Demonicon
Demonicon
Game
Game2009
Drakensang
Developer Radon Labs
Drakensang: The Dark Eye (German title: Das Schwarze Auge: Drakensang) is a 2008 role-playing video game developed by Radon Labs and published by dtp for Microsoft Windows. It is the first video game in The Dark Eye universe since Attic's Northlands Trilogy (Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny, Realms of Arkania: Star Trail and Realms of Arkania: Shadows over Riva) from the 1990s. The game received generally… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
207 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Oct 4, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
72
Fresh
127 positive · 50 negative
95% range 65–78%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 127 | 50 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 11 | 0 | 15 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 2 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
255 of 342 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
73% recommend · 132 yes, 50 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 182 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (651 of 802 positive).
Many players praise Drakensang as a hidden gem and a classic RPG that holds up well. [1][2][3] Several reviewers note the game requires workarounds to run on modern systems. [4][5][6] Some players report technical issues like crashes and save corruption. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [8]
Look, the game is not bad, it's actually quite good, but it aged way to poorly, the work that you gotta put to even make it work properly is just not worth it, you are constantly having to deal with game crashes and saves can get corrupted, it's a great classic but sadly it shows it's age and it's not worth buying even for super cheap, it just won't run the way it should. I gave up on trying to complete it again.
- [1]
Wow. European Morrowind. Loving it. Talk about Big things in Small packages! Couldn't recommend enough, better than most AAA RPGs out right now, ngl.
- [2]
To this day one of the best and most solid RPG experiences I've ever had. Truly a shame that it went under the radar because you can also really see the love they put into making it.
- [3]
After playing Drakensang, finishing the main quest line as well as about 80% of the side quests, this game is a true gem. I've played a substantial amount of RPG's, and I was looking for a game to play to feed that hunger for a new RPG. The pros and cons are valid on both sides, however I would want to say the pros are significantly better than the cons. It's a very enjoyable experience, and I will gladly do a …
- [4]
If you have trouble running this game on later versions of windows, you can do this 1.open the game 2.when you are in mine menu press left alt+enter 3.now you can play game in windowed mode without any problems 4.if you want to play it in a full screen mode press left alt+enter one more time 5.enjoy the game
Summarised from 34 of the 212 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked Drakensang talk about deep character customization and RPG systems; those who didn't talk about requires fixes to run on Windows 10. Which matters more to you?
Critics, per Wikipedia
Drakensang: The Dark Eye was well received in the German market, but was a commercial disappointment internationally. As a result, developer Radon Labs was unable to recuperate the title's development costs and subsequently went bankrupt. Drakensang received an average of 75% on Metacritic averaged from reviews with user reviews giving it 9.1 out of 10. IGN also gave a similar vote of 7.5 praising the detail of the game while criticizing its cliches. The Cnet review called the story generic and the management of characters overly complex, but said the game is fairly captivating. The reviewer noted, "Everything here seems to have been randomly pulled out of the grab bag of RPG cliches." It…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 207 · most liked firstI didn’t just play Drakensang — I grew up in it. Not just a game, but a memory of when RPGs had heart, patience, and way too many inventory tabs.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In it's current state I can't reccomend this game and, even if I get it to work I wont. Because at the end of the day I'm really tired of the amount of older games on steam that the developers upload, that DO NOT WORK. I love older games and I eyed this for a while, but obviously I do not currently possess an eggshell intel abomination PC from the past with a mouse still using a mouseball I harvested from a hardboiled egg, so I don't know if I should have expected the game to not work and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you have trouble running this game on later versions of windows, you can do this 1.open the game 2.when you are in mine menu press left alt+enter 3.now you can play game in windowed mode without any problems 4.if you want to play it in a full screen mode press left alt+enter one more time 5.enjoy the game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →when ever I launch the game, it's work but when I click on anything it send me back to the desktop I asked for refund but they reject it because the purchase exceeds 2 weeks Edit: gog version works fine without any problem
