Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance Series Review – Best & Worst

Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance Series, originally released in 2001 and 2004 respectively, on consoles.

The versions I am reviewing today are the Steam versions of DA1 (2021) and DA2 (2022)

The Games That Came Before

So I mentioned some classic D&D video games above, but the list was actually longer...

• The Dark Sun series (2 great games)
• The Ravenloft series
• Menzoberranzan

Oh, and there was a failed attempt in 2001 with Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor... The problem with that game was that it was primarily designed for "hardcore fans" only! Back when you were into D&D, you'd buy several books to learn the lore and the various dungeons players could discover. Some of these huge dungeons and ruins were detailed in incredible depth in those books... but there's a gap between "reading about them" and "actually exploring them"!

Because the Ruins of Myth Drannor are HUGE! I don't even remember how many subterranean levels there were to explore, but every single one of them took hours! Right from the start you'd dive into a dungeon so big it required something like 30-60 hours to complete... and that was only one of the dungeons.

In the end, it was poorly received... I remember finishing the first dungeon, and it took forever. After that I just lost interest. Again, it was designed for hardcore fans only.

But let's get back to the Dark Alliance series! And please, don't confuse it with D&D Dark Alliance, a 2021 game mainly designed for online co-op play... The graphics were genuinely good, but unfortunately it was repetitive and lacked any real storytelling. It was poorly received and was even pulled from Steam.

Breaking the Rules: Gearing Up as a Sorceress

Basically, Dark Alliance is a kind of Diablo — a Hack'n Slash, but following Dungeons & Dragons rules. Well, let's just say it takes a lot of liberties with those rules 😅 As a small but perfect example: in D&D — at least the rules I remember from childhood, we were already playing 2nd Edition — a Sorceress or Wizard couldn't wear Full Plate armor! That was reserved for Warriors or Paladins... Well, guess what? Not anymore! In Dark Alliance you can wear anything 😜

Not that it makes much of a difference anyway... My Sorceress finished the game in a full suit of Full Plate +5, and I was still getting my ass kicked whenever I rushed in without parrying. So yeah, in Dark Alliance... rules aren't really rules.

Little tip: I recommend playing the Sorceress on Hard mode — it's genuinely challenging (Dark Souls-level difficulty) and forces you to use all your abilities and rethink your strategy against certain enemies, especially some bosses.

So as in every RPG, you start with nothing, but thankfully the merchant at the Inn will sell you some gear! 🤩

And like in any Hack'n Slash, it's all about "room / monster / treasure" — grinding XP and gathering gold 😁

Talk to every NPC with a yellow question mark above their head — that's the sign of a new quest!

New adventure means doing level 1 stuff... so the first quests will have you killing rats, spiders, and goblins 😅

Early on, it's important to be careful with your skill points! Don't spend them on skills you don't need yet. If melee and well-timed parries are working fine for you, stick with melee — until you hit a room where you think a bow or magic could help. Only then should you spend a point on a new skill 👍

A room full of goblins on the left, where I picked up the bow skill! And watch out for bosses too!

In Dark Alliance's first episode, there will be several moments where you'll need to switch spells or approach, because enemies have different kinds of resistances, and what worked a while ago might not work against someone else. That's why it's important to always keep a reserve of skill points! 😮

If you're not playing on Hard mode like I was, this advice might not apply as much.

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Exploring the Sewers, Traps & Bottlenecks

Dark Alliance will have you exploring a lot of different environments — it really puts your imagination to work!

Of course, you'll start in Baldur's Gate cleaning out the sewers, the catacombs, and even a thieves' guild... because that's how it always begins in Dungeons & Dragons. You start small, complete a handful of quests, grind XP to get stronger and more resourceful, and eventually face all the monsters of the Forgotten Realms! 😍

Attacking the famous D&D Gelatinous Cube with Magic Missiles, and Burning Hands on skeletons on the right!

Spells or abilities that deal continuous damage in front of you — like Burning Hands acting as a flamethrower — are genuinely useful through doorways and narrow corridors, since they create a bottleneck for enemies.

Remember, especially on Hard mode, Dark Alliance won't go easy on you! If you need to retreat and come back later, run! And if you can outsmart the AI, do it — some enemies can literally one-shot you or kill you in 2 hits.

Running on the left to create some distance and Regen Mana, and Enemies on the right blocked by Wood boxes 😁

Don't be ashamed of blocking a few enemies, and then shoot them from afar... It won't happen that much.

Dark Alliance also has its share of traps and platforms... The good news? Enemies are affected by traps too! 😎 So you can lure them into a pit of fire, as long as you play it smart... otherwise you'll get overwhelmed. There are also a few "platform puzzles," meaning jumping around like Mario to get past certain areas. Fortunately, there's always a save point nearby, and if you fall and die, you'll respawn close enough for another try.

Luring a few enemies into their own traps, and using Burning Hands on a giant spider from a narrow corridor 😏

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Bosses & the Skill Point Dilemma

Bosses in Dark Alliance's first episode... ARE bosses!

