Veil of Darkness - A Weight Lifted (Won! and Final Rating)

Written by Zenic Reverie

Hindsight is often referred to as 20/20, but looking back on the last hurdle I needed to cross to complete Veil of Darkness has soured the experience just a touch because as far as can I tell there's no indication I needed to do this.

Thanks to Agrivar for the assist, I instantly realized this is a hole and not the tree's shadow.

Agrivar indicated it was indeed an item I hadn't used, and I should look to use it where I found it. I thought maybe I'd lasso the plane and pull a section out of the swamp. As soon as I loaded the screen though, I looked at this tree and tied the rope. The main problem I have with this type of solution to a puzzle is there's no way to examine the environment to know that shadow was a hole. Sure, I can't walk over it, but there's plenty of other fiddly bits of terrain that block progress that I didn't think much about not being able to walk under a tree. If there was an NPC that mentioned holes in the swamp, then I missed it, but as dialog is the main way the game gives descriptions I would have hoped for some hint about them or the mushrooms growing below.

This whole area felt underbaked.

To accentuate the sourness, the Sinkhole Caverns lacked anything interesting. It was home to small rooms with patches of mushrooms, and a single pouch with silver coins. The only enemies inside were bats, easily dispatched with any available weapon. Silence pervaded the experience, as the only location in memory that lacked music. The lack of music continued until I moved to another location. The mushrooms themselves seem to only serve one purpose, to temporarily blind, though they can be sold to Annabelle. I wonder if I could softlock by selling them all. It's amusing that the blindness blacks out the play screen while they're in effect.

The exit from the caverns isn't even indicated with a rope, just walk into the corner to exit.

Gripes aside, and the key piece to solving the rest of the game in hand, everything else fell into place easily. In fact, the final battle with Kairn doesn't even require combat. The mushrooms blind the main character to turn aside the vampire's charms. The garlic necklace allows us to stand strong against claw and fang. A single vial of holy water, and opening the box of light were obvious next steps. Speaking the true name sent Kairn flying to his coffin.

I'm not sure why I'm able to attack these particular statues, but there was mention of Kairn bringing them to life... maybe if I messed up one of the steps in the prophecy they'd attack.

I made the slow trek back to the coffin to confront Kairn, who I found lamenting its seal. In his weakened state, Kairn succumbed to a final attack played out in a fullscreen cutscene that was rather violent. After Kairn was felled, Deirdre was freed, and they both sailed off into the sunrise. Since this is so short, let's jump right into the PISSED rating.

Session Time: 0h 20m

Game Time: 15h 20m

Puzzles and Solvability

From physical movement necessary to follow a trail of blood behind a bookcase, to a series of steps to follow in a ritual as well as the prophecy giving hints to solve the game as a whole, as well as dialogue to pick out keywords to throw back at various NPCs, Veil of Darkness offers a nice range of puzzles and solutions. The weapons didn't act so much as a puzzle, and more like lock and key solutions. The mace for the skeletons and machete for the topiary beasts had some logic to it, but a magic staff for the will-o-wisps and silver sword for zombies didn't quite hit the mark.
Solving the true murderer of Edward felt a little forced when one of the clues was that he was growing parsley. I'm sure there could have been something a little more convincing. The threat of revenge from his friend seemed empty, but I'm still surprised nothing further came from it, even when I flaunted the garlic necklace in front of him and the mayor.
It felt good to piece together each item in the ritual to banish the guardian, and follow the steps with the limited options available. It was definitely my highlight of the game. Using the ribbon to hold the bell, the iron spike that had to be dug up from the grave, and lighting the blessed candle then placing it on the ground really used every action I could take.
There were some puzzles that fell a little flat, and either ended with a brute force approach or caused me to restart the game. The search for the werewolf had me shouting werewolf at every person, which didn't let me prepare for the actual werewolf attack. Like the mushroom, the ivory horn's location wasn't hinted. I would have ended up trying to tie the rope to everything I could find if it weren't for the request for assistance. Then there's a bit of dialogue that hinted at asking Seth for a light, which only occurs once. This type of puzzle solving doesn't leave me with a good feeling.
Those low points drag this category down. I'm giving it a score of 6.