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Wow. European Morrowind. Loving it. Talk about Big things in Small packages! Couldn't recommend enough, better than most AAA RPGs out right now, ngl.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you liked Demonicon you will like this. It's like Dragon Age or Neverwinter Nights but made by Germans and Germans are known to make high quality products.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My childhood, my life, my one and true game forever and ever
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Look, the game is not bad, it's actually quite good, but it aged way to poorly, the work that you gotta put to even make it work properly is just not worth it, you are constantly having to deal with game crashes and saves can get corrupted, it's a great classic but sadly it shows it's age and it's not worth buying even for super cheap, it just won't run the way it should. I gave up on trying to complete it again.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Games works fine for me, tabbing out might crash it so fullscreen-window is the way to go. If you have troubles, check a Steam guide for the game. Save as much as you can, seriously, saves can break here and there and the autosave is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. It's not as bad as Stalker but you still gotta save often. I just adore this game, I have always played it when I was a kid. The game still holds up nicely and it took me roughly 70 hours to finish it completely, doing most side quests and exploring…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First off, put -windowed in launch option for the game. There you go, problem solved. Now to the game. So, I was looking for an RPG Gem that also had deep character customization. It's often hard to find an old RPG game that can bring back that feeling you had when you started playing BG or NWN and not feel completely outdated by today's standards. Oh, and that is also based on a rulebook. Yes well, 10+ hours in, and I already feel like I really like this game. Graphics: For starters,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really want to like this game. Unfortunately it feels, to me anyway, to be mostly unplayable on modern computers. I keep getting FPS lag (poorly optimised? no matter what I do with settings it does not go away) and it's just giving me a headache now. Shame as it's a good game. If it was actually playable.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've had this game in my steam library for almost 15 years and all of a sudden decided this is the year I was going to try it. CRAZY funny how a 15 year old game is better than the majority of new games these days. Just wow.... I have to say this game brings it. If you can get past the dated graphics, the hardcore abilities, stats, ruleset, etc is all there for a solid game. I'm genuinely having a great time with this and its LOOOooooong in terms of playtime. I feel this is a 100+ hour game…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Better than most AAA games
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →how to run on modern systems: type -windowed into the steam launch options. full screen might work if you hit alt +enter afterwards, it works on my laptop (i5 7600u, runs on the iGPU with 30 fps 1080p. which is actually enough for this game), but doesn't on either of my desktop systems (r5 3600 & rx 5700xt, r7 3700X & Titan X Pascal). you can either adjust window size without adjusting resolution, or go to documents>Drakensang>Profile, open the Profile.xml, and edit the resolution in there.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →To this day one of the best and most solid RPG experiences I've ever had. Truly a shame that it went under the radar because you can also really see the love they put into making it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Crashes everytime when opened on windows 10. Didnt get to play
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While I'm pacing my Control playthrough to give my hands time to heal, I dug up Drakensang 1, a game from my childhood I only vaguely remember playing. It's a blast from the past and I'm surprised I enjoy it this time around despite the tedium, but I hope I'll finally leave the rat city behind soon.
neutral · AI labelView post →A real hidden gem. I am so so happy that I decided to give this game a chance and play it and so far I have not been disappointed. I am yet to finish this game and I am doing Chapter 8 and it has pumped me up so much to play more that I can't even describe or express my excitement. The reviews that I read here had my fingers crossed because I wasn't sure and to be honest I was expecting it to be a below average Baldur's gate clone but after spending 58+ hours I can vouch for this game that It…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A lovely group-based RPG that does not rely too much on combat alone.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Drakensang: The River of Time: store.steampowered.com/app/33770/Dr... A classic CRPG in the style of Dragon Age: Origins. Really crunchy character system and a fun sort of "The Princess Bride" tone. A 2011 gem we all missed due to poor distribution.
