Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Game
Game2014
Darklands
Developer MPS Labs, MicroProse
Darklands is a historical fantasy role-playing video game developed and published by MicroProse in 1992 for MS-DOS. The game is set in the Holy Roman Empire during the 15th century. While the geographic setting is historically accurate, the game features many supernatural elements. Darklands received mixed reviews upon release, with praise for its historical detail and open-ended gameplay, but criticism directed at… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
82 reactions from 2 sources (Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Sep 29, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
—
No Data
Sentiment labels for these sources are still being hand-checked; no score yet.
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
82 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
221 of 245 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
A written summary appears once the title has a score.
Reactions
60 of 82 · most liked firstHuge and initially complex, it's a nice game if you can stomach the graphics that floated in with the Ark. But BE WARNED...keep the player manual open when you play this because it has ancient manual-based copy protection where it will randomly ask you to give some symbol from the manual...if you pick the wrong answer you will be kicked from the game and lose everything you have done. NOTE TO DEVS AND PUBLISHERS: NEVER RE-RELEASE A GAME WITHOUT REMOVING THIS TERRIBLE EXCUSE FOR COPY PROTECTION
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Started Game Walk around city Go to mass Go to slums Live in slums Go to Mass again Walk out of city in broad daylight Roam outside of city with no purpose Try to sneak into city Guards catch me and ask me where my toll is Try to befriend the guards to get me in without having to pay The guards tell me I'm wanted for a crime I go without a struggle I'm now in a cell I pray for hours I ask for priest I confess sins to priest Priest leaves I pray some more I decide to start digging my way out…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An RPG from Microprose that, to my knowledge, was the only RPG Micropose ever released. And you know what? It may not have aged well, as in at all, but oh, how it puts some games to shame! Basically, one of the earliest examples, if not *the* earliest example, of an open-ended Role-Playing Game, you have everything you could want just about in this one package! Character creation: Whoo, boy! This game has a very complex, but very fun and interesting, character creation system. While you only…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is the best RPG ever made. It is the game that my child hood fixated on. When my dad beat this game I thought he was the coolest man alive. It costs about five bucks. Please now go and buy this game. No one has made a finer simulation of rpg combat in an only slightly fantastical fourteenth century Holy Roman Empire. Never since have you been able to take a loan from the Medici to buy some plate armour in Nurnburg to go and cap a Kobold mine...
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is one of my favorite games of all time. I like it so much, I bought it the second I saw it on Steam, even though I still have a working original copy. This is not your usual fantasy RPG. It takes place in a painstakingly detailed medieval Germany (which, in terms of RPGs, actually comes off as far more exotic than the dozens of Tolkien/D&D inspired worlds we've seen over the years.) Younger players will probably be a bit lost at first, as the game lacks the kind of comprehensive interface…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Keep it. Throw it away. Keep it? Throw it away? Source material for my first play-by-mail game, Darklands, that I find in boxes more than 35 years after writing and drawing it. Argh. Clutter. Not clutter. #ttrpg #playbymail #pbm #roleplaying
unlabelledView post →A sad ghost of a great game. The origional coppy protection was left in place, forcing you to check the manual on a regular basis. Hoswever, alt-Tabing to another screen, screws up the resolution, making the game unplayable.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Darklands video game load screen
unlabelledView post →The gorgeous VGA artwork from MicroProse's Darklands. Released for DOS PCs in 1992. Part RPG and part simulation, this sandbox adventure game drops you into the Holy Roman Empire of a (slightly) alternate 15th Century. It's also the game I'm tapping out a new Adventure Log about right now.
unlabelledView post →Starks is still defiant. Will he comply? Well, you need to watch the epic Game of Ropes to find out..🤷♂️👅 You know where to go to watch it. Btw, I'm thinking of doing an episode or two at Darklands. Volunteers?🤔
unlabelledView post →Blood spatters the clocktower once again with Game 2, the new Darklands cast bond over being a bunch of mischief makers and things get steamy in D&D... all on vivaplus.tv this week!
