Unterwegs in Düsterburg - English Version 1.3

Guten Tag, players!
Yes, that's german, and it's because this time I am going to play Unterwegs in Düsterburg (which translates to "On the road to Düsterburg"), a legendary 2002/2003 german rpg game made with Rmk2000 by the German developer Ingmar "Grandy" Hahnemann. This is one of the most popular german rpgmaker games together with the Vampires Dawn series... and concerning the plot, it even has many similarities: it's a dark fantasy adventure with vampires. The setting is in fact really similar to the Barovia seen in the Dungeons & Dragons Ravenloft setting, not your usual high fantasy, and not the classic sword and sorcery.

The game starts with a prologue that is about two secondary characters we'll meet in chapter 2, and sets the mood: it's a dark place and time, and people need a hero. This hero will be Grandy, a warrior that exits from a mysterious mist with no memories, except for his name. After the first adventures in the icy mountains our protagonist will assemble a party that includes Julie, a dog, Libra, a sorceress with elemental spells and Dankwart an old man that, as you can probably expect, is the cleric/healer of the party, particularly important in a horror-fantasy setting where undeads are frequently encountered. Anyway these are just the first characters, there will be other playable characters later, but I'm not going to tell you who they are!


To be honest, I do not remember visiting many inviting places in this game!

Unterwegs in Düsterburg, as the name suggest, has an "on-the road" structure: after a sort of prologue part in a small area, I started exploring the icy mountains I mentioned before, then a city, then a castle, then a tavern along the road... each place with its adventures, enemies and quests, some of these are optional (like the ghost that ask to recover his body in the very first area), others can have different outcomes (like the one in the castle... I won't spoil, but that was a really creepy part!) or choices (side with the orcs or the snake girls? And what did you do with the suspicious guy that lives in the mountains?)... and it's also impressive how some places, like the first city that isn't very big, and yet it contains a lot of things to do (even optional ones like betting money on turtle races)! Impressive!

Since I was talking about places, lets discuss mapping: the game uses various resources, some are clearly RTPs, while others are edits, then there are sprites ripped somewhere, but also animated cutscenes created with custom made resources and custom animations for the charsets. Mapping is in may opinion very good and balanced, there are no dissonance of style or parts that look out of place, maps are well done, often small (no overly spaced sewers or huge empty rooms) but filled with details.
There are also the animations of the heroes that attack the opponents seen in the classic Rm2k 1st person battle layout are custom, and I liked how their moves reflect what they are actually doing: Grandy can attack, throw his sword like a boomerang (!), make a feint or try to paralize the enemy, and each move has a different animation (same for the others, depending if they cast a spell or attack with a weapon). It's also worth noting that Grandy attack with moves with different effects, and these do not cost Mana, of course, anyway consumables a new gear are easily available as loot or at the shops found along the road.


Away, away foul beast!!!

I mentioned Grandy's abilities (with his two swords), and while it's partially true that SOME new skills and experience points are earned killing enemies and levelling up, you can ALSO get new skills during some quests, and solving some problems and tasks even in a non-violent form, can award experience points, particularly useful in the beginning, when a single tiger or werewolf (yes, you are warned) can destroy your party.
Oh yes, enemies! Aside for the occasional orc and troll, most opponents will be animals (the classic wolves, but also dire squirrels!), demons (of different kind) and lots of undeads. Most of these have some kind of weakness or immunity (like opponents that can be killed just by magic, normal humans that aren't affected by holy magic and so on), so just figure out their weak point, and strike hard (hint: you can buy fire bombs in the very first shop, and guess what? These are ideal against ice demons!).
Enemies are always visible and avoidable, except in the case of bosses of course! Regarding the possibility to save the game uses save points in dungeons, anyway you can save anywhere in the outdoor areas.

The story is pretty cool, I mean it start really simple: there's this vampire tyrant that used magic to create a perpetual night and rule unchallenged, and we've to kill him. Simple, ok? Well, yes, but during the road we'll meet lots of other people: some will be friends, others will be enemies, some will ask for a favour, others will try to trick us... it's a dark, dangerous world with lots of characters and stories. But it's not always sad and dark, I mean there are some humorous parts, hilarious moments (a dead person reincarnated in a chicken, a zombie that wants a wife, the turtles of the races with the names of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc) and funny dialogues, even if the stories and events aren't lighthearted at all: people die and sometimes also messily or become undeads (ok it's nothing visually like Grimorum, to mention another german horror game, still expect blood, undead children, dismembered charsets, always all on what I call the "pixelated" level, nothing detailed), and no, no one is safe here. I admit that the story really captivated me, especially the part of the castle that I played two times (with two different outcomes) where I really wanted to know the story behind that part. And well, that's just ONE of the many episodes in which you can divide the story and the game.
Finally music is also pretty good, there is a great selection that goes from an 8bit version of Californication (yes, the Red Hot Chili Peppers!) to Johann Sebastian Bach. Weird, but strangely fitting and pretty good in most cases.


Wait, what? Given the nature of this game (where most enemies just kill you, or raise you as an undead) this is unexpected!

Ok, so far, all is good! What is ok and not perfect?
Well first the basic character speed that is veeeeery slow, so I suggest, no I urge you to select the fast movement speed in the beginning (being an old Rm2k game there is no sprint button!). Thanks me later for this!
Second... the dog! Julie is useful just at the beginning, but she attacks like a berserker and cannot even be healed with normal means! Ok, healing spells work, anyway she cannot use potions but you have to prepare a bowl of dog food and then use a healing item to it, and this is possible only outside of combat. Meh that's annoying, luckily she's later replaced by a more useful companion.

Now, the bad:
Aside for some parts that were left untranslated (for example the dialogue when the servants of the castle are killed, a dialogue with the butler and one with a child of the turtle races), there are some errors I found for example:
- when speaking with the captain of the guard DO NOT place yourself between the table and the captain because you can block his movement, leading to the game freezing.
- during a segment in the castle for some reason a secret passage results blocked/unusable. And there is no reason for that, in fact later it's usable again! That part is also pretty weird and random (one of the outcomes is obtained just going around randomly until those enemies who block the exit are killed off-screen at a certain point, but nothing tells you this!), anyway remember that in most cases you can push chairs and stools to read books placed on tables that are apparently inaccessible.
Uhm I do not remember other issues, aside for a sudden color change of a charsets, but in any case nothing really awful. This is a good game despite its age.


Onwards! Maybe the real treasure will be the friends we'll make along the way to Düsterburg!

Final Verdict
Unterwegs in Düsterburg deserve its reputation: it's a long but varied and very captivating and exciting adventure, difficulty is in my opinion really well balanced (some parts were pretty easy, but I do not complain) with a party that constantly changes (occasionally you are temporarily reduced to use a single or two characters, and this is often typical of horror scenarios).
The translation made by Aranael is very good, pity for some parts left out, anyway these are just a 5% of the game, I guess. I love classic old Rm2k but refined (and high quality) games when have this kind of polish and variety: it's a really rich world, and a great adventure with many interesting that will provide hours of fun!