neutral · AI labelView post →**Games without frequent changing updates**: [4X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4X): [Civilisation V](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcQeS2lAHps), Civilisation VI [CMS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construction_and_management_simulation): [Anno 1602](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r9Pu-FSedI) (1998), Factorio [Open world](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_world) RPG: Oblivion, Skyrim, Fallout 4 [RPG](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-playing_video_game): [Drakensang: The Dark…
neutral · AI labelView post →Drakensang or Drakensang : The Dark Eye is a roleplaying game released at 2008. It uses a system that uses d20 and d6's but in a way that 1's are better. (German system ) You create a character amongs a large variety of class/race combos, play a linear campaign, gather companions, experience and items. It has linear quest and campaign progression, there are very few choices and mostly no consequences. Companions add a little flavour but there is no romance , specific quests like Baldur's…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →played this back in the day when i got my first computer great memories playing the game with my father, spending so much time inmersed in the game on those long summer vacations now, more than 12 years after, this brings back the nostalgia, and not only that, but the game still holds for today's standards just let the world of Aventuria envelope you and have fun!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Note: Finished in 54 hours of gameplay (all quests finished). In general: A German version of Dragon Age, you can say. Drakensang is based on original German RPG system called The Dark Eye (Das Schwarze Auge) which may be confusing from the beginning but it is actually quite easy to manage. This game has its flaws but I must say I really enjoyed it (although it took me four attemps in eight years to finally finish it). Pluses: + enjoyable crafting system + combat is sometimes challenging but…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great story. I would love to see the game relaunched with new game engine and graphics.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this game was my childhood. love it just as much as the memories i made with it
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After playing Drakensang, finishing the main quest line as well as about 80% of the side quests, this game is a true gem. I've played a substantial amount of RPG's, and I was looking for a game to play to feed that hunger for a new RPG. The pros and cons are valid on both sides, however I would want to say the pros are significantly better than the cons. It's a very enjoyable experience, and I will gladly do a second run later.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the best turn based RPG. Adventure time! PS: Need set Steam Launch options for W10 (Library>Properties>General>Set Launch Options "-windowed -d3x9". and press Shift+Enter for full-screen playing)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Can't even click the menu buttons without the game crashing.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Drakensang might be a little dated, but is still a very decent fantasy RPG. While it sadly does not manage to support all RPG elements such as stealth appropriately, the amount and variety of quests makes for a solid world worth immersing yourself in. Basically any named NPC has a connection to the world and a task or information for the player, which is one of the core strength of the Dark Eye universe.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Too bad there aren't (not to my knowledge) more cRPGs based on The Dark Eye pen and paper system. Very complex, yet a lot of the things happen in the background so you can play without caring about min maxing and stuff like that, and still have a lot of fun despite the game not having difficulties to choose from. I wish more stuff on your character sheet would be explained properly, but as I said, that's only if you care about understand every roll that goes behind anything you do. 10/10…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Now THIS, this hidden gem of a game is the NwN-like experience everyone lead me to believe BG3 was like. Interesting and varied character archetypes to choose for your character; the elven and human specific magics are a nice world-building touch; the 'expert' mode where you can can build your character (within reasonable limit) and start with the weapon & ability scores from the start for your preferred playstyle is especially enjoyable.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Weird system, great game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game tends to crash quite a lot and it's really frustrating. My playtime would be a lot less so far if I din't have to relaunch the game all the time. And so far, I mostly just fought rats, i just couldn't be bothered to continue the game
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Over all the game is great, but to save you from a headache, REMEMBER ALT-ENTER at start of game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nice old RPG. It offers many possibilities to choose your hero and set up their skills if you go for manual setting. The options to set skills are a lot for that type of games and it is good to spread them between the group members. It is a decent, though not very complicated story. You get to play with a party of up to 4 heroes /5 if you have someone that can summon a companion/. You can meet a lot of possible group members during the game play after you start with your main character. The…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →MY ALL TIME FAVOURITE GAME! It was love at first site. Loved the original probably the most, the prequel was awesome, and the DLC too. I wish we had more games like this in the future.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tried to give this a game a fair shake. Pros: *Charming *Gfx for its time are decent Cons: *tech bugs+need to do some fixing before you can play it on win 10 *combat is crap(at least for me) My main gripe is that it isnt explained at all and that you are kinda underpowered and donthve variety in combat even after 10+hours *story/characters arent exciting. Will still give drakensang 2 a try but i doubt it tht it did improve that much. My advice: Play NwN 2 instead.