Darkest of Days Gets Official Launch Date for 360 and PC

by dkpatriarch

© 2009 David Hilton

Darkest Of Days was on my Games Gone MIA list, but it did reappear at E3. Strangely though, the Xbox 360 logo and mention of it on 360 seemed to be suspiciously absent from their website which made me wonder if they had scrapped the 360 version.  Apparently not.  The game’s launch day has been announced for both the 360 and PC and that day is September 8, 2009.

The game’s catch-cry is: “Get ready to screw with the space-time continuum on September 8, 2009″, which sounds pretty good to me.  Of course I’m the kind of nerdy guy who as a child in the 1980s read and re-read time machine Choose Your Own Adventure books and went on to study History.

• Darkest Of Days Release Trailer

The opportunity to pretend to go back in time (only an idiot would really want to go back to periods without all our necessities we take for granted like toilets with modern plumbing, electricity, and, of course most importantly, the Internet) has always appealed on an imaginary level, and I love games that develop themes around other time periods.

Last gen the console games all seemed so Sci Fi, with only a few exceptions like Eternal Darkness, Thief: Deadly Shadows, or Fantasy genre (mostly RPG) games.  This generation we have games like the Assassin’s Creed series and even the Fantasy or Sci Fi games like Oblivion, Bioshock or Gears Of War use impressive architecture that is reminiscent of historic styles.

Darkest Of Days, though, promises to take us back in time to various key periods in history and locales while allowing the gamer who doesn’t want to just use swords or old manual reloading rifles the opportunity to influence history with modern weaponry.

Heading back in time to try and save the correct space-time continuum which has been altered by other evil time travelers, while simultaneously trying not to influence the continuum yourself sounds a bit confusing and Star Trek-y or Heroes-y, but could be really cool.

What will also add to the whole mix are those historic figures with a blue ‘aura’ in the game; do you save or kill them and suffer the consequences?

In a recent interview, the developer 8Monkey Labs, said:

One of the really cool features is our “Aura” system. We wanted some new FPS mechanics so the game was not point and kill, point and kill.

We knew that every bloody battle in history had survivors – people that actually lived through the battle. We mark these individuals with a Blue Aura – showing you that they are supposed to survive. This really changes up the play, because you may have an entire German platoon charging your trench, and half of them may be glowing. If you kill them, “The Opposition” knows WHEN you are, and you will have extra problems (they actually warp back to kick your butt, and you fight them amidst a time-frozen battlefield).

We have several ways you can deal with these aura-folks and it really makes for some different game-play.

Add to this dynamic the fact that the new engine they have constructed called the Marmoset can handle 300 characters on screen and you will be in the middle of some massive battles.

Some of these battles include Custer’s last stand in the Battle of Little Big Horn, the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest battle of America’s Civil War, a POW camp in World War 2, the battle of Tannenburg in World War 1 where 125,000 Russians died fighting the Germans, and the eruption of Pompeii during Roman Times.

So will this game be fun?

There is certainly a huge potential there for success and I certainly am interested in seeing what the game offers.  The primary issue I’m concerned with is that there is enough atmosphere in each time period to make you feel immersed and that it is more than just another shooter with historic window dressing, especially if you are mostly re-enacting historic battles.  Will you really feel like you are in another time, or will there just be different weapons and enemies?

I’m also concerned that this gaming generation independent studios have struggled to match the huge budgets and personnel that big publishers have unleashed on games like Modern Warfare, Assassin’s Creed, Mass Effect, Gears of War etc.  Will this game either fail to be noticed, or will it fail to deliver a next-gen experience?

In any case I’m certainly ready to be signed up as a Time Traveler Agent sent into the video game matrix of the past…

© 2009 David Hilton

Darkest of Days Gets Official Launch Date for 360 and PC

Get ready to screw with the space-time continuum on September 8, 2009

Cedar Falls, Iowa – July 15, 2009 – Phantom EFX, the world’s leading developer and publisher of PC-based casual game titles, and independent game development studio 8monkey Labs announced today that their highly anticipated historically-based first person shooter, Darkest of Days, is set to launch on September 8, 2009 for both Windows-based PC and the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft.

