DaRmaZat Age of Darkness: Final Stand is a dark fantasy RTS published by PlaySide Studios and Team17, with the former also handling the development. Set in a world where humanity’s last stronghold is under constant siege, players must build, manage resources, and fend off terrifying Nightmares. With a dynamic day-night cycle, each night brings a new wave of danger. Originally released in Early Access on October 7, 2021, the game received crucial player feedback that helped shape its development. After refining its mechanics and expanding its content, the full version launched on January 15, 2025. Prepare yourself, as the nightmare is about to become real. Will you survive?
Three Paths To Survival
At the heart of Age of Darkness: Final Stand are its three distinct modes, each offering a unique experience. In Survival Mode, players take on the role of a hero leading troops from one of three clans: The Order, The Rebellion, or the Volatists. The Keep, the heart of your city, acts as both your lifeline and your greatest vulnerability—its destruction spells game over. Managing resources like food, wood, stone, iron, and dark essence is vital for survival, as is constructing dwellings and farms to support your population. Players must expand cautiously, using campfires to increase visibility, while fortifying defenses to hold off the Nightmare creatures. The introduction of Death Nights, swarms of enemies attacking in waves, creates a gripping challenge that tests strategic planning and adaptability. These intense moments demand careful preparation and deliver some of the game’s most memorable experiences.
Often brutal.
Campaign Mode kicks off with a Nightmare breach in a small town, where The Order faces a Dark Essence crystal demanding the blood of an Elosan, branded a Heretic. The ensuing chaos provides insight into the characters and lore of The Order, but the campaign feels more like an extended tutorial, preparing players for the solo Survival and co-op Multiplayer modes. While the often brutal narrative adds depth, its linearity and limited scope leave much to be desired.
In Co-op Multiplayer, players can team up via Steam invites or session IDs to defend the Keep against Nightmares. Multiplayer games can be saved mid-session, allowing players to tackle long battles incrementally. Although the options are minimal—difficulty is the only customizable setting—the cooperative gameplay does not disappoint, particularly during Death Nights, which require synchronized defenses and resource management.
Strategic Depth and Engaging Mechanics—At First Glance
The gameplay thrives on balancing expansion, resource management, and combat. Early exploration is crucial for identifying points of interest and claiming vital resources. Troops and villagers must rest periodically when no enemies are near to maintain efficiency. Heroes, central to the player’s strategy, possess skill trees with both active and passive abilities. These can be unlocked as they level up, but their impact diminishes in later stages, and experience loss on death can frustrate players.
On the other hand, the day-night cycle has a much greater impact on gameplay. While daytime offers opportunities to explore and expand, the Nightmares grow stronger at night, necessitating heightened defenses. Resource scarcity forces difficult choices—whether to prioritize food huts, refined farms, or military upgrades. Combat requires constant attention, with players assigning villagers to gather resources and construct buildings, then training military units to patrol or defend critical areas. Troops can be arranged into formations, and right-click dragging allows for strategic attacks. However, pathfinding issues and clunky unit controls are fairly common. The tactical pause feature, accessed via the spacebar, is invaluable for managing chaotic battles.
Mechanics don’t always live up to expectations.
Without a doubt, Death Nights stand out as the game’s defining feature. These swarms of Nightmares target key buildings, with the Keep being their ultimate goal. Players must quickly construct layered defenses, using walls, towers, and siege units like grand ballistas to hold the line. While these challenges are thrilling, their repetitive nature and escalating difficulty can be overwhelming, especially for newcomers.
An Atmosphere of Dread
The game’s visuals masterfully convey its dark fantasy theme. Dynamic lighting and the ever-present fog of war enhance the tension, particularly during Death Nights. However, limited map designs and a lack of biome variety result in visual monotony over time.
Sound design complements the atmosphere, with ominous music and impactful effects during battles. Unfortunately, repetitive voice acting from your heroes while navigating and conquering the map, along with the inability to disable this banter without muting cutscene voices, affects the overall quality. More granular audio settings would greatly improve the experience.
Technically Not The Cream Of The Crop, But Still Solid
Performance is generally solid, even during large-scale battles with thousands of enemies on screen. Dynamic resolution scaling ensures stable frame rates on less powerful systems, but the absence of modern upscaling technologies like DLSS or FSR may deter players with older hardware. Saving is straightforward, though save files cannot be renamed after creation. The game offers multiple manual and autosave slots for each phase, providing flexibility for different playstyles.
Final Thoughts
Age of Darkness: Final Stand delivers moments of nail-biting intensity and strategic depth, but its potential is hampered by a lack of variety, clunky mechanics, and limited customization. Survival Mode offers a solid challenge for hardcore RTS fans, while the Campaign and Multiplayer modes feel underdeveloped. Despite its flaws, the game’s core mechanics and atmospheric design hint at what could become a standout experience with further refinement. For now, it’s an engaging but imperfect RTS, best suited for players seeking a demanding survival challenge. With updates, it may yet fulfill its promise and secure its place in the genre.
Additional Information
Release Date: January 15, 2025
Reviewed On: PC. Download code provided by the publisher and PR agency.
Developer: PlaySide Studios
Publisher: Team17, PlaySide Studios
Official Website: https://www.ageofdarkness.com
Relevant links: Age of Darkness: Final Stand on STEAM
