You'll also get traditional Attribute points for more incremental improvement to damage, defense and HP.ĭark Alliance is a game that seems destined to be forgotten, which is a shame because there's a lot of old-school PS2-style fun to be had.

Much more interesting are the skills you'll spend your Feat points on, acquired through traditional levelling – these allow you to tailor your characters to your playstyle, unlocking new moves and abilities that open the game up rather nicely. Selling your unwanted trash loot is also a bit of a chore at present, with no way to mark loot as 'junk' then auto sell it meaning you'll need to go through each piece individually. It gets the job done – your stats will incrementally raise – but as a draw to keep you playing and replaying we feel like it's a touch underwhelming. Of course, the loot is the main draw here, but we found this was where the game fell down a little – it just isn't that interesting. There's a pleasing focus on secrets, too – refreshingly so, with breakable walls and exploration rewarding the player with deviously-hidden loot. The lion's share of the gameplay is, of course, the hack-and-slash combat, but there's a touch of platforming and verticality to the maps to offer some acrobatics-based variety.

You're also able to block and parry with a last second tap of L1, which adds depth and skill to the proceedings. The controls are simple: light and heavy attacks are on R1 and R2 respectively, with the X button letting you jump and Circle engaging a quick, responsive dodge that’s very satisfying to work into your approach once you figure out the foibles of each character.

Dark 3 hack and slash