Review: Conquest Dark Demo

Genre / Tags: Action, RPG, Action Roguelike, Action RPG, Indie
Developer/Publisher: Eldritch Sword Games / Mad Mushroom
URL: Conquest Dark on Steam

Conquest Dark just caught my eye recently, having just released a demo of the game out on Steam on December 4th. The game has the feel of what if Conan the Barbarian met a survivor-like genre.

It took me a couple tries to get the hang of the game and understand the like “meta progression” or roguelike elements of the game, since I obviously died a time or two. But by my 2nd run of the first level I understood what was going on.

(Failure of my first run and things I unlocked)

Each level of Conquest Dark has a couple of bosses to them that you have to defeat to unlock the various progression unlocks. The first two levels have two main bosses in them, and as you progress through those levels they seem to have more and more.

(Example of one of the levels and what things you get via killing each boss)

After your first boss kill in Conquest Dark, you unlock your Faction (shown below), where when you play through a level again with either a Barbarian or Hunter you gain faction experience which will apply various bonuses and upgrades for all the classes involved

It took me a little bit of digging to find where I spend my Soul Coins that I kept getting for completing various tasks or picking up off the ground during the levels itself. Apparently this is located in the bottom left of the main map / level selector screen, called the Stygian Archive. This shows you what things you have unlocked so far, but also this is how you upgrade your various Abilities using said Soul Coins.

Probably my biggest complaint so far with the demo of Conquest Dark, is how the game didn’t really showcase these upgrades at all to me and it’s kind of hidden in the Stygian Archive. At first I thought it was just like and achievements system or something that was just showing me the stuff i’ve unlocked if I wanted to read them all and such.

So far of the first couple levels of Conquest Dark that i’ve tried, it’s been fairly enjoyable and fun. I’m excited to see where this game goes from here. I’d have to give this game a solid 8.2/10. I wouldn’t say the game is bare bones at all. Even for it being a demo i’ve got at least 4+ levels and two different classes with loads of choices for not only ability combinations, but various gear combinations too.