unlabelledView post →So you think you're a hardcore RPG fan? You’ve romanced a bear in Baldur’s Gate 3, shouted people off cliffs in Skyrim, and played Pathfinder until your brain herniated from feat trees? Cute. Let me introduce you to Darklands—the 1992 MicroProse classic that slapped you into 15th-century Germany with nothing but a rusty sword, a poorly dressed monk, and a prayer to Saint Boniface that maybe—maybe—you won’t die in a ditch outside Hamburg. This game doesn’t hold your hand. It doesn’t have a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's pretty much the ugliest, clunkiest and most rage inducing RPG I've ever played happily for hours at a time. I've easily played five hundred hours on the free versions before the netgaming behemoths bought it up. There are probably still free copies available but the Steam version runs neatly and deals with dosbox config for the braindead and technically illiterate. The music will make your ears bleed, turn it off. The font will hurt your eyes, pretend you're in it for the retro…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Darklands may be visually outdated but is still to this day WAY ahead of it's time, it has the deepest character creation of all RPG's combined and by far the largest in scale, if you can look past the visuals you're in for an immersive, realistic world that feels alive. Doubt we will ever have anything that remotely matches this games attention to detail.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have a new Adventure Log (hopefully) going live later tonight; here's one of the previous ones from my site. If you fancy a cosy read of my experiences in a first session with a game and the (mis)adventures that I enjoyed, here's one on MicroProse's Darklands.
unlabelledView post →Darklands is an old scool sanbox game with tons of options. It's gameplay is not quite like any rpg ever made before or since. You mght say in many ways this game is the exact opposite of Skyrim. Complicated hard and unforgiving. Skyrim for me was like a trip to disneyland. Darklands is more like a trip down the Amazon without a paddle. You will however learn more about midieval Germany playing this game than you will watching ten documentaries on the subject.. A warning however. this is a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Darklands is a great in-depth role playing game set in the Holy Roman Empire, spanning much of modern day Germany, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands. It has detailed locations and text-based descriptions, accompanied by beautiful early graphics; depicting places such as churches, townsquares and taverns. Combat and the exploration of certain locations are set in a well executed isometric environment, where you control up to four characters. Exploration of the game world is further shown on a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. God, the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us. God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us. God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us. Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us. Holy Mary, pray for us. Holy Mother of God, pray for us. Holy Virgin…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is great, unfortunately is still has very old DRM that isn't made for steam, it requires you to have the old game manual and asks you a question, if you can't answer it the game just abruptly ends, I had no idea this existed and after my first run through the game about an hour or so in the game did this. Should have been the first thing they changed when they ported it to steam, it's clear this was just a dosbox package the game for steam and then leave it supportless kind of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was obsessed with this game back in college and spent hours playing. This game along with Arcanum is the game by which I judge all other RPGs which probably isn't entirely fair. Darklands has an expansive world and is probably the most open ended game I've ever played. The character creation is one of the best I've encountered. I cannot recommend this game highly enough and I'm so happy to have it in my possession again. I wish that this game would get a much needed remake that would do it…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Your favourite game Mass Effect [trilogy] Your most played game Destiny Your most influential game (to YOU personally!) Darklands The game you play even if you don't feel like playing right now some version of Civilization
unlabelledView post →If @thegrognardfiles.bsky.social can revive an ancient PBM game for a modern redux, is it time for a return to Darklands, which has lain undisturbed since the early 90s? Who knows? Time will tell. The map? Drawn by lil' me back in the mid-80s.
