Reich of Darkness is a fast-paced strategy game, based on an alternative World War 2 timeline where the Nazis find an ancient artifact that would power their new devastating machines – once only science-fiction. Hanz Genzken puts you in charge of finding the pieces. Unfortunately, you find that the pieces to this artifact, that would turn the tables in your favor, are scattered all across Europe. In each battlefront you must command your troops to take buildings, collect gold, kill Allied soldiers and most importantly, destroy the Allied headquarter in each stage. Currently, there is only a Nazi campaign available, but TogeProductions recently announced that a Allied campaign will also become available to play soon. I really suggest playing this game if you’ve enjoyed any of Toge’s games before, once more recent, and extremely popular, is Necronator 2.

Reich of Darkness

Reich of Darkness offers three different difficulty levels per stage. Of course those being Easy, Medium and Hard. It usually easiest to stick to easy mode and then work your way up through the difficulties, so that you know the map better and know strategic points in the battlefield. Most of the levels I got through with little trouble, as I could get most of the upgrades before reaching Scandinavia and all of the best units in the game were quickly available in my roster. Some levels were extremely difficult, such as the last level in Scandinavia, in which several enemy heroes entered the battlefield, before you could even send out your first hero or rack up enough troops. Many of my troops were very efficient, being able to kill their Allied counterparts with ease. Overall, the difficulty of the game was balanced pretty well and even if your going the “easy” mode path your still going to find a couple, or so, levels challenging.

The gameplay was much like their recent launch Necronator 2. You’d pick a unit that you want to train then fight for you and then it would move on it’s predetermined path encountered enemies along the way. This made the game very simple to play, but didn’t seem to give you much control over your units. Even though you can turn off the “Auto Move” function, the game moves at a pace where is is hard to control your units manually. What I really liked about the game was the level design. When I first started the game, the first battlefield was just a straight line with a few buildings here and there. I began to think it was a cheap re-skin of their popular game Necronator, but later levels began to surprise me as battles took place both outside, in the streets, with many buildings and turret positions, and inside buildings with extremely close-quarter fighting. Overall, the game was very fun to play and the level design kept me playing, wanting to see the different terrains to fight in and the wonderful pixel art.

Reich of Darkness

Reich of Darkness, like many TogeProduction games is heavily pixel art based. The game did change it up a bit with non-pixel-art drawn characters before and after battles which all looked really fantastic. The pixel art is what kept me so hooked to the game. It is simply some of the most beautiful pixel art that you’ll see featured in a game. The art is actually done by a five person “Art and Animation Team” as listed in the credits. A big congrats to all of them for making one of the best-looking games of 2012. My only problem with the game was that, while most of the art was new, a few sprites got left-over such as the stat icons and the overall design of the game. I couldn’t help feeling that I’ve seen all of this before and it felt a little cheap, especially when the rest of the game features new art. Overall, the art is definitely the high-point in this game for me. It captures the destroyed world of war and delivers a game that is very appealing.

I thought that the battle music was perfect. It contained the sense of war, excitement, anticipation, heroism and action. It seemed almost up-beat and fit the military aspect of the game well in my opinion. I really enjoyed the music. With the great music and the sound effects this game delivered the perfect sense of war. I liked the variety of sound effects as well. Most games would leave out small speaking roles, but this game includes quite a few and this adds even more to the frantic chaos that is war. Overall, the music was really good and it seemed to reinforce the concept of war.

All in all, Reich of Darkness is one of the best games that I played this year. I you’re looking for a game that’ll challenge you and make you think quickly then look no further than Reich of Darkness. It’s a creative game that takes history into another dimension. According to TogeProductions another campaign should soon be available, making a great game even better. I’m really looking forward to it and know that I’ll be back the first day the new campaign comes out to play it. In review, the game’s difficulty seemed perfect. I got stuck a couple of times, but it’s nothing that a little leveling up a couple of units and purchasing of upgrades can’t fix. The gameplay seemed a lot like Toge’s recent games (, but as long as they keep coming back with entertaining concepts of the same gameplay (and TogeProductions keeps turing them into hit games scoring over 8.0 with every release) I have a feeling we’ll be seeing this same gameplay for a while. The art was something that I thought was a big plus for this game. It was essentially, what I consider to be some really impressive pixel art and is definitely the most beautiful game I’ve played this year. Finally, the music was perfect for this game as it contained all of the emotions of what all war-music. In conclusion, Reich of Darkness is one of the best games I’ve played in a long time. If you’ve liked Toge’s games, then you won’t want to miss out on Reich of Darkness! Be sure to play it today on Armor Games!

Play Reich of Darkness on Armor Games!