| Dark Sun: Shattered Lands | |
|---|---|
 Cover art byGerald Brom | |
| Developer | Strategic Simulations |
| Publisher | Strategic Simulations |
| Producer | Bret Berry |
| Programmer | Russell Brown |
| Composer | Ralph Thomas |
| Series | Dark Sun |
| Platform | MS-DOS |
| Release | April1993[1] |
| Genre | Role-playing |
| Mode | Single-player |
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands is aturn-basedrole-playing video game that takes place in theDungeons & Dragonscampaign setting ofDark Sun. It was developed and published byStrategic Simulations in 1993. It received positive reviews although released initially in an unfinished state. The game had a sequel,Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager, in 1994. An onlineMMORPG taking place in the same setting,Dark Sun Online: Crimson Sands, was released in 1996 and hosted on theTotal Entertainment Network.
Dark Sun: Shattered Lands takes place in the fictional land ofAthas, a dying and hostile desert world. The locale isDraj, a city-state ruled by a powerful sorcerer-king.[2] Nearby are several "free cities", surviving in the desert thanks to the hard work of their citizens. Upon the completion of the pyramid in Draj, the Sorcerer-King desires to make a great sacrifice of blood by sweeping the desert and destroying the inhabitants of the cities not under his control. The player controls a party of up to fourgladiators, condemned to fight in Draj's arena until they die, so naturally the first order of business is escape. Upon escape, the party must unite the free cities to resist Draj's army.[2]
Shattered Lands does not use SSI's olderGold Box engine. The game uses atop-down view of the world similar to theUltima series. Much of the game involves interaction withother characters, giving theDark Sun series more emphasis on role-playing and less ondungeon crawling than in the Gold Box games.[3]
The game uses a variant ofAdvanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition rules.[3] As with otherDungeons & Dragons computer games, combat features prominently in the game play.Shattered Lands is noted for its highly strategic combat thanks to its two-dimensional turn-based combat system. No two battles are alike, and many of the "boss battles" involve a large army rather than a few powerful mages or fighters. Proper formation and spell use is a must, particularly when attacked from several directions. Characters are also far more powerful in Dark Sun than in ordinaryDungeons & Dragons campaign settings: base stats are 4d4+4 rather than 3d6, and members of one race, half-giant, receive double to theirhit die rolls.Shattered Lands also incorporates elements unique to theDark Sun campaign setting, including unique character races (theMul and the insectoidThri-kreen) and extensive use ofpsionics.
Shattered Lands was released in a somewhat unfinished state in 1993,[4] and later patched to a more workable version. It was available on bothfloppy disk andCD-ROM, though the CD-ROM contained no additional content and was merely used to install the game to the computer's hard drive. It was later re-released as part of theAD&D Masterpiece Collection in 1996.[5] In addition,Data East was developing console ports for theSega Saturn andSony PlayStation for release in 1996,[6] but they were cancelled. The game was re-released in 2015 onGOG.com with support forWindows,macOS, andLinux.
Shattered Lands debuted at #17 onPC Data's computer games sales chart for the month of September 1993.[7] It climbed to third place in October.[8]
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Dragon |   [9] |
| CD-ROM Today | [10] |
| Electronic Entertainment | 8 out of 10[11] |
Writing forCD-ROM Today, T. Liam McDonald calledShattered Lands "a refreshing new twist on familiarAD&D games", and noted its "vastly improved interface" compared to SSI's previous products.[10] Peter Olafson ofElectronic Entertainment foundShattered Lands to be flawed, but he concluded that it was still "a very good game".[11]
Scorpia ofComputer Gaming World in 1993 assured readers thatDark Sun "is about as far from [the Gold Box series] as you can get ... SSI is taking their role-playing line in a new direction, which is good to see". While criticizing the "inanity" of the AD&D 2nd edition rules, and insufficient documentation, she concluded that "my impression ofDark Sun is favorable. SSI is moving to a more mature form of CRPG [with] much promise for the future, and promises a good game to play right now".[3] The game was reviewed in 1994 inDragon #205 bySandy Petersen in the "Eye of the Monitor" column, who gave the game 3 out of 5 stars.[9] John Terra ofComputer Shopper mostly praised the game.[2] He called the controls "instinctive" and "easy to master".[2] He went on to compliment the audio and visuals, saying the graphics are "extremely detailed" and that the sound effects "stand out, with various combat noises that enhance the atmosphere during melee".[2] He did have negative remarks about the map feature, noting that it does not automap and that it displays the positions of enemies, eliminating some of the suspense.[2]
James V. Trunzo reviewedDark Sun: Shattered Lands inWhite Wolf #40 (1994), giving it a final evaluation of "Very Good" and stated that "AsAD&D adventures go,Dark Sun: Shattered Lands is one of the best. Does it break new ground? Yes, technologically - that's a big plus; no from a computer roleplaying angle. It's the same old present but in a different package (though there's no denying that the package is a pretty one). If you can appreciateDark Sun for what it is and not for what you may have expected, you won't be disappointed. If you're looking for the ultimate roleplaying adventure, it ain't been made yet!"[12]
Dark Sun was a runner-up forComputer Gaming World's Role-Playing Game of the Year award in June 1994, which ultimately went toBetrayal at Krondor. The editors wrote thatDark Sun "managed to capture the uniqueness of the magic system and 'scorched earth' look of Troy Denning'sPrism Pentad series of novels".[13]
According to GameSpy, "Dark Sun was TSR's "post-magical apocalypse" world of brutality, blood, and incredibly violent death.Dark Sun: Shattered Lands' graphics, on the other hand, were rather cutesy—not the violent, mature affair fans were hoping for".[14]