Interface and Inventory

While the game requires and is fully controllable with a mouse, the keyboard adds shortcuts for actions available through icons or menus. It's nearly possible to fully control via keyboard, but it lacks a way to manage inventory and equipment. If there were some way to select an item in inventory, and assign it to a hand, then a mouse wouldn't be necessary.
It's possible this was a limitation due to how the inventory screen was implemented over the game screen, and is pulled up to cover it. This doesn't pause the game. Pausing is a different function and locks the mouse; any key unpauses the game. The arrow keys and numpad control character movement and will continue to move him while the inventory obscures the game. This makes healing during battle a frenetic affair, especially if those potions are in bags, which need to be held in the left hand to access items inside. 
There are many bags in this game, as inventory space is rather limited. Managing the inventory is an ongoing problem to solve given that items won't automatically go into empty bags. By late game this means picking up items, dragging the inventory screen up, moving the items into a bag, and then dragging the inventory screen back down. A hotkey exists to pop open and close the inventory, but it's the close bracket key which is a little awkward to rest on.
I found the lack of a look or examine function stifling. I couldn't gather any information about my surroundings other than what I could parse visually. This led to missing the hole in the ground next to a tree mentioned at the beginning of this post. It also would have been nice to get a bit more information about specific objects, even if they had no significance to solving the game. Thankfully, there is at least a short description for items when held by the cursor in inventory. 
Overall, I found it competent with just a few small hitches in flow. I rate it with a score of 7.

Story and Setting

I'd be surprised if this game wasn't at least a touch inspired by the AD&D Ravenloft setting. It's not quite as deadly or sinister as some of my adventures in that campaign setting, but many themes from there echo throughout this story. Pulled away from the real world the lead character is trapped in this realm ruled by a vampire lord. It's said Kairn does this out of boredom or seeks a challenge that can't be found in the valley.
The main character is saved by Kirill who hopes this man will fulfill a prophecy written in the blood of Kairn's father. After we accomplish the first task laid out on the parchment, we're left to our own devices and to choose our own path for what to do next. Deirdre, Kirill's daughter, takes a fancy to us and we end up saving her in a damsel in distress style situation.
A creepy vibe enemates throughout each area. Only the towns and gypsy camp provide true safety from the rest of the wilds where powerful creatures lurk. This is at least the intent, but once the gypsies are found you get access to unlimited healing potential (as long as you can make it back). This reduces the tension to near zero. Most creatures are slow enough to run past without a second glance.
The story wraps up with a happily ever after moment between Deirdre and the protagonist, but it left me wondering about what happens afterwards in the valley. Do they rejoin the real world? Does the mayor continue with the same rule of law Kairn laid down? Maybe everyone leaves, finally able to choose their own way. In the end, it's not so much the story that seems to matter. It's just dressing for solving the riddle of the prophecy.
It's a competent representation of this type of story, but lacks emotional completion in the end. I'm giving it a 6.

No one else from the valley gets a recap.

Sound and Graphics

Great soundtrack fitting of the motif, and something I often left running in the background to get in the mood for the game. Sound effects are few and far between aside from the standard weapon swinging sound. The ring of the bell and sound of the horn are the two notable sounds, which only happen a few times.
The pixel art is really well done, and other than a generic hole in the ground (and a horn obscured in a skeletal hand), I could instantly tell what I was looking at on screen. Interiors were well decorated as well as the towns laid out in a way that made them interesting to explore. Cutscenes punctuate key events in even greater detail.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the maze-like dungeons of the game. They're bland, lackluster, sprawling, and featureless experiences that drain the enthusiasm the rest of the game gushes. At least one even lacks a music track.
I'd almost give this an 8 for the music alone, but the dungeon experience drags it down to a 7.

Environment and Atmosphere

Covered a bit in graphics and setting above, I'll reiterate that it's a competent implementation of the gothic vampire lord setting in a hopeless valley. I enjoyed how the various locations opened up on the map as I learned about them through dialogue. Knowing where a location is becomes important because wandering about could lead to very dangerous situations.
The only thing that could have made things creepier is a little fog throughout. The valley is also supposed to be shrouded in darkness, but the lighting didn't really reflect that in any of the outdoor environments. These might have been technical limitations. Not that it's ever fun to walk around in darkness, but it fails to reflect the oppressive lack of sunlight.
Final score of 7 for better than average, but plenty of room for improvement.

Dialog and Acting

The majority of the dialogue is well crafted and quite charming; however, the main character's banter stands out from everyone else. Maybe that was an intentional choice as an outlander in a strange land. His manic change of tone from friendly to angry to thoughtful in the same conversation puts a roadblock up for me to connect with this character as a self insert. 
In conversations with Kirill his final turnabout felt completely out of character. I also would have expected some reaction from those loyal to Kairn when I was wearing the garlic necklace. This lack of reaction makes the characters feel a bit one dimensional.
In the end, a score of 7 seems fair.

