Last night I had the pleasure of playing DarkStory Online by BraveWolf for the first time. It is simple and fun and reminded me of my first time picking up The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past on Super Nintendo. It was easy to learn and started out like many MMORPGs where your first few goals are to practice your combat skills by taking down some helpless rabbits.

The game is multiplayer, but I did not really interact with any other players during my first few hours playing the game. I saw other players walking around doing the same quests I was, but did not really have the need to party up with anyone during the first couple hours of the game. I am sure there will be some more interaction down the line. The world chat was quite active though and people seemed generally helpful to new players.

There are 4 classes to start: knight, mage, hunter, or stalker. I primarily played a knight where I hacked up some rabbits and some green blobs with a sword. I also tried out the Mage for a couple levels who used fire and ice to fight. I did not have the urge to grind through the same quests again as a new character, but there was a steam achievement for creating a second hero, so why not?

While playing as a knight, I completed about a dozen quests during those first 2 hours and made it to level 8. This included learning a couple new combat skills, grabbing some new equipment, digging up goods from anywhere on the map, and some crafting. The game does a good job showing you around the menus with tutorial pop-ups at the right time, but is a little slow moving at first. This looks like one of those games that is easy to learn, but takes a long time to master.

I would suggest trying DarkStory Online if you are into that 2D sprite kind of animation or enjoy classic games in this style. It reminded me of the first few Zelda or Final Fantasy games, but with multiplayer. The art and music were great. The best part about this game: it is Free To Play! Check it out on Steam today!