The PlayStation 2 library remains one of the most impressive collections of games in console history, with a truly staggering number of classics hitting the platform during its lifespan. While some of those games helped elevate certain franchises to new heights or established huge cult classics, there were some pretty solid games that ended up left behind in the shuffle.
One of them was Dark Cloud, an ambitious fantasy-adventure action RPG that hit North America in 2001. The game’s blend of exploration and sword-swinging action made it a natural peer to the generational hit that was The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. 25 years later, it’s worth looking back at what made Dark Cloud such a fun counterpoint to the Nintendo franchise and why the series that could have become Sony’s answer to Zelda never made it past a second game.
Debuting in North America on May 29, 2001, Dark Cloud was a fantasy adventure game for the PS2 that put players into the role of Toan. An action-heavy fantasy RPG with a third-person perspective, Dark Cloud‘s fantasy tropes and gameplay actually made it a pretty solid answer for Sony to counter The Legend of Zelda, with enough strong elements to make it a worthy competitor to Nintendo’s long-running franchise. Dark Cloud focuses on the fallout of Colonel Flag Giligster unleashing the Dark Genie, a massively powerful creature who began to wipe out villages all across the East and West.
Toan, one of the only survivors of his hometown of Norune, is entrusted with the magical stone known as the Atamilla by the Fairy King and tasked with traveling the world to restore lost villages that have been transformed into mystical orbs known as Alta. The inaugural game of developer Level-5 (who would go on to find greater success with the Professor Layton series of games with Nintendo), Dark Cloud was an ambitious fantasy adventure game that shared a lot of key elements with the Legend of Zelda series, especially then-contemporary hits like Ocarina of Time.
The game followed Toan as he traversed the world, collected powerful new weapons and abilities, and used a sword to combat creatures in dungeons. However, the game also took things further in intriguing ways. This includes the inclusion of a “thirst” meter that puts higher stakes on exploring the procedurally generated dungeons, along with a city-building mechanic that allows players to rebuild the lost villages.
Players could even sub in some of their teammates for Toan while on missions, increasing the ways that players could approach the adventure from a gameplay perspective. With a solid length that could easily exceed 20 hours and a host of challenges to overcome, Dark Cloud was an exciting game that not only seemed to take inspiration from Ocarina of Time — its lock-on feature in combat feels almost pulled directly from Nintendo’s approach to combat — but managed to find its own sense of style and identity in the process. It had a lot going for it, which makes the fact that it fizzled out so disappointing.
Upon release, Dark Cloud earned solid reviews, with a cumulative 80/100 on Metacritic that couldn’t overtake Ocarina of Time but put it firmly alongside it as a peer. While critics were torn about the graphics and some of the gameplay mechanics, they were largely positive on the ambition and craft of the game. Although the game struggled to break out in Japan, it found much better sales once it launched in other markets like North America (where the spread of the PS2 and the prior success of Ocarina of Time proved to be an advantageous scenario for the game). This success prompted the game to get a continuation with Dark Chronicle, which debuted in America in 2003.
Although it retained the core gameplay mechanics of the prior adventure, Dark Chronicle embraced a different storyline and focused on new characters. Ironing out many of the wrinkles in Dark Cloud while refining the unique gameplay mechanics and visuals, Dark Chronicle was a stronger critical and financial success than Dark Cloud. However, despite fans clamoring for a third entry in the series, the series ended up becoming an afterthought. As reported by Polygon, this is primarily because the license for the series is co-owned by Sony, meaning the developer couldn’t simply make a new game even if they wanted to.
It’s a shame, too, because Dark Crystal was shaping up to be a real asset for the PlayStation library and a natural counter to the continued success of the Legend of Zelda series at Nintendo. The franchise had already shown a willingness to experiment with storytelling, shifting focus entirely between the first two games while refining the gameplay mechanics in clever ways. The various gameplay mechanics could have been expanded as technology grew, allowing players to explore massive dungeons with larger parties or even take on full life-sim qualities with the town reconstruction mechanic. It’s a shame that 25 years after Dark Cloud became a cult success, more hasn’t come of the series — but the series remains one of the best underappreciated properties in the PS2 library.
