Fight or Kite: Dark and Darker Mobile brings the multiplayer extraction RPG gameloop to your pocket

    
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I guess I left the room when developers all agreed that extraction shooters, RPGs, and their ilk were going to be the next focus of PvP gaming. It just feels like every other new PvP game I’m looking into for Fight or Kite turns out to be an extraction game in one form or another. In a lot of ways, it’s an improvement over the battle royales and MOBAs of the world, though, so I can’t say it’s not a move in the right direction. I haven’t been avoiding them, but as someone who’s always enjoyed a bit more permanence in my RPGs, I haven’t been quick to play them, either.

Of course, that isn’t to say I don’t see the appeal. You get the excitement of a dungeon crawl and finding new loot with the threat of a PvP encounter. So I was excited about the chance to play Dark and Darker Mobile when Krafton – the publisher partnered with Ironmace – kindly let hungry press in the gate.

Readers might remember that Ironmace launched the original Dark and Darker to early access back in August of 2023 on Steam. It delivered a respectable amount of fanfare, but initially it included a box price to get in. I should also mention that Ironmace went through a protracted legal battle with Nexon when the latter accused the former of copyright infringement. You could say things would only get dark… and darker for the developers at Ironmace, but somehow they pulled through and relaunched the game a free-to-play title in June of last year. Since then, it’s maintained a healthy base with SteamCharts plotting an average of 11,705 players this past month.

Now, with all that out of the way, we can dig into the latest offering and find out how much Dark and Darker we can fit in your pocket – or maybe purse. Inventory bag? Let’s go with satchel. As a dyed-in-the-wool MMO gamer, I haven’t laid hands on the PC client for Dark and Darker personally, so I can’t tell you how much the mobile game differs from it. I can, however, tell you many of its key features and how I found them functional.

But first, before that, I must warn the zero inboxers out there – you know, the users who cannot stand the sight of an unread, unopened, unseen notification – that the dreaded red dots of doom are ever present in Dark and Darker Mobile (or DNDM as the game has self-titled – sadly, Ironmace did not go with Chris’ suggestion of DAD Mobile). Fortunately, the red dots are not as annoying as those of Age of Empires Mobile. But I do hate having to navigate multiple different windows just to click “Claim All” half a dozen times.

DNDM offers a fully fleshed-out and functional character creator, which is always high on my priority list for a game. Call me old fashioned or maybe just vain, but I don’t want to look like everyone else, and I don’t care about a dev’s heroes. I just want to be me. The options are pretty diverse, so that’s a win.

There are only five classes available when you start out, covering the typical fantasy charcuterie board – fighter, cleric, ranger, rogue, and barbarian. There’s also a wizard you can unlock after you’ve reached some level threshold.

Upon starting the game, you’ll also get the option of playing through some tutorial quests or to skip them – the best of both worlds. I never bother to read up how to play and learn different games’ interfaces and features ahead of time anymore, so I basically always play tutorials. DNDM’s tutorial does a good job teaching you basically everything you need to know to play the game and understand its features. The only feature I don’t think it explained was crafting or enhancing gear. It could be that you need to be a bit higher-leveled or something before that comes into play, but I’ve got different crafting mats from my dungeon runs, so it’s in there somewhere!

The primary loop of the game follows the typical extraction gameplay. You queue up into a dungeon, run through it killing NPCs, pick up gear along the way, occasionally ruin another player’s run by slapping him in the face a few times when he doesn’t see it coming, and then find an exit portal to leave with your loot. Insofar as the this specific gameloop, it’s successful.

DNDM includes both a solo mode and a party mode. The first solo dungeon has only six players at a time, so you have a good chance of being able to get in and get out without too much trouble if you aren’t looking for it. I think the second- or third-tier solo dungeon increased the number of players to eight, so it should get more dangerous as you ramp up.

A party is made of three players. I had queued up once for partying once, but it was taking a bit too long to pop for me, so I just went back solo (presumably because it’s a test with not that many people in there). There is also mercenary system: Basically, it’s like hiring NPCs to fill in the other party roles. It looks like they’re randomly generated, or at least there’s some background roll table where you will see different mercenaries available. It’s a nice way to encourage solo players to play the party mode.

