Paradox is a name that immediately invokes strategy games. Between Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, Stellaris, and Cities Skylines, the studio has developed and published many recognizable PC games. But it also has Paradox Arc, an experimental publishing arm with the goal of elevating small teams with big ideas. One release on the Paradox Arc docket is Darfall, an unconventional blend of heroes, RPGs, city building, and RTS mechanics dressed in a gorgeous low-poly style. If that sounds like something you’d love, there’s a brand new demo you can try right now.
To stand out on Steam today, developers need to have quite the pitch. Every genre, including strategy games, is filled with new releases vying for your attention in a market that’s only getting bigger. Studios need to have something that no one else does, especially if they’re coming up against preestablished games. This is where SquareNite’s Darfall comes in, as it takes the management of Cities Skylines, the heroes of League of Legends, and the strategy gameplay Paradox is known for and throws it all into a blender.
Your goals in Darfall are simple: during the day you need to grow your hero and build up your settlement, while at night you’ve got hordes of the undead to contend with. What sets Darfall apart, though, is how you go about setting up your budding settlement. You take control of a hero, with their own skills, spells, and inventory you’ve scavenged from a trip to the wilderness. There are orc encampments guarding loot, precious ore veins, and a plethora of other resources you’ll need to get a hold of if your people are to survive.
From here you need to build up and expand your settlement before night falls. That means fortifying your defenses, erecting walls, creating light sources, and setting up soldiers to fight off the terrors of the dark. You’re not just surviving though, as you’ll also need to plant food sources, construct productions like carpenters and blacksmiths, and aim to thrive as much as possible.
Then it’s nighttime, and everything changes. Just like in fellow RTS game Cataclismo, demons and other beasties come out under the cover of darkness, and they’re heading straight for you. You’ll order soldiers to defend specific parts of your settlement, set up an array of traps, and fight off the hordes as much as possible. Imagine the tense combat of StarCraft, but this time your enemies can tear down the settlements you’ve built brick by laborious brick.
The full release of Darfall will feature a campaign, but this new demo focuses on the two other game modes you’ll have at launch: the survival mode and scenario editor. Survival pits you against endless waves of enemies in perpetual day and night cycles where the challenge isn’t expansion, but staying alive as long as possible. In the scenario editor, meanwhile, you can create your own levels and challenges and share them with your friends. You can alter the terrain and quests, create custom items, and even modify the properties of any object. The power is in your hands.
With so many genres under its belt, Darfall is suddenly one of my most anticipated games on Steam. Darfall is set for a 2025 release date, but you can try the demo on Steam right now. Just head right here.
Once you’re done with the Darfall demo there are plenty of the best RTS games and RPGs to get stuck into.
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