Sometimes you wonder if there's ever gonna be a future for the ABS. It seems like if somebody did it right, the system could blow us away. Unfortunately, people rarely do the ABS right. It's often the case where either the gameplay is amazing, and everything else is terrible, or everything else is amazing, but the gameplay is terrible. While DSB (Darkness Shall Bleed, for those of you who have problems with acronyms) isn't the shining ray of hope for the ABS that it could be, it's still a stinkin' marvellous piece of work.

Graphics: 5/5

Let's start with the graphics, shall we? The game looks fantastic. Custom chip sets against RTP-styled charsets that just mould well together. DSB features plenty of vibrant areas that somehow still manage to look quite dark. As a bonus, the game features something that a lot of ABSes have, for some reason, neglected- when you press the attack key, you actually see your character attack. This seems like it would be standard fare for ABS games, yet games like Hyamalan's Secrets and Demon Destiny 1 neglect this aspect, for some reason. It's nice to see that there are devealopers out there who take the time to include this, even if it is just a small thing. Actually, you see your main character do a lot of things that many devealopers would not consider important. Your character picks up pots, crawls and jumps. For each one of these actions, the developer has created a corresponding charset. The game also features fun little moments like the walking past the town outhouse. When you do so, you find yourself surrounded by flies- a clever little addition.

Storyline: 1/5

Before going too much further, I suppose I'll have to talk about the storyline. This is a really hard one to do, because there doesn't seem to be much of one. Your character, Landon, wanders into a town looking for somebody because something terrible has happened. No, I'm not kidding. That's the story. The only change in the plot is, wait for it... you need to get on a train. Don't get me wrong, the storyline does its job in terms of giving you something to do, but it doesn't try to really engage you or even make you care about the character.

Music and sound: 3/5

The music in here is really good. Tracks from Apocolyptica are all over the game, and they help to add to the dark atmosphere really well. Problem is, there is only about three tracks in the entire game which means you'll find yourself getting sick of them pretty quickly. The sound effects are well done, though. Very little, to my memory, was used from the RTP, which is refreshing, to say the least.

Gameplay: 4/5

This is probably the most solid ABS I've seen in a long time. You use the Z and X buttons to attack with equipped items. "But that's just a Zelda clone!" you say? Well, yes. But hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The system works very well and you are left feeling like you have pretty good control of the game. Probably the two greatest additions to the game are the Kow and the healing system. It would have been so easy for this devealoper to say "let's make it so that you use potions to heal your characters". Thankfully, that isn't the case. Landon gets healed gradually, which is just a cool thing to have on the game, since most other developers insist on making you pay through the nose for healing items that only recover about 10% of your health. The kow is also a great feature if for no other reason than you get to ride an animal (which, I suppose is a cow/horse hybrid). But it also helps you in battle. Believe me, you want to ride your kow when fighting enemies. My only gripe with the gameplay is that the developer seems to have this great battle system, yet you spend very litttle time actually fighting. Most of the time you are breaking pots a la Ocarina of Time in order to get money. A little dissapointing.

Atmosphere: 4/5

Okay, I seriously wanted to give this game a 5/5 for atmosphere, because this game had plenty of it. You find yourself really wanting to explore the whole game and take in the great graphics and music. Unfortunately, the game seems to be over way too qucikly. I would have loved to see an actual dungeon at the start of the game, as I'm sure the atmosphere there would have been amazing. What you get instead is a walk around town and a stroll into a church. It didn't help that the boss at the end of the game was a few spiders. I was really hoping for something a little grander.

Overall: 3.5/5

I really wanted to give this game a 4. The battle system was great, the atmosphere was awesome and the graphics were to die for. Unfortunately, I don't think the devealoper knows how much of a good thing he's on to. Lacklustre bosses, not much variation in music, and not enough of the best parts of the gameplay left me feeling a little disappointed, as it's very clear the game could be so much more. Oh well, here's looking out for FEY.

Love it:
- Solid battle system
- BEAUTIFUL graphics
- Amazing atmosphere

Leave it:
- Almost no storyline
- Not enough of what made it so good