Especially on Hard mode, a few of them will look nearly impossible to beat at first. That's why I'll say it again: keep a reserve of skill points! I've seen threads of players cursing online because they played on Hard mode but had spent all their points building a "specific build" — and ended up completely stuck in front of a boss that was immune to their damage type 😮

Karne can be VERY hard without the right abilities — he's one of the bosses you'll face before reaching the mountains.

Again, you'll meet plenty of NPCs for quests, and at some point in the game you'll unlock the Ultimate Spell 😜

As in most games, at some point you'll unlock some very strong abilities, making you nearly all-powerful! But fear not — these abilities do make the game easier, but only after you've explored a solid chunk of it. As an example, the Sorceress gets "Ball of Lightning," which will basically kill most enemies in the game in just a few casts. Still, don't get overconfident — there's at least one boss who's immune to it 😈

Fighting a deadly Ice Giant with Ball of Lightning, and planning which abilities I'll spend points on next!

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Loot, Grinding & the Onyx Tower

Some areas are really wide and great for grinding experience, making sure you level up and have enough points in case you need to diversify your build. Just so you know: there's no way to respec your character in Dark Alliance... once a point is spent, it's spent, and you'll live with that choice for the rest of the game.

Loot from chests is also mostly random. I've seen players say they were far into the game but had never found a single good weapon for their build. Don't worry too much about that though — later in the game, at the Onyx Tower, you'll be able to stock up on the best gear available.

Little tip: The Onyx Tower — the last dungeon in Dark Alliance, and it's no secret, so no real spoiler here — contains the best chests in the entire game. Before opening any of them, quicksave, open it, and if you don't like what you got... just quickload! 😏 These chests can drop the best armor and weapons in the game, but again, it's random. Just be patient and you'll get all the gear you could dream of.

Killing a big boss in the swamp, and here's my gear thanks to the Onyx Tower chests! 😏

So, if we only talked about Dark Alliance's first episode, I'd give it a solid 4 stars 😍 The game wasn't perfect — armor can feel pretty useless, especially when you're wearing Full Plate +5 and mobs still hit you like you're wearing leather — and a few bosses could've been better balanced, since some of them clearly needed to be fought a specific way, and if you go off-script, you'll die 🤨 But overall, it was a lot of fun!

The problem is... there was a sequel. Dark Alliance 2...

I spent 30 hours on Dark Alliance 1, and I loved it! I feared for my character's life, never knew if I was going to make it, and lived with that constant stress the whole way through. I also loved every environment I explored — for a D&D fan like me, Dark Alliance 1 was the perfect Hack'n Slash! 😍

I've now also spent 30+ hours on Dark Alliance 2... and from the very first hours, I wished it were already over.

Dark Alliance 2 does have better graphics than the original — we can agree on that.

But it's DEVOID of everything that made the first game so enjoyable.

1. Dark Alliance 2 is FAR TOO EASY, right from the start.
2. Dark Alliance 2's storytelling feels like the original writer got swapped for a cheap TEMU knockoff.
3. Dark Alliance 2 is BORING — there's no sense of pride in anything you achieve in-game.

Basically, even with better graphics, Dark Alliance 2 sounds, feels, and looks like a cheap version of the original. It's like the team ran out of ideas or budget and just didn't tell anyone. Simple as that — exhibit A: Dark Alliance 2.

If you manage to die in Dark Alliance 2 on Hard mode, that basically means you did it on purpose. Apart from one room near the end where you're ambushed by 2 Onyx Golems the first time, dying would just mean you suddenly forgot you had buttons to press to fight back, or health potions to use.

Bosses are LAUGHABLE in DA2 — most are trivial to kill, and apart from them... nothing will really stop you 🤨

Honestly, the jump from DA1 to DA2 reminds me of going from RoboCop 2 to RoboCop 3. DA1 felt too hard for some players, so they stripped out all the difficulty and made the sequel boring instead. RoboCop 2 was considered too violent, so RoboCop 3 didn't show a single drop of blood 🤣 And it flopped.

A Red Dragon that I killed in under 2 minutes 🤨 and the 2 Onyx Golems that got me by surprise 🥳

Did you know a 3rd episode was planned too? Thankfully, it never saw the light of day 😇 Honestly, if you're going to play Dark Alliance, just finish the first episode on Hard mode and do yourself a favor... skip the sequel entirely.

Now, just to wrap up...

I've heard about Champions of Norrath and its sequel Return to Arms, which use an enhanced version of the Dark Alliance engine. And as it happens, EverQuest was the very first MMORPG I ever played, and where I sank a good few years of my life. So even though these games were only released on PlayStation 2, I grabbed the ISO files through torrents — not buying a PS2 just for that 😏 — and I'll give them a shot using the well-known PCSX2 emulator.

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• Dark Alliance 1 is a great Diablo for D&D fans.
• Very challenging and enjoyable on Hard mode.
• Fans of D&D will recognize a lot of things (it'll bring back a lot of nostalgia 🥰)

• Even a spellcaster can wear Full Plate armor... 🤨
• Dark Alliance 2 should never have been made... (it completely ruins what the first episode built)