Of Light and Darkness: The Prophecy

Of Light and Darkness: The Prophecy is a first-person point-and-click adventure video game developed by Tribal Dreams and published by Interplay Entertainment in April 1998.

Of Light and Darkness: The Prophecy
Developer(s)Tribal Dreams
Publisher(s)Interplay Entertainment
Director(s)David Riordan
Producer(s)Brian F. Christian
Designer(s)Cliff Johnson
Programmer(s)Eric Whelpley
Artist(s)Todd J. Camasta
Wes Burian
Gil Bruvel
Writer(s)Kenneth Melville
David Riordan
Composer(s)Steve Gutheinz
Kenneth Melville
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Release
  • WW: April 1, 1998[1]
Genre(s)Point-and-click adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Plot and gameplay

Of Light and Darkness: The Prophecy is a point-and-click adventure game.[2] The player's goal in the game is to prevent a global apocalypse by redeeming the cursed spirits that are attempting to start various possible disasters. Once all possible disasters are prevented, by redeeming all the spirits, the player must defeat the dark lord Gar Hob.

Development

Of Light and Darkness: The Prophecy was published by Interplay Entertainment and developed by Tribal Dreams. The game featured art by Gil Burvel, an award-winning artist.[3] Of Light and Darkness ran on the EDEN engine, developed by Heartland Enterprises.[2] The game was displayed at the 1996 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in June. Its visuals were created by Gil Bruvel, a surrealist fine artist from France.[4] It also appeared at E3 1997.[5]

Actors Lolita Davidovich and James Woods did voice lines and motion capture for the game. Davidovich played the character Angel Gemini while Woods played the role of Gar Hob.[6]

Release

Before its original release, retailers such as Costco announced they would be refusing to carry the game due to its box art. Made by Bruvel, it featured the character Angle Gemini in a fetal position. Interplay's Vice President of sales Kim Motika criticized the decision, finding it hard to comprehend retailers selling games like Tomb Raider and claiming Of Light and Darkness's box art is too provocative. Members of Interplay did, however, say that their ad campaign could have turned off family oriented chains.[7][8][9] In December 2016, the game was re-released on GOG.com.[10]

Reception
Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
Metacritic58/100[11]
Review scores
PublicationScore
CGW[12]
Next Generation[13]
PC Gamer (US)67%[14]
Computer Games Strategy Plus[15]
FamilyPC88/100[16]
PC GamesA-[17]

Of Light and Darkness was a major commercial flop.[18] The game received generally mixed reviews from video game critics, with a 58 from Metacritic.[11] Aaron Curtiss from Los Angeles Times praised the visuals, calling "The Village of the Damned" area "a psychotic Disneyland."[19] In 2012, Complex called the ending of the game one of the worst endings for a video game.[20]

References
  1. "News for April 1, 1998". Online Gaming Review. April 1, 1998. Archived from the original on December 4, 2000. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
    "April 1, 1998: "Several new games will be hitting stores today: ...and Of Light & Darkness from Interplay."
  2. Hudak, Chris (March 2, 2004). "Of Light and Darkness Preview". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  3. Hudak, Chris (January 1, 1997). "Light Shines Darkly". Wired. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on January 6, 2017. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  4. Staff (June 1, 1996). "E3 Adventure & Role Playing Games". Computer Games Strategy Plus. Archived from the original on June 14, 1997. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  5. "E3 Feature". web.archive.org. 9 February 2005.
  6. Ocampo, James (1998). "Woods and Davidovich finish work for Interplay". Computer Games Magazine. Archived from the original on January 21, 2004.
  7. Dunkin, Alan (April 28, 2000). "Of Light and Darkness Box Too Provocative for Some". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
  8. Huffstutter, P.J. (February 23, 1998). "No Risque Business". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  9. "PC Zone 63 (May 1998)" – via Internet Archive.
  10. Estrada, Marcus (December 29, 2016). "Obscure Adventure 'Of Light and Darkness: The Prophecy' Released on GOG". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  11. "Of Light and Darkness: The Prophecy Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  12. Wilson, Johnny L. (June 1998). "Apocalypse Tao". Computer Gaming World (167): 202, 203.
  13. Staff (July 1998). "Rating; Of Light and Darkness: The Prophecy". Next Generation (43): 116.
  14. Staff (August 1998). "Of Light and Darkness: The Prophecy". PC Gamer US. Archived from the original on March 6, 2000. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  15. Altman, John (April 24, 1998). "Of Light and Darkness". Computer Games Strategy Plus. Archived from the original on January 21, 2004.
  16. Rich, Jason R. (July 1, 1998). "Of Light and Darkness". FamilyPC. Archived from the original on October 12, 1999. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  17. Smith, Rob (June 16, 1998). "Of Light and Darkness Review". PC Games. Archived from the original on August 31, 1999. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  18. Gornstein, Leslie (December 10, 1998). "Violence Not Wanted: Can't We Play Nice?". Orange County Register. p. C01.
  19. Curtiss, Aaron (September 7, 1998). "'Light and Darkness' Is Ultimately Brilliant". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
  20. Rougeau, Michael (February 21, 2012). "The 50 Worst Video Game Endings". Complex. Retrieved January 7, 2017.
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