This review contains spoilers
Dark Cloud was the first PlayStation 2 game I ever played. When I first got a PS2 back in Christmas 2000 all I had was the demo disc that came with it for a wee while and I absolutely rinsed that Dark Cloud demo over and over. So it’s safe to say that it means quite a lot to me, even in just a nostalgic sense.
Flash forward 21 years and there’s me actually beaten the game for the first time. The little 6 year old that was so in awe of the giant purple genie destroying the world would be proud.
The character and world design is superb. Taking influence from the best parts of Toriyama and Ocarina Of Time, I found it absolutely charming. The music and sound design is also excellent, especially the title screen, which is up there with some of the all time greats.
Narratively it had some real highs and lows. The initial intrigue of trying to fix the world, slowly fades and is replaced by some fun character and setting development moments for the cast of the game. I would have liked Toan to have had more of a character rather than be a blank avatar for the player, but I suppose that’s a trapping of the genre. Any plot points of significance are absolutely backloaded into the final area which to be honest was a little too late for me and just ended up being a bit of an exposition dump. It would have worked better drip fed throughout the game.
It’s the gameplay that holds up the least well sadly. Finding the right pieces to build the towns perfectly is great, absolutely adored building wee mighty max houses and constructing the really well thought out towns. The dungeon crawling has aged pretty badly though, it’s repetitive, frustrating and a bit of a drag overall. Don’t get me wrong in the ps2 era it was fine but in 2021 I really didn’t get on with it. Especially hated the entire final dungeon/boss, which I got absolutely no joy out of.
I’m glad I finally made my way through Dark Cloud, despite its flaws I had a good time with it. Just will maybe leave out the final section if I ever go back to it.
Flash forward 21 years and there’s me actually beaten the game for the first time. The little 6 year old that was so in awe of the giant purple genie destroying the world would be proud.
The character and world design is superb. Taking influence from the best parts of Toriyama and Ocarina Of Time, I found it absolutely charming. The music and sound design is also excellent, especially the title screen, which is up there with some of the all time greats.
Narratively it had some real highs and lows. The initial intrigue of trying to fix the world, slowly fades and is replaced by some fun character and setting development moments for the cast of the game. I would have liked Toan to have had more of a character rather than be a blank avatar for the player, but I suppose that’s a trapping of the genre. Any plot points of significance are absolutely backloaded into the final area which to be honest was a little too late for me and just ended up being a bit of an exposition dump. It would have worked better drip fed throughout the game.
It’s the gameplay that holds up the least well sadly. Finding the right pieces to build the towns perfectly is great, absolutely adored building wee mighty max houses and constructing the really well thought out towns. The dungeon crawling has aged pretty badly though, it’s repetitive, frustrating and a bit of a drag overall. Don’t get me wrong in the ps2 era it was fine but in 2021 I really didn’t get on with it. Especially hated the entire final dungeon/boss, which I got absolutely no joy out of.
I’m glad I finally made my way through Dark Cloud, despite its flaws I had a good time with it. Just will maybe leave out the final section if I ever go back to it.