Apparently there's a voice sample for Nikolae in one version of the game, not on DOS though.

The math: 6+7+6+7+7+7=40 / .6 = 66.667. This feels right. A recommended play if you can put up with the mundane elements. There's a lot of charm, thoughtful design, and just enough riddles and puzzles to solve that keep one's interest throughout.

With that Veil of Darkness comes to a close, but it probably won't be the last time The Adventurer's Guild crew explores a game by these developers. Event Horizon Software, Inc. changed its name to DreamForge Intertainment, Inc. to avoid confusion with another game developer using Event Horizon. As DreamForge, they released Chronomaster (1995) and Sanitarium (1998). This developer's next games included Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession and Ravenloft: Stone Prophet before getting to Chronomaster. I wonder if this game showcased what they could do with such material.
 

CAP Distribution

125 CAPs to Vetinari

• Classic Blogger Award - 50 CAPs - For playing Hound of Shadow for our enjoyment (and his first review for the blog!)

• Double Classic Blogger Award - 50 CAPs - For playing Daughter of Serpents for our enjoyment

• Psychic Prediction Award - 10 CAPs - For having the closest guess to the final score for Beyond Zork

• Half-Brained Psychic Prediction Award - 5 CAPs - For sharing the closest guess to the final score for Loremaster with Alex Romanov

• I Swear, He MUST Be Cheating Somehow Award - 10 CAPs - For having the closest guess to the final score for Sherwood Forest

100 CAPs to Zenic Reverie

• Blogger Award - 100 CAPs - For playing Veil of Darkness for our enjoyment

70 CAPs to Michael

• Classic Blogger Award - 50 CAPs - For playing Sherwood Forest for our enjoyment

• Psychic Prediction Award - 10 CAPs - For having the exact guess for the final score for Veil of Darkness

• Second Sight Award - 10 CAPs - For having the exact guess for the final score for The Paradise Threat

55 CAPs to Morpheus Kitami

• Classic Blogger Award - 50 CAPs - For suffering through Loremaster for our enjoyment, because we are sadistic readers

• Thatsa' Spicy'a Meat-a-ball Award - 5 CAPs - For catching one of Vetinari's obscure Italian comic book references in Hound of Shadow.

50 CAPs to Will Moczarski

• Classic Blogger Award - 50 CAPs - For playing The Paradise Threat for our enjoyment

50 CAPs to Joe Pranevich

• Classic Blogger Award - 50 CAPs - For playing Beyond Zork for our enjoyment

25 CAPs to CRPG Addict

• Blogging in Stereo Award - 25 CAPs - For simultaneously blogging about Loremaster with Morpheus Kitami

25 CAPs to Jason Dyer

• Two for the Price of One Award - 25 CAPs - For simultaneously blogging about The Paradise Threat with Will Moczarski

25 CAPs to Agrivar

• Thatsa' Spicy'a Meat-a-ball Award - 5 CAPs - For catching one of Vetinari's obscure Italian comic book references in Hound of Shadow.

• Helping Hand Award - 20 CAPs - For answering Zenic Reverie's Request for Assistance in Veil of Darkness and getting them back on the right path

20 CAPs to Voltgloss

• "I'm Not Dead Yet" Award - 20 CAPs - For spotting an obscure Monty Python reference in the final post for The Paradise Threat

20 CAPs to ATMachine

• Deep Dive Award - 20 CAPs - For playing and comparing the alpha, beta, and release versions of Beyond Zork and posting about the (oh so many) differences

10 CAPs to Leo Vellés

• Psychic Prediction Award - 10 CAPs - For having the closest guess to the final score for Hound of Shadow

5 CAPs to Torch

• Straight Up Award - 5 CAPs - For having the closest guess in one of the Straights

5 CAPs to Alex Romanov

• Half-Brained Psychic Prediction Award - 5 CAPs - For sharing the closest guess to the final score for Loremaster with Vetinari

5 CAPs to Ross

• Spoilsport Award - 5 CAPs - For being the straight man in a humorous discussion about the roles of sleuths and private eyes in Daughter of Serpents.

5 CAPs to Abram

• Edutainment Award - 5 CAPs - For teaching us about past UK Prime Ministers