and controllable combat system.

Conclusion

Whether or not Severance is the game for you boils down to how complex you like your entertainment. It's certainly one of the best-looking third-person games around, and with the four characters and about 25 levels in total, it offers excellent value for money. But it's not rocket science, and if you're looking for a Diablo-type experience you'll be disappointed. If, though, the prospect of some good old-fashioned hack'n'slash fun appeals, you could do a lot worse than Codemasters' latest adventure.

Review By GamesDomain

External links

Captures and Snapshots

Screenshots from MobyGames.com

Comments and reviews

Marta Sanchez2019-08-100 point

Ok .. I follow the instructions of KYO and it work. BUT when the game start and i need to choose something the crash and quit to desktop..
any ideas?

nik2019-08-080 point

i need the exact steps to run this on win 10 because i get the intro but then right after it crashes.

Brosky2019-04-201 point

@marvgeek you need to configure the settings before you can play the game

LRGPNS2019-03-170 point

Yes, it can be run in WINE. Your mileage may vary but I've been able to play the game completely through that way once the sound/graphics settings were correct.
Bear in mind it's a somewhat buggy game even on newer Windows.

golimar2019-03-131 point

Does it run on Wine?

Dunestorm2019-02-261 point

v Codemasters no longer owns the rights to the game, nobody knows who does. Since it was pulled from GoG then I think this is the best option available to literally anyone wanting to play it.

Kdog2019-01-30-2 points

I'm curious, considering the loose definitions of abandonware, has someone asked codemasters if this is kosher? Is there some bit of information I'm missing?

Oriol2018-12-031 point

Hey, I have a problem. I installed it, but when I run it, it crashes :( What can I do?

ALBERTO2018-10-277 points

ONE OF THE BEST GAMES I HAVE PLAYED ALONG MY LIFE ( I AM 48 YEARS OLD :).
AND IT´S A SPANISH GAME. THE SAME TEAM THAT MAKED COMMANDOS. ANOTHER GREAT GAME. GREETINGS FROM SPAIN !!. ¡VIVA ESPAÑA!

cad2018-10-030 point

thisguy I think next get an alcohol 120% or any other program to run your iso and install the game, then run patch to patch it.

ThisGuy2018-09-25-3 points

I have no idea what I am doing..I want this game back in my life so bad though, can I get a step by step guide because I clearly suck at this and cant figure it out. I downloaded the iso version and the 8MB bug fix and idk where to go from here..

Rodrigo2018-08-120 point

Thank you very much for everything you do!
this is just the version I was looking for
is the spanish one!
thank you!! warm regards for everyone there!

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cris2018-07-180 point

anyone knows a trainer for this game ?

Cris2018-07-181 point

Also, when i try to save sometimes the game crashes. Any ideas ? Thx. xD

Cris2018-07-170 point

it worked. lol. Searching for the game for like 3 months. If u install what kyo said , select 3dfx voodoo 1-2 from video, config i have it at 1042x768 at 120hz, windows 10 , 64 , no black write appears and is very clear to see what i select. hope i could help u

King of Skulls2018-05-172 points

Thanks! :)

Mallik2018-02-231 point

Good work

DarkPaladin2017-04-15-1 point

Do you have to have a disc in order to play the game? Because I dont have one..

Kyo2017-04-0910 points

You can make it to work with 3dfx:
https://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1061134622&postcount=7
Patch:
http://www.moddb.com/games/severance-blade-of-darkness/downloads/blade-of-darkness-patch-v1001-us-version
Win 10 64-bit, nGlide 1.05 - no crash, no black text.

Xavier512017-04-012 points

Yes it works for Win 10. I've got it working on Win 10 x64.
BUT.
- You must rename the intro video (main.mpg) in the:
CodemastersBlade of DarknessDatavideo
Folder. Otherwise, when you try to run the game, you may see an error due to the video being unable to play.
You will likely need the openGL renderer. Otherwise, you will only see black text. Game will run, but you will have no idea what options you are selecting.
The DLL which is in the zip you download, must be copied to the:
CodemastersBlade of DarknessBinRaster
Folder. Then, you will see rOpenGL as an option in the video list.
You will be able to play in a small window, or full screen.
I don't know how stable this arrangement is, but at least it is a start.

Hamed Taha2017-02-212 points

Can i run the game with Windows 10 ?

MD2017-01-230 point

The game is not from UK, it is spanish.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severance:_Blade_of_Darkness

silver2016-10-25-4 points

What is the best 'setup' for this on windows 7?

marvgeek2016-10-040 point

I got it working, but when i tried to download openGL to fix the black text, i still don't see openGL in the settings options

marvgeek2016-10-04-4 points

Do you need a disc for this? I got it installed, but when i click the icon the play game option is there but i can't click on it like a disc is missing. help?

greatgame2016-07-143 points

great game!

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smidsy2016-07-102 points

thank you thank you thank you i have been looking for this game for so long you have made me very happy it works

free999enigma2016-03-062 points

I made a video for this good game :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNK0_G0CGvk

LRGPNS2015-09-250 point

The black captions thing is a bug with the DirectX renderer. Unfortunately there's no perfect renderer solution for the game, but this version of the OpenGL renderer, while not crashproof, seems to be the generally best solution:
http://sgi.bigtruck-canada.ca/patches/rOpenGL.zip

emilio2015-07-15-1 point Windows version

I cant see the highlighted text in the menus. All captions are black.. Is something related to the resolution? Also, although I have gore activated, I dont see blood spillings.

admin2015-03-022 points Windows version

This is in english

Goodatlosing2015-02-130 point Windows version

Any english version yet?

admin2015-01-161 point Windows version

True, ISO was supposed to be in English and Russian, but it's heavily modified to be full Russian. Trying to find the English version.

john2015-01-142 points Windows version

Its in Russian, beware

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