unlabelledView post →Irony is... being shaved bald by Master for Darklands, and winning Hair products as prize at Darklands for playing a game on stage 🤦🤪
unlabelledView post →I recommend this game, but i need to say a few things first. This game has a manuel with 106 pages. However, there is a quickstart guide in it. Also, At the time of writing, there is one user-made guide on steam and I recommend you read that too. The game can be hard sometimes and character creation takes a lot of time and some characters can die easily. The graphics are as basic as they gan get and the font is hard to read (unless you play minecraft and you're used to it). Still, the images…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dosbox port of the 1992 classic, Darklands! I lost countless hours to this over two decades ago, and will do so again. If you're not in it for the nostalgia reasons, then here is a basic review. Graphics - These were bad in even in 1992. 2/10 Sound - Music is pretty good, despite being in MIDI form. Still dated. 4/10 Gameplay - Extremely complex and wonderful 11/10. For a good idea how this works, look at some let's plays or try to get your hands on the old cluebook from 1992.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Many, many moons ago, I played this game over at a buddy's house and was hooked for life. Darklands set my personal standard of character development, opportunities to explore, battles, and survival. Overall (TL;DR): It is worth buying for $10 (USD) or less. Character Development: You have one real goal in the game, build a legacy. Yes, there are quests and missions that ultimately are important, but they are only the means by which you build your reputation. The game doesn't end with…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a real RPG. And it might just be nostalgia talking, but one of the best RPGs ever put out. It does not have classes, you simply make a character and add to attributes & skills, choosing to age them for more life experience (Careers) at the cost of all the troubles that come with age. The only complaint I ever had about the game was the font used, it can be hard to read at times. I figured this would be somewhat different than running the game in DOSBox when I got it on Steam but…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not for First-Person-Shooter fans! CLASSIC RPG with Complex Character Development. Unique departure from the persisting fantastic mythos, and well-implemented. Complex game dynamic; sufficiently open storyline for unique character skillsets and advancement. A unique, extraordinarily rare magick system based in alchemy. Primarily, historically accurate in both treatments of 15th-century-persisting mythics and magicks.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →10/10 worth the money, if you are okay with dealing with an older game. This game scratches an itch that I have had for quite a while. I love the setting of 15th century Germany, something you don't see modern RPGs doing, due to weird modern ideas of what an RPG has to be. There are no wizards, but rather alchemists. The creatures you run into are all creatures that people at the time would have believed in. There is no Story, but rather a quest to gain fame and fortune, kind of like…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I recommend playing this game, but some where else... FOR FREE. This game is that old and that much of a masterpiece that it is ACTUALLY in a museum. This COPY of this game is very full of bugs that were not in the original experience, because the DOSBox that runs this Copy is done sloppy and as cheap as possible (probably free). There isn't any known plans to fix the DOSBox so that it doesn't crash frequently, and no known plans to remove/modify the copy protection feature in the game to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Yes, is a DOS game. Yes, it has amazing art and graphics for the time it was released and it still stands. No, I´m serious, I just love the art and how,m even with simple pixels, they managed to make the characters very distinguished from the others. Darklands is one of the best open world RPG with group management I ever played and even if I didn´t played much on Steam, I did play it A LOT on all those years. I´m nominating it for The TEST OF TIME award, over even other great games like…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played this back in '92, had so much fun that it stuck in my memory as one of the most immersive games I have ever played. Still as good as I remember :) Not the most visually impressive game out there (even back in the day it was considered below average), however, if you still have an imagination, this world will become very real very quickly. Still dislike those money hungry Bishops and Monks :/
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Darklands, btw, absolutely holds up, it is an absolute BALLER of a game and I would desperately love a followup or remake
unlabelledView post →Worth playing? Oh yes, just bear in mind it's a 30+ year old game, so you'll have to do some homework with the manual before you can even hope to make your party. Be sure to check the steam guides for further help. Also, keep [url=https://www.oldgames.sk/images/oldgames/rpg/Darklands/Docs/symbols.gif]this handy so the copy protection doesn't catch you with your pants down. With all that said, the game is a fun romp through the Holy Roman Empire in the late middle ages, right at the turn of the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have never spent more time in character creation than with this stupid game. I think making your party IS the game, all the boring crap that comes after that is just window dressing. I love Darklands, I think it was ambitious and amazing, but if you aren't at least 40 you probably won't have the patience to appreciate it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →hasn't aged too well and the learning curve is pretty insane but when you finally learn how to play it, it's a very deep, rewarding and non-linear RPG with multiple ways of solving basically every quest.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An RPG classic. Fantastic character creation and all around good sandboxy fun. It definitely says something for me that I still find myself coming back to play this thing 20 years later. THE GAME DOES COME WITH DOCUMENTATION for the ingame verification. One reviewer thought it didn't, but apparently didn't know where to look for it. Just right click on the game in your library and "View player manual," and download it to wherever. At some point in the game it will show you a symbol and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I recommend not wasting your money. From poor controls to extremely slow gameplay this is not a fun walk down memory lane. I feel like ive had several hours sucked away from me :(.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Then @Frank_NL and I left #Darklands to prepare to host the afternoon #hypnosis play party. This was not an “official” Darklands event, and was instead held in a rented apartment nearby the venue; it was more of a “house party” vibe. We had about 25 or 30 guys show up, and everyone had a great time! There was lots of fun hypno play — I even got to hypnotize @musclepupapollo.bsky.social, which was very hot.
