Dark and Light update will fix army of bugs and add goblin clubs
Rough around the edges
Early access sandbox MMORPG Dark and Light [official site] stormed the Steam charts when it launched last week, with users enticed by its dragon battles, pretty graphics and free form base-building. But the reviews on Steam have been mixed so far, with the negative ones criticising the army of bugs, like one that randomly spawns your character in lava. A bit of an inconvenience, that.
In response, developers Snail Games have detailed a huge patch ("upcoming", with no date yet) to purge the problems, and detailed some new features that are coming to the game. They have plenty to say about optimisation and bug fixes, which you can read all about in the patch notes – that lava bug is fixed along with dozens of others. The new stuff includes goblin clubs (the smacky thinks, not the dancing ones), hidden Dark Altars on which you craft powerful items, and a new Soul Node system that means you can create respawn and fast travel points for other players in your faction.
If you haven't heard much about the game before, then it's the kind of thing that's a bit overwhelming to read about for the first time.
"Dark and Light is a vast sandbox survival RPG set in a world dominated by powerful elemental forces. Find your way in a meticulously crafted world, featuring breathtaking landscapes, a wide variety of mythical creatures, and limitless possibility to craft, build, and unlock dozens of powerful weapons and spells.
"As a lone explorer in the wilderness, you must learn to understand the terrain, natural resources, as well as how to domesticate the local creatures and build a home. You will need to harness and control the magical energy that courses through the planet, or you risk being consumed by the looming darkness that permeates throughout the planet."
Once you break it down into its component parts, though, it's got the same loops you've played through a hundred times: stock up on resources during the day and hide and night when the nasty things come out. You'll be managing your hunger and thirst, building underground bases or mountaintop lookouts, and battling massive beasts (there's a PvP mode, too).
Looking ahead to future updates, the developers say they plans to add a lot more weapons to the roster of bows, staffs and swords, as well as a revamped quest system. And, inevitably, it'll get a whole lot more bug fixes as players continue reporting issues.
Dark and Light is currently £19.08/23,23€/$24.89 on Steam, which includes an oddly-specific 17% discount. If you've tried it out, let me know what you think.
Oh, and here's the trailer, in case you need more of an idea of what it is:
