Dirge of Umbra (game)

Dirge of Umbra is an action role-playing video game developed by Appalon, and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released on November 9, 2018 in US/Canada.

Story
Dirge of Umbra takes place on the continent of Harthyia, split between eight countries founded by the Iron Alliance, an ancient group of soldiers who ended the rule of the ancient Novaec, Daelith, with divine aid. In the present, a cult working to revive Daelith stirs up war among the countries. The story is told over two generations — the first generation follows the Azarrian prince Rataxil, while the second follows Lyon, a warrior who strives to turn from the path of senseless violence he has followed for so long.

Gameplay
Although touted as an "open world" game at E3 2017 presentation, the developers quickly clarified that Dirge is not an open world in the same way as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but instead simply features large locations with the freedom to explore. However, Appalon also stated that the game "has a story to tell and remains the main priority". This statement proved to be valid as the game's first half is relatively linear compared to the second half which allows the player to more freely explore without much restrictions. The developers opted for this design choice in order to tell a more engaging, comprehensible story without restricting the player to only a linear playthrough. Before the games release, Appalon made it known that Dirge of Umbra would feature plenty of rather lengthy in-game cutscenes and therefore may upset some players' constant gaming experience, but promises these said cutscenes would be of high quality with great voice acting and animations.

Combat in Dirge of Umbra is both fast-paced and weighty. A game of dodging and evading opponent’s attacks, and learning how each enemy in the game plays. The player will always want to leave enough stamina in reserve to dodge, block, and perform other special moves. If the player runs out of stamina during a battle, their character will temporarily stop and gasp for breath, unable to move. This obviously leaves the player open to enemy attacks.

As the player fights and gains experience, they will acquire ability points (AP) that can be spent to unlock or augment special abilities. The player is rewarded one AP per level, for a total of 136 points. Leveling to the 136 level cap will allow the player to unlock and upgrade every ability the game has to offer.

Dirge of Umbra features three difficulties to choose from: Casual, Normal, and Hardcore. Casual is the easiest difficulty for players who want to experience the story and world without much of a challenge. Normal difficulty is for players who want a reasonable challenge, but still wish to comfortably enjoy everything the game has to offer. Finally, Hardcore is the hardest difficulty for players who wish to take on some intense and challenging battles. The player is able to change the difficulty in-game at any giving time. However, changing the game's starting difficulty from Hardcore to any other difficulty will prevent the player from gaining an achievement upon completion of Hardcore mode. If the player finds the game becoming too easy even on Hardcore difficulty, the Upscale Enemy Level option will ensure the player will have a challenge even after the player's level cap is reached.