Mixed or average reviews - based on 24 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 24
  2. Negative: 2 out of 24
  1. 69
    A unique upgrade system, online competitive modes, and semi-linear mission structure can't shine the way they're supposed to if they're supplemented by poor AI, repetitive progression, and a storyline that's nowhere near as powerful as its predecessor.
  2. The new battle system is mindless and repetitive, and the online multiplayer does nothing to mitigate the weak single-player campaign, lifeless characters, and dull presentation of the game.
  3. Comes close to achieving the goal of combining a great offline quest with a great online experience. The most obvious missing piece: a compelling story. Second would be a full-fledged quest (your journey is mission-based, therefore eliminating some of the freedom that comes with an RPG). Third, End of Darkness can be repetitive at times.
  4. It's doubtful that it will spawn any new recruits.
  5. Combat just plain sucks. [July 2005, p.120]
  6. 60
    A well-crafted game, but it's so by the books in so many ways that it never really gets off the ground.
  8. We say change is good. [July 2005, p.78]
  9. Darkness' molasses pace, cut-rate presentation, and simplistic throwaway quests leech any sense of drama or importance. [Aug 2005, p.113]
  10. There are just simply too many things done completely wrong with this game. They need to take a step back and remember how the true Arc the Lad games were like.
  11. The action-based battles are not well thought out and are almost rudimentary compared to other superior action-based RPG games like "Kingdom Hearts," a game that came out almost 3 years ago.
  12. The simple combat system works really well for the game and the storyline for me was really interesting. I would have liked more diversity in the single player mode, but the online mode really helped out its cause.
  13. Everything is passable--no aspects of the game are missing, nothing's technically wrong. It's just that it doesn't strive above any of the old, established conventions of the genre. It has an average overwrought RPG story line, average graphics, and an average (to poor) combat system that has shifted from turn-based combat to real-time combat.
  14. Too convoluted and mechanically routine to recommend to anyone except the most subbornly devoted. [Aug 2005, p.84]
  15. End of Darkness needs the online mode to stay fresh, without which it will be left as nothing more then a boring and repetitive experience garnished with a few notable features.
  17. An above-average RPG experience loses all the things that made it entertaining and in the process makes it purely average in nearly every way. This is a horrible way to reuse the assets from a game that was legitimately entertaining.
  18. 30
  19. I'm not much of a cook, but I do know how to make a mediocre game. You toss in some bland graphics, ridiculously boring combat, and then top that off with an atrocious story.
  20. Repetitive button-mashing gameplay and recycled graphics and music keep Arc the Lad: End of Darkness from being on the A-list, but the online multiplayer modes are enough fun to give this game a try.
  21. 72
  22. A serviceable and accessible action-RPG with a solid storyline, mad replay value and a number of clever and unique game mechanics that do outweigh the barebones combat system and the remarkably dated production values.
  23. This isn't quite an awful game; stick around long enough and the story picks up. But it's too bland to be worth more than a rental unless you're a hard-core fan.
  24. 61
User Score

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 6 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 1 out of 1
  1. [Anonymous]
    Jul 16, 2005
    I don't know what anyone see's in this poorly made game. The graphics are only average at best, the animation for charecters spells and what not are terrible. And the combat system blows! If this game was for a lower system I'd think more highly of the game. Full Review »