The game does offer some local microphone chat, so you can enable that if you want to hear or be heard by the other players. I was usually sitting watching TV or out waiting on my car to get serviced when I played, so I didn’t use that feature at all. There’s a guild system as well, so you’ve got opportunity to form up more permanently to foster regular groups.

Something I enjoyed is that DNDM also provides small quests such as ones to return two goblin ears or kill a zombie. It gives someone like me who really needs a specific goal something to aim for. The quests also provide some direction towards advancing through the game; you start with the low dungeon for a few quests, and then after you complete those, the next quest will be in the next tier of dungeon.

In addition to the quests are the MMO-esque collections. They function about the same as a quest in that you can see you need to gather 10 golden teeth or a set of gear and turn them in. It’s another nice guide giving me a goal when I enter the lower dungeons (and also have already completed the quests for them).

Of course, no extraction game would be complete without gear loss – I guess? At least that seems like a main part of the “fun” these games are going for, so yes, that certainly exists here. If you die in a run, you lose everything you brought with you. Fortunately, DNDM has what it calls a Support Equipment system, meaning that even if you lose everything, you can go to the Support tab of the lobby and grab a new set. What’s nice is that as you level up, your support gear does too, so you won’t always have to restart from trash – just basically trash.

On top of the support system, there’s the Altar of Time. Basically, if you have the right currency, you can purchase back the gear you lost during the run, so you aren’t necessarily completely out of luck if you drop something incredible. And gear you left in your stash and didn’t take into the dungeon is obviously safe and won’t be lost. So it’s sort of a matter of how risky you think a run will be and whether you should bring out the best gear or hold it back and just go in with basic kit.

I also want to mention the trading system. Basically it’s an MMO-style auction house. I think players have mixed feelings on how an AH should function in this type of game, but I’m a fan – especially in a game that’s not an MMO where you can easily meet and run around with friends.

I definitely had a good time going in and knocking around monsters and the occasional player. You have two active skills in addition to your two basic attacks at any time, so there’s not really a lot going on during a single fight. The combat is also slow, slow, slow – a la Dungeonborne. I don’t really like it, but at least it keeps you from dying instantly.

I think my biggest issue isn’t really with the game but rather with the gameplay as a mobile title. I like the option, and I think it works really well for what it is, but for me, a mobile game is usually something I’m playing to kill a handful of minutes while I’m waiting on something in the real world. It isn’t that these runs are long by any means, but when you’re in a dungeon, you really want to give it your full attention so you don’t lose all your stuff, and that’s my problem: I’m just trying to kill a few moments, and I might need to look up and talk to someone for a hot second before going back to the game. But in an extraction game, those few seconds could be enough for someone to find you and kill you. The gameplay is solid, but it feels like a mismatch for the type of people who play on mobile to begin with.

So I’m not knocking DNDM for that specifically; it’s certainly a “me” problem and not necessarily a “you” problem. But that’s how the experience was for me. It’s also not the kind of problem you’d have when you play the original on PC, certainly.

One last thing: Microtransactions are very much present, of course. The costumes are pretty cool, and when you unlock them, you can apply them to gear without worrying about losing the costume on death – though that’d be some rage-inducing gameplay, wouldn’t it? You can buy some premium coins and enhancements too, so there may be a bit of pay-to-win here if those enhancements are the same ones that pump up the strength of your gear.

Overall, if you’re into the extraction PvPvE subgenre and you’ve been looking for a nice mobile port, this actually is one to check out. I have to say, I came away overall impressed with the game. I enjoyed it more than I did playing Dungeonborne, so take that for what it’s worth.

Every other week, Massively OP’s Sam Kash delivers Fight or Kite, our trip through the state of PvP across the MMORPG industry. Whether he’s sitting in a queue or rolling with the zerg, Sam’s all about the adrenaline rush of a good battle. Because when you boil it down, the whole reason we PvP (other than to pwn noobs) is to have fun fighting a new and unpredictable enemy!
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