But despite so much detail going into this area, the emphasis here really is on the narrative. The game allows you to respec at any point, letting you reassign your limited skill points to rebalance your character as you prefer, as well as unlock new special abilities at the tips of various branches. Do you want to be all strength and action, or opt for more awareness and agility? Or, as I would advise, a healthy mix of the lot. With this comes a need to care about XP, weapons, potions and so on, and then the most superbly elaborate skill tree, that allows you to focus your approach. And then it reveals its RPG chops, as it introduces a novel turn-based combat system, in which the screen’s map portion becomes a battleground in which you can directly move your character, and click on enemies to launch attacks. The writing is splendid (and in many thousands of words, I only spotted a couple of typos), and for a good long while this feels like the entirety of the game, and it’s more than enough. Then you’re off, into the frigid remains, to seek your goal, but also piece together the incidents that took place here. This sense of preparation before a journey reminds me of what I believe is one of the best games ever (as a full run), Inkle’s Sorcery! series. You can talk to the few locals, perhaps buy some things in a small shop, and ignore everyone’s advice to get away and ignore the damned egg. You are an explorer from outside, compelled by the legend of this all-powerful Dark Egg, who arrives to discover a cold, bleak and devastated island.įor the most part, this plays out as an interactive fiction, with word choices rather than text input. There was a city, and some weird sky creatures came down and were worshipped, something about a magic egg, and then – uh – it all fell to ruin.

The current opening story cards for The Dark Egg don’t do a great job of setting the scene, but thankfully that’s the last time a great job is not done here.

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