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An underrated gem. You have to tweak stuff a little to run it on Windows 10 but it's still playable.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a cool game but it's too bad it doesn't seem to like windows 10 I keep getting black screen. I've tried the online fixes and it's still black. Cannot recommend this game anymore since I can't even play it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Why did I leave this game lying around for so long? It is an Party-based RPG based on the "The Dark Eye" Pen-and-Paper franchise. As a big fan and somewhat familiar with the rules this shows you (and sometimes teaches you) how the game, even the pnp one should work. It shows you exactly how the world is inteded to feel and how the different species and cultures work. Sure not everything can be done in this game, but it covers as much as is possible for a static video game. The atmosphere is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A lot like the Bioware game, Dragon Age, if you liked dragon age you would probably like this game. It is a turn based RPG similar to the game Never Winter Nights. A good story and a all around well done game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Seems good, the graphics hold on really well, but couldn't play 5 straight minutes without a crash, so...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Doesn't work, rip an old gem fallen to time.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Quirky, but not tryhard quirky. Clunky, but not one of those relics of the days when people would put up with endless stupidity because of lack of choices. Great fun, in part because of its quirks and clunks.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played this as a kid, recently finally set down to finish it almost 15 years later. It still holds up as an RPG where you can't really grind and have to make use of what you get. I played a thief which is far from an ideal class for this game as it lacks the well magic of a mage class but also has low physical attributes compared to the martial classes. The game gets you good enough party members to fix everything in your party and the main character gets a ton of statboosting equipment to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great story, good combat, a game from my childhood. Love it
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This really brings back old good memories! Edit: After 50 or so hours more enjoyed AGAIN years after 1st discovering this hidden gem, my full playthrough is complete: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqpZ937MIoGrbVReJp6Hz2OlMB96ORpuC
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Drakensang is an excellent - if slightly out-dated - RPG from the post-Neverwinter Nights era of role-playing games. The narrative is interesting and reasonably well-presented, with a small degree of freedom in how you progress through the game, although the difficulty may funnel you down a specific route. Whilst the interface is fine and pretty much what you'd expect for a game of this ilk, the actual mechanics of the game may give many people a hard time at the outset. They're based on a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game doesnt like to run on any sort of modern computer system. Ran fine for me for 100 hrs of play then overnight , suddenly wont launch giving "nStream::Open() Failed to read file 'user:Drakensang/profiles/default/profile.xml'!" and runtime error. No tech support to be had. Save your money for another RPG.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game if a little old and janky. Feels like a more bare bones Dragon Age: Origins, Drakensang did come out first after all. Combat is slower paced real time with pause combat. You can que up several actions at a time and they will play out in order making it super easy to pause the game, click on 20 plants and watch them go. Huge variety in the player main character with an 'expert mode' to fine tune your build. Although it's kind of slanted towards you making a Mage character with…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It doesn't work!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →a game were i cant even play the damn thing isnt even a game worth playing i mean i cant even interact with the menu so ya talk about bad first impressions.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →wish more ppl knew about this game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its really a fun game... BUT this ruins the fun of the game for me so much.... ...having a plant lore of 9 and having a failure rate of around 88%.. (about 1 out of 8 or 9 plants) ...having a lock pick skill of 9 and having a failure rate of around 73% (with lock picks and hairpins) ...having a pick pocket skill of 10 (with ring) and having a failure rate of 82% I have tried now 5 times to play and beat this game but it zaps the fun out of it. A thief that fails that much need to quit…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Owned the game pre-steam. 1st playthrough took me probably about 80-100 hours. I finished it about 10 times by now. Good atmosphere, good soundtrack. Timeless classic!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →We used SQLite as save game format in the singleplayer Drakensang games (and a save game was also at the same time the 'world database', so there was an initial 'world state savegame' coming out of the asset pipeline. This was only for game object attributes though, not for textures, meshes etc...
neutral · AI labelView post →Drakensang: The River of Time Another computer RPG developed by a German Studio (Radon Labs), it's a prequel to Drakensang: the Black Eye and it's a video game adaptation of the medfan universe from the TTRPG The Black Eye
neutral · AI labelView post →This game is a ton of fun to play, expore and replay, because you can be sure, that you'll miss one or more sidequests in your first run. I've been playing it since its first release on DVD. It's the true modern "The Dark Eye" (das schwarze Auge). You have races, occupation, amazing regions (some of them can only accessed during their quest), funny characters and unexpected enemies /mobs. When I start it up, I feel the joy of nostalgia, we played the heck out of Drakensang in the 2000s.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Boring. They just throw you with no real backstory. No memorable characters.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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