Conquer the Dark Hands-On Preview: Vampire Survivor + Cosmic Horror + Conan Barbarian = Yes
Blog Andrew Joseph 29 Apr , 2025 0
My first ceremony ended with a big man, a big man, two morning stars swaying around a circle. Think of a clock's hand – a short, a long person – but at least in the newbie, the harsh person, more deadly, and equally inevitable. I'm playing barbarians. I don't understand what I'm doing or how to avoid them. My Dodge didn't hide. Until then I did a good job, but he chewed my life like a bone, and then I died, my ritual was incomplete. But I got somewhere, got some upgrades, and got a better understanding of my work. It's time to try again.
Conquering the darkness is a strange beast. This is obviously attributed to the vampire survivor, but its inspiration has not been given up. It also draws inspiration from things like Conan the Barbarian – your character looks like a car that can be replaced, but starts with belt speed, but some cosmic horror, as a treat. Conquering the Dark doesn't have many stories, but the actual setup is cool. 237 years ago, after the arrival of mankind, mankind stood on the verge of annihilation. The army of the undead wasted the great kingdom of humanity. The universe god has fallen. The original people woke up from their long sleep. Only the legendary city of Haratia still exists, this is the last hope for mankind. In the final, desperate effort, the people of various stripes – heroes, criminals, devotees of ancient gods, those seeking glory – complete dark rituals to summon the deceased ministers and fallen heroes to gain power, hoping to use it to uncover the secrets of the Black Planet and to take back what they can.
It's a cool ego, but conquering the darkness is not an exposition. Most of this is delivered as text, depending on you sew things together. You see it in small details. The named boss, like Lord Commander Urien, appears outside Kharathia. Who was he before? The protector of the city, now against it in Undeath? What about the witch smells that witches smell in the ever-changing sand? How do you smell a witch and what if you meet someone? What happened to the chasm of the fallen hero? Who is S'hes, why did she hunt Titans, and what special order did she take to name her? What is the Black Planet? Where does it come from? I don't know how interested I am in the question of conquering the darkness, but I'm very interested every time I go to a new place and see what's there, or learn more from the description.
Dark ritual, great choice
In fact, conquering the darkness is very simple: you go to an area on the map to start a ritual of darkness. Once you choose where you want to be, it’s time to figure out who you want to be. You have three characters to choose from and you can reread these options as needed. You only have one game (people) and two classes (hunter and barbarian), although you will get more soon. I won't spoil other races, but new courses like Agile Thief, Paladin-style Oathkeeper and Kuu's Splacaster-Fravory Acolyte, all of which do what they sound like.
But, let's start. Hunters are faster, more flexible, naturally leaning towards bows and ranged attacks, while Barbarians have more health and bleeding resistance and thriving at close range using melee weapons, but more interestingly, the randomly generated proficiency limit is gained from jumps. An additional 5% hazard loss, 2.5% bonus to health or a reduced bleeding rate of 5% may seem like no big deal, but it can define who you want your character to be and how you can upgrade later. I especially like that you can re-browse your three starting options for free, or leave the area for free if you think this is not where you want.
Once you have your guy (or Gal), the fun begins. First, you choose an origin. War veterans give you heavy armor, shields and 25% bonus health, while Hunter's apprentice adds shortage of bows, survival and 0.5 projectile Pierce. It is important to note that you can double it here. For example, if you are a hunter game, for example, you probably shouldn't take a hunter's apprentice because you already have two abilities, but it would be great for a savage who wants to play a long distance game. If you play, right, you can be at the very essence of multi-level: the oath-taker is already hard to kill, but it is even more difficult when you take the stargazing source, which gives you the assistant of the Kuu barrier. Once you initiate the Origin, the game begins. No matter who you choose, your character begins with a belt and its fist. However, that won't last long.
After you return to the afterlife for the first time without death, you will get your first major choice: weapons. Some of your choices don't seem that important. Take the Hunter's opening choice. Dwarf bows and longbows are not that important, right? Wrong. Short-dish shoots faster, but each shot causes less damage and less range, while long-foot takes more time to fire, but the hits get farther and farther. Once you choose the killing tool, things will escalate. The first few waves are small, so you have enough time to adapt to things. Like a vampire survivor, you don’t actually control much in conquering the darkness. Just where you move and dodge. An attack will occur automatically. Instead, your focus is almost entirely on positioning. Where, when to dodge, track when abilities will be activated, and have the ability to take advantage of a big shot or swing.
I don't have time to bleed
As you upgrade, you will make more choices. Equipment methods, upgrade ability, when to re-roll options you don't like, or re-roll options in more currencies. There are many build varieties here. I attracted buildings with huge hit losses and high-risk opportunities for hunters, but the Barbarians worked well in AOE damage and increased the enemy's chances of reducing health. Early picking and specialization seem to be key.
Apart from putting together effective builds, your real goal will keep as alive as possible. Look, every time you run, you will have 10 lives. If you lose one, you start bleeding. The more life you lose, the more blood you will bleed. On your first death, you start losing 1% of your health every second. The second jump to 2%. The third time makes it 3%, and so on. Once you start, you can't stop bleeding, but you can reduce it by specifying it as a healthy regeneration, reducing bleeding rates, and the chances of enemies reducing health. After the enemy covers every inch of the screen, survive long enough to complete the ritual, meaning to keep your life and then you start to die. The longer you can avoid it, the better, but the difference between a failed run and a successful run is how long the boss starts to show up once things go sideways. Like you, they have a lot of lives and they will become very annoying, whether the morning star is swaying. They are tough, but if you bleed, you can kill it. I had the greatest success as a hunter, oathmaker and a Ku clan assistant (I like to stay away from things and shoot), but I appreciate the different feelings of each class and their forces me to fight in a unique way to play to my strengths.
Whether you succeed or fail (by the way, you will die anyway; even if you succeed, a boring army of ghosts swept your day. Oops. Maybe that means heading to the Stygian Archives in Halatia where you can not only see everything you have unlocked, but also upgrade personal skills, weapon sets, abilities, etc. with the soul coins you get in every run. Or maybe you are reluctant to consume crystals to increase damage, or the tough altar of the altar takes a piece from that nasty blood damage, or the altar of the soul to ensure you can collect souls (experiences) from a further distance. Then there are factions like the order of the aforementioned s'hes, which gives you all the enthusiasts of the classes to kill the hunter. And Then There is a lunar obelisk where you can increase the difficulty of performing rituals by providing fragments of the Black Planet to increase the difficulty of rewarding. Then back to the ceremony. Scene, death, escalation, repetition.
On-site, death, escalation, try again
Conquer Dark won't stop and explain how all this work works in the bat, although if you want to do some detailed game guides before you go, there are detailed game guides there. Most of the time, you learn by doing things, and I like it. Put me in, coach, I'm ready to play, win or lose. Once you start unlocking more things, the wheels start to turn. “What should I do? How can I build this? What if I try to play this source in this course? I can Do? ” Once they start, they don’t really stop.
This preview of written writing, Commander Urien (the guy with the Morning Star) has been sent on his way, and this I've seen for hours conquering the darkness. But I can't stop thinking. What I might try next is how to upgrade certain things and which courses to explore. The gameplay of the Moment here is very simple. You just move and dodge (or use Dodge-based abilities that doubles its attack), but I appreciate its elegance, which brings me back to new ideas. Upgrades may be what makes you stand out, but magic happens when you enter the moment between life and death. You are going to die; that is given. The question is how far you can get (how much horror you can conquer) before you do it.