unlabelledView post →I thought I would love this game. It looked awesome. It's really hard to figure out and get into, though. It does very little to explain itself to the player. Originally, the player was expected the read the manual and whatnot that came with the game. Thankfully, all such documentation comes with the Steam version of this game. However, having read all of that, the game is *still* not very transparent. It might be a good game for someone who has the hours to devote to learning it, but…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Clunky, chunky, cumbersome? I guess. A truly fun classic RPG in the grand style. What, it was written in 1992?! It is deeper and better games than many new titles. You have to play it for a little while to appreciate it. There is a main story line, but, the whole thing is non-linear, and, you can play however you wish (you can even have characters, eventually, die of old age!). The magic system is unique (alchemy and prayers to saints). Comabt is fun (more complicated than it appears…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a 90s RPG that had a bad launch because it was littered with bugs. Eventually the game was patched to a very playable state, but just like many modern games, people forgot about it, and moved on. It is set in the medieval era in the Holy Roman Empire, or modern day Germany, Benelux, Switzerland, Czechia, and Austria. The map is very accurate, especially for the times. The equipment has an odd system, but eventually you get used to it. The game takes things that the common medieval…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a niche game, old-school, published a long time ago (early 90s), and looks and plays like it. That having been said, I put hundreds of hours into my GOG copy of this game and bought this from Steam just to have it in my Steam library. It's essentially roleplaying in a low-magic semi-fantasy world - imagine Germany in the 15th century if all the old myths were true, and that's your setting. Most of your opponents will be humans, but there's still some monsters out there. Magic is a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am a remake skeptic… But here is my heresy. Remake Darklands, late capitalist game industry, I know you are permanently desperate. And it’s too hard for most modern gamers to find. Are you afraid because it’s mainly about stabbing robber barons over and over?
unlabelledView post →I've always loved this game, which I've played off-and-on since it was created. Although it's very retro game design, I love the immersiveness that the developers create - in lots of ways, this is the closest a video game has come to virtually re-create the real life feeling of a traditional game of Dungeons and Dragons. Except it has a way-better character generator than is in D&D. One tip: you absolutely need to have access to the game manual, either electronically or analog.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A masterpiece by MicroProse This game is right up there, in quality and complexity, with MicroProse's other legendary titles, such as X-COM: UFO Defense and Master of Magic/Orion. Darklands is the result of such geniuses trying their hand at an RPG. Features: A massive open world, in medieval Germany, with historically accurate towns, names, geography, economy, and so on. Everything is simulated in an extremely complex way, the world is very alive. The game was so complex, it actually…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My current release date query is tracking down the month for the PC cult hit Darklands. It had several announced dates, was advertised since late 1991, yet I can't narrow down where between August and October 1992 it was actually shipped.
