The Dark Disciple

### **The Romano Era**

Name after the series creator Steve Romano who was the main series director until the Phantom Paradox. He would return to the series for Twin Effect, before leaving the series for good. This era is characterizated (I feel like this is the proper spelling, I promise you can trust me, I am a english professor) by fixed camera angles to hide the problems with the engine, a heavy focus on puzzles instead of combat due to the use of a adventure game engine, minimal use of smart enemies due to engine limitations, and the use of a god awful engine the lead dev kept complaining about to the point it was the reason he quit. Only exception was the first game cause that was using a custom 2D engine.

#### **The Dark Disciple (1994)**

Despite the game not being popular with "gamers" at the time it was massively popular with Goths, Emos, Critics, and Readers. This was partly due to the common misconception at the time that most games were either gorey action games, or cartoony kids games. The Dark Disciple presented an alternative to the typically gaming landscape with a narrative focused horror game.

#### **The Dark Disciple 2 (1996)**

One of the most disappointing sequels in video game history. The game had a troubled and rushed development, primarily due to the publisher Obsidian Entertainment. Obsidian insisted that the game be developed using the Grim Fandango's engine, despite Steve Romano complaining that you cannot just use a adventure game's engine for a horror game. Despite the game bombing with critics, it was a huge success. Many critics stating the setting of a rundown English village was generic, and the use of witches made it even more generic. The biggest complaint for critics at the time was players couldn't fuck the witches, due to most video game critics who cared more about fucking a woman than Star Trek lore. Yet, players differed and mainly complained about the controls, due to them being basement dwellers who cared more about star trek lore than actually fucking a woman. Despite the common complaints the game sold extremely well due to the Goth fanbase the previous game amassed, though many of them still felt the story was sadly generic AF. The main reason for the generic story was due to the rushed development, Obsidian thought it would be best to bring in a external writer to pen the story. Problem was this writer was Tommy Wiseau. Much of the dialogue in the game was extremely awful, and the acting was done by many B-Actors which made the dialogue come off even worse. Eventhough this game sold well, this game was considered so bad their was even a AVGN review of it in 2009 where much of the comment section agreed on this being the worst Dark Disciple Game ever made.

#### **The Dark Disciple: The Phantom Paradox (2000)**

Despite the game being developed from the ground up for the PS2, publisher Obsidian Entertainment insisted the game be developed using the same outdated awful engine as 2&3. Many of the developers on the project joked around with the nickname The Phantom Paradox, so Steve Romano insisted on giving a narrative reason for the game being called The Phantom Paradox to hide the fact it was a jab at Obsidian Entertainment.

### **The We Don't Know What This Series Will Be Era**

This era is characterized by the fact the gameplay and camera kept shifting from game from game. Each game would be like a box of junk, you wouldn't have a clue what the game would be until it was out. In this Era we had many different takes on the series from a Action First Person Shooter, To An Atmospheric RPG, and most confusingly a multiplayer only survival game.

#### **The Dark Disciple: Code H.E.L.L (2001)**

Instead of continuing the series in a logical direction they instead brought in John Romero to design a action FPS in the vein of Halo or Unreal tournament with a run and gun arena shooter Multiplayer mode. Many of the reactions from people at E3 were that of confusion, anger, this is in bad taste, and bewilderment even from Gamers, who at this point came to respect what the original game did for the gaming landscape. Yet, this game did gain some followers for the witch sex scene. Instead of having a normal every man protagonist, we had a Duke Nukem ripoff named Stevie Dukem. Stevie Dukem would be sent by the Secret Organization to stop a demonic invasion of New York. Many found the use of cheesy comedy oneliners in a action game where you rip out demons spleens in a destroyed New York to be a far cry from what the original was about.

#### **The Dark Disciple: Quest For Vengeance (2002)**

For the next game publisher Obsidian decided to completely throw out the modern-esque setting for a dark fantasy medieval RPG. Many of the reactions at E3 were negative AF and death threats were sent to Obsidian due to the vast tonal shifts the last two games were. For some odd reason Obsidian thought it be best to follow up 4 story driven modern day supernatural horror games, and a comedy action FPS with something even more confusing a Bioware led fantasy RPG. The game instead of having a set protagonist would have you play a custom made character in classic bioware fashion with multiple classes and sexes to pick from. Despite its setting being "historical France" many fantasy races were included like Drawves, Elves, Orcs, and Goblins. The game would have the player traverse through a open world France as the Chosen One to stop a evil demonic invasion. The game through its side content would explore many aspects of celtic and French mythology even resulting in a boss fight against a dragon. Needless to say many reviewers, fans, and people who never played the franchise in the first place had no fucking clue what any of this had to do with The Dark Disciple or Historical France.

#### **The Dark Disciple: Return To Johntson (2003)**

At E3 a Dark Disciple game trailer was met with actual interest for the first time in 3 years. This time the game was going to go for a 1920s noire detective angle, and would be developed inhouse. Much of the game would be focused on wondering around in 3rd person talking to people around Johntson after a case involving the occult lead a private eye named Pierce Hill to the town from Boston. The game would occasionally have the player engage with supernatural beings, most of them being ghosts who would aid the player in finding the next clue. In rare moments in the story the player would engage in combat against demonic entities, yet most of the game unless you go out of your way to the dangerous areas of the map the player wouldn't engage in combat. Some people found this the game to be rather boring and bloated, while others loved the game's unique detective gameplay rather fun just that they would like it to be its own thing, and some even praised the return to the dark gritty atmospheric story angle that the series was known for. Though sales were much better than the Code H.E.L.L or Quest for Vengeance the game's sales weren't good enough to warrant this being the new direction for the series. Some naysayers who actually enjoyed the game claim this was due to the buggy glitchy launch (which was a first for the series) but we all know it was because it was a bloated overly long open world detective game.

#### **The Dark Disciple: The Twin Effect (2005)**

After years of not being with the series Steve Romano finally decided to make a new game in the series.