Age of Darkness: Final Stand

There's a great 'town defense' RTS at the center of Age of Darkness, but the lack of polish even after its 1.0 launch is disappointing and the campaign lacks punch.

Age of Darkness: Final Stand presented me with a challenge you rarely see in modern games. Every time my city is reduced to rubble, I promise myself that this will be my last game, but it never is. If you like games where you have to think before you rush into battle, Age of Darkness is perfect for you. There are a few shortcomings, which I believe will be resolved in upcoming updates. I found that the Bloody Nights were sometimes excessively difficult, and no matter how good my defenses were, I still couldn’t avoid death. So far, there’s only one hero in the game, though the developers are planning more, and I hope they’ll add more different types of monsters and some of your own attack units. The game has great potential, but unfortunately, it’s in Early Access and costs €21.99. At this point, it’s better to play They Are Billions, wait for the new Age of Empires 4, or play one of the classics like Warcraft 3 or StarCraft, which, even though they’re more than 20 years old, are still great.

PlaySide concludes the development of Age of Darkness: Final Stand by offering a survival RTS that has all the ingredients to keep us hooked for hours. A title with a good level of challenge that offers many hours of gameplay, but still needs some polishing. The strong point is in the survival mode. And that's where the title shines, as it has all the ingredients to keep us hooked from dusk till dawn.

Age Of Darkness is an great RTS, with a narrative campaign that is not excellent but certainly enjoyable and long enough, considering however that the survival mode is the real point of interest for hardcore gamers. The graphics and sound are also excellent; the only flaws we found in this game, which are not insignificant, are the many bugs that made our games unnerving, together with path finding problems for allied troops and frame rate drops when the enemy hordes became really numerous.

Age of Darkness: Final Stand feels like a game that could have been something more, but it settles for being just another decent, if forgettable, entry in the survival RTS genre. The game checks all the boxes – base-building, enemy waves, heroes, procedurally generated maps – but none of them feel particularly new or innovative. If you’re a fan of the genre, you’ll find some enjoyment in the game’s competent mechanics, but it doesn’t do enough to stand out from the crowd. For those looking for a truly memorable dark fantasy survival RTS experience, Age of Darkness: Final Stand will likely leave you wanting more.

It’s no surprise this game has been eagerly awaited for its full release. After years as a standout early-access title, it has matured into an RTS experience worth celebrating. With its polished mechanics, diverse playstyles, challenging yet fair difficulty, and a generous dose of stellar art direction and production value, it’s everything an early-access game aspires to become. If you’re ready to rise to the challenge, this game promises one unforgettable ride from start to finish.

Age of Darkness: Final Stand is a very tough game, though, with not too many ways to fend for yourself. It is still a decent game that is fun to play and gets you hooked easily. Despite that, it could use a lot more content and no small amount of polishing. Until then, it remains feeling somewhat incomplete.

Age of Darkness: Final Stand is an instant favorite of mine, cleverly improving and expanding upon tried-and-true RTS mechanics, adding co-op multiplayer, and delivering it all in an awesome dark fantasy RPG package. Grab a friend and face the darkness in what could very well be the best RTS game on the market.

Age of Darkness: Final Stand is a great way to bring together two different genres, leveraging the strengths of both to create a unique experience that challenges the player in a variety of different ways.

For experienced RTS players seeking a challenging and immersive experience, Age of Darkness offers plenty to enjoy. Its dark aesthetic and survival elements set it apart from other games in the genre. However, casual players or those new to RTS games may find the game’s difficulty and flaws too daunting to overlook.