Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager
After defeating the Drajian army, four former gladiator slaves journey to the
recently liberated city of Tyr, whose evil sorcerer-king Kalak was recently
slain. Although freed from Kalak’s tyranny, Tyr is now defenseless against the
ambition of the Dragon, a creature that came into existence as a
transformation of a malevolent mage. The Dragon sends his powerful undead
general the Lord Warrior to Tyr to conquer it and prepare for his coming. The
heroes hook up with a rebel underground known as the Veiled Alliance and must
oppose the Draxans and the Lord Warrior, while they are being secretly
observed by the Dragon through his crystal ball. The party soon learns that
the Dragon may be the least of their worries, however, as it becomes apparent
that the Lord Warrior has his own hidden agenda and intends to unleash a long
dormant monster of immense destructive power upon the world.
_Dark Sun: Wake of the Ravager_ is a direct sequel to Shattered Lands. It has
the same engine and basic gameplay as the original game, with slight graphical
improvements (such as larger character sprites). Like its predecessor, this
game is a departure from the earlier Gold Box Dungeons & Dragons games:
instead of a first-person “maze game” focusing on dungeon crawling, the game
has a third-person top-down view with more of a focus on interacting with the
characters and environment. Battles are turn-based and take place in the same
environment as exploration, with player-controlled and enemy parties being
navigated in a tactical fashion. Character creation and party management are
identical to those of the first game.
Since the sequel continues the story of the first game directly, player-
controlled characters start at higher levels or can be imported from the
previous game. As a result, the level cap is higher and characters are able to
learn more powerful spells as mages, clerics, and masters of psionic
disciplines. Compared to the predecessor, the second game has a more focused
and linear plot: certain areas become open for exploration only after specific
events have been triggered. However, there are still several optional areas
with various sub-quests in them. Also, the game has a more distinct urban
environment, with the city of Tyr serving as its central hub where most of the
major quests originate.
