Darkstone: Evil Reigns is an action RPG developed by Delphine Software International, originally released for PC in 1999 and ported to PlayStation in 2001. Playable as a warrior, wizard, assassin, or monk (each with a male and female version), you fight through four sequential lands in real time, gathering loot and spells in a style similar to Diablo. The story follows the return of Draak, a monk-turned-dragon who is draining the world of Uma of its life; your job is to recover seven scattered crystals, rebuild the Time Orb once used to defeat him, and finish him off for good.
The village between lands is your hub for trading loot, buying spellbooks, and stocking up on potions before heading back out. Quests are drawn randomly from a pool of twenty each time you play, so a second run through the same land won’t always send you to the same place.
How to Play
Move your character with the D-pad. X attacks and breaks open barrels and crates, while Circle talks to people, picks up items, and opens chests. Square opens your character screen, Triangle switches the camera view, and L1/R1 cast your two equipped magic or skills. In the browser these map to the arrow keys for the D-pad, with the face and shoulder buttons assigned to their usual keyboard equivalents depending on the emulator core.
Tips
- Only one hero per PlayStation run: unlike the PC version, which lets you control two characters at once, the PlayStation port limits you to a single character — pick a class suited to how you like to fight before committing.
- The sorceress alone learns to turn into a werewolf as one of her spells, giving that class a melee option most casters don’t have if you get swarmed.
- Keep potions in your belt slots (L2/R2) so you can drink them mid-fight without opening a menu — useful since enemies keep attacking while your character screen is open.
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