“Working on Darkest of Days has been, without a doubt, the crowning achievement in both my personal career and that of Phantom EFX,” said Aaron Schurman, CEO of Phantom EFX. “The past few years, everyone here and at 8monkey Labs has been working incredibly hard to create this title, one that we feel will give gamers plenty of memorable entertainment and serve as a gigantic breath of fresh air into the FPS genre.

Have you ever wondered what could happen if time travel was a reality? Have you ever thought about the possibility of going back in time to rewrite history for the better? That possibility is a reality in Darkest of Days, where players will travel back and forth through the annals time to relive some mankind’s most dire hours.

By fighting through terrible events such as The Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest conflict of the Civil War, and both World War I and II, the player will attempt to save certain key individuals who were never meant to become involved in these truly monstrous events and thereby change human history for the better.

In Darkest of Days, you take on the role of Alexander Morris, an unlucky foot soldier who gets transferred to General Custer’s regiment days before the Battle of Little Bighorn. Moments before his inevitable demise, a futuristic time agent warps in to save Morris and transports him to the future where he is told that time travel is now a reality. However, an unknown faction is attempting to re-write history for their own benefit. Your job is to stop them, and you’ll fight your way through eras spanning thousands of years to do it.

Key features of Darkest of Days include:

Brand New Engine: The dedicated team at 8monkey Labs has created an all-new, groundbreaking game engine known as Marmoset. The Marmoset Engine not only breaks from the all-too present Unreal engine FPS clones flooding the market, but also allows for some amazing graphical capabilities.

• E3 Developer Walkthrough

You’ll fight through epic battles filled with literally hundreds of NPCs on the screen at the same time, all with an advanced AI and all without a hint of graphical slowdown and all set against wide-open environments that are lushly detailed and dynamically lighted.

Compelling Storyline: Darkest of Days is a compelling, action-packed first-person shooter to be sure, but it’s not just mindless run-and-gun, blow ‘em up gameplay. You’ll have to not only think about how to approach certain key battles and situations, but you’ll also have to take care when fighting – certain key people that were never meant to die will be marked with a special blue aura. If you kill them, you’ll face dire consequences…

Wreak Havoc with Future Weapons in Antiquity: Something nearly every gamer that’s ever played a shooter based in the past has always wanted is the ability to bring a futuristic weapon back through history and kick some major butt. How differently would Custer’s last stand have turned out if the General was equipped with an M-16 assault rifle?

You’ll be able to answer questions like this in Darkest of Days. While not every battle and situation will allow you to wield weapons from the future, there will be plenty of opportunities for you to unleash futuristic fury on your unsuspecting foes.

For more information about Darkest of Days, please visit www.darkestofdays.com. For more information about Phantom EFX, please visit www.phantomefx.com. For more information about 8monkey Labs, please visit www.8monkeylabs.com.

About Phantom EFX:

Phantom EFX is a game company that creates ultra-realistic experiences that come to life on a personal computer for Windows and Macs.. Phantom EFX, with top notch talent, facilities, resources, and a relaxed Midwest atmosphere, has the vision and capabilities to be a successful game company that creates titles that are fresher, more entertaining and graphically superior to the present market offerings. For more information about Phantom EFX, please visit: www.phantomefx.com.

About 8monkey Labs:

8monkey Labs is an independent game developer located in Cedar Falls, IA. With over a decade of experience in game engine development and graphics programming, 8monkey Labs teams is comprised of an extremely talented group of 3d artists that stay on the leading edge of modeling and shader techniques for games. 8monkey Labs is currently working on implementing their own proprietary AAA game engine, the Marmoset Engine, into the upcoming historically-based, time-travelling first person shooter, Darkest of Days. For more information about 8monkey Labs, please visit www.8monkeylabs.com.

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