unlabelledView post →Darklands is one of those old-school RPGs that does things so differently it still feels fresh decades later. If you’re into classic games that are hard as nails but brimming with depth, this one is a must-play. Think of it as part history book, part folklore manual, and all RPG goodness—but it doesn’t follow the traditional fantasy route. Instead, it’s set in the Holy Roman Empire, mixing historical accuracy with the stuff people believed in at the time: demons, witches, saints, and alchemy.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I played this game on PC almost 30 years ago. It has respectable depth, although even then it had some problems which would cause crashes. This port wasn't handled well and the game on Steam is too buggy to enjoy. As some other reviewers have mentioned, there is copyright protection on this which requires the manual. One of the issues that occurs is that you know where you want to click through the menus, so you're quickly navigating that, and then the copyright protection pops up and just…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fargo's simple review of MPS Labs (internal developer division at MicroProse). MPS was formed 1982 by two co-working nerds who job it was to develop cash register systems for department stores. Bill Stealey steered the MPS ship and Sid Meier designed a few of PC gaming's historic games during the 80' & 90s'. My short list of MicroProse developed and or published titles I thought were, like, totally radical: -Pirates! -Railroad Tycoon -Civilization…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its just a setup of dosbox
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is an amazingly sophisticated game considering it dates back to the DOS operating system era. Graphics are primitive, but the gameplay and content more than make up for the lack of video dazzle. I still come back to play this game when I get tired of the newer RPG entries, and I have been playing this game for over 20 years. The Steam version of this game automates DosBox and makes it simple to play in a modern Windows environment. Also included in the Steam file folder are useful bonuses…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Stop reading this review and go buy Darklands. Build a party, train them from the cradle through their chosen trades. Go out adventuring. Study in the great universities, practice your alchemical ways. Learn the knowledge of the saints, find holy relics. Cleanse the possessed villages, protect the peasantry from robber barons. Pick fights, especially those you can't win. Lose. Lie bleeding, nigh unconscious on the ground. Watch helplessly as your party members, your friends, are cut down before…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The computer game that understood this the most was Darklands. www.gog.com/en/game/dark...
unlabelledView post →In better news, the next morning, lying half-awake while a cat jumped on me, it came to me fully how to do this _other_ major feature. Basically it's "rip off a thing from Darklands" (which should never be done, considering the roughness of that game, but I say: "It might work for us!")
unlabelledView post →DARKLANDS deserves the DAGGERFALL Unity treatment, however most of the time I drop Dos games, but this one I couldn't resist it's charm even with all it's flaws from minor technical issues to it's (not so much) crashes, it's truly a magnificent experience that'll live forever. To me this game is the ideal historical simulator, it combines my favorite elements into one unique game. The game director, Arnold Hendrick was working on a spiritual successor to DARKLANDS, but unfortunately he died…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This whole game is amazing. Some indie company needs to remake this isometric style with slightly better graphics, and more water colour art work.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I had the original Darklands back in 1992 and spent hundreds of hours playing it. It was so unique at the time - the characters age and become more feable, in which you then need to create new characters. This is extremely old school - you need to print out the map and keep notes in a notebook on quests. Reputation is huge because a bad rep will make the guards attack on site in a city. You can't get most quests (and therefore buy new items) in a city then except to try to sneak in. Note -…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is one of the best RPGs of its time. Now, if only someone would remake it but not change it into another game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you played this classic back in 1992, then definitely get the Steam version This is the classic fantasy-historical RPG from Microprose that came either on a stack of 3.5" floppies or a CD-ROM and ran on IBM 486 PCs. If you are looking for something cutting-edge, then look elsewhere. But if you want to listen to MIDI renditions of "Salterello" and "Sumer Is Icumen In" then pick this up on discount. It's hard to find a more historically grounded fantasy RPG than this one. The Hanseatic…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
Posts are quoted from public profiles with links to the original. Want yours removed? Contact us.
You Might Also Like
similar titlesDigimon Story Time Stranger
Digimon Story Time Stranger
Game
FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH
FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH
Game
DRAGON QUEST VII Reimagined
DRAGON QUEST VII Reimagined
Game
Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection
Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection
Game
Little Kitty, Big City
Little Kitty, Big City
Game