Skip to main content

DarkStone Restoration

DarkStone Restoration Game Cover
89%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:story, music
Most mentioned negative aspects:graphics, gameplay
95% User Score Based on 44 reviews

Platforms

PCWindows
Buy Nowfrom $10.99
Buy NowGet on Steam $10.99
DarkStone Restoration Game Cover

About DarkStone Restoration

DarkStone Restoration is a single player and multiplayer hack and slash game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Paul Cuisset and was released on June 23, 2026. It received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players.

The cult 1999 action RPG returns,  restored by its own creator.DarkStone Restoration brings Delphine Software's beloved 1999 action RPG back to modern PCs, rebuilt by Paul Cuisset, creator of the original. This isn't a remake. It's a restoration: the same merciless combat and hand-crafted gothic atmosphere, made to feel right on today's hardware without losing what made it special. A landmark, ag…

Genres & Tags
Play Modes
DarkStone Restoration screenshot
DarkStone Restoration screenshot
DarkStone Restoration screenshot
DarkStone Restoration screenshot
DarkStone Restoration screenshot
DarkStone Restoration screenshot
DarkStone Restoration screenshot
DarkStone Restoration screenshot
DarkStone Restoration screenshot
DarkStone Restoration screenshot
DarkStone Restoration screenshot
Skip Games Like DarkStone Restoration

Games Like DarkStone Restoration

Looking for games like DarkStone Restoration? Here are top hack and slash recommendations with a fantasy focus, selected from player-similarity data — start with Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, Darkstone or Sword Coast Legends.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II Image
72%495reviews

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II

2022Hack and Slash
Nintendo SwitchLinuxXbox Series X|S+9
Games like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II
Darkstone Image
77%526reviews

Darkstone

2014Hack and Slash
PCWindowsPlayStation
Games like Darkstone
Sword Coast Legends ImageSword Coast Legends ImageSword Coast Legends Image
58%1.6kreviews

Sword Coast Legends

2015Role Playing
LinuxXbox Series X|SPC+5
Games like Sword Coast Legends
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance Image
79%1.3kreviews

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

2021Hack and Slash
Nintendo SwitchPlaystation 2Epic Games+12
Games like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
FATE: Reawakened Image
72%629reviews

FATE: Reawakened

2025Hack and Slash
Nintendo SwitchPlaystation 5Playstation 4+10
Games like FATE: Reawakened
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning Image
77%5kreviews

Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning

2020Open World Hack and Slash
Nintendo SwitchPlaystation 5Playstation 4+11
Games like Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning
Fight The Dragon Image
78%1.4kreviews

Fight The Dragon

2014Hack and Slash
LinuxPCMac OS+2
Games like Fight The Dragon
Dungeon Siege ImageDungeon Siege ImageDungeon Siege Image
74%3.9kreviews

Dungeon Siege

2011Open World Hack and Slash
PCMac OSWindows
Games like Dungeon Siege
Dungeon Siege II ImageDungeon Siege II ImageDungeon Siege II Image
76%2.4kreviews

Dungeon Siege II

2005Hack and Slash
PCWindows
Games like Dungeon Siege II
Ultimate ADOM: Caverns of Chaos Image
47%337reviews

Ultimate ADOM: Caverns of Chaos

2021Tactical Role Playing
Nintendo SwitchLinuxPC+6
Games like Ultimate ADOM: Caverns of Chaos
More games like DarkStone Restoration
Skip User Reviews

Reviews

95%Audience ScoreBased on 44 reviews
story3 positive mentions
grinding4 negative mentions
  • Modern quality of life improvements including WASD movement, stacking items, auto gold pickup, and a quest journal make the gameplay smoother and more accessible.
  • The restoration faithfully recreates the original game with enhanced performance, better loading times, and support for modern resolutions and controllers.
  • The developer is very active and responsive, implementing community feedback and promising further updates like multiplayer, new content, and improved features.
  • The controller and key binding system is clunky, with no option to remap controls, leading to conflicts and unintuitive input schemes.
  • Graphical upgrades can cause performance issues on high-end systems, and some AI-upscaled character artwork and UI elements appear low quality or inconsistent.
  • Several bugs and glitches persist such as audio problems, item interaction quirks, crashes, and occasional gameplay imbalances, reflecting its early access state.

  • graphics

    11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    27% positive mentions, 46% neutral mentions, 27% negative mentions

    The game features modest graphical improvements that maintain its classic aesthetic, with some users appreciating the updated visuals and smooth performance. However, certain graphical issues like clipping and font problems detract from the experience, and there is mixed feedback on the quality of AI-generated artwork. Overall, while the visuals are refined, some players hoped for a more significant graphical upgrade.

    • “Lots of basic quality of life fixes and obvious graphical improvements, while staying true to the same classic game.”
    • “Updated graphics, easy controls, I love it so much.”
    • “It's much the same game from 1999, but with modernized controls and optional graphical improvements.”
    • “Graphical issues (clipping during loading screens, font display problems), which really make it feel like an early access game — please address these during further development.”
    • “Game doesn't take well to the graphical upgrades.”
    • “I wish the graphics got more of a boost.”

  • story

    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    43% positive mentions, 57% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The story is enriched by numerous quests, including townspeople fetch quests and bounties, with a quest journal added for better tracking. Randomized quest selections on each playthrough enhance replayability, and the narrative experience is complemented by classic fantasy elements like multiple classes, dungeons, and a memorable soundtrack. Overall, the story offers a satisfying and varied adventure that encourages multiple playthroughs.

    • “4 classes, item grinding, solo and coop, dungeons and quests, and that fantastic title song (don't forget to toss a coin for the bards in town).”
    • “Overall feels like an absolute steal for the price, has a good amount of replay with different quests and difficulties, even possibly speed runs, and I will definitely be playing it a lot. Happy to discover it in 2026!”
    • “Combine that with randomized quest selections on each new playthrough and it definitely gives the game a lot of replayability.”

  • gameplay

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    60% positive mentions, -20% neutral mentions, 60% negative mentions

    The gameplay in this game faithfully recreates the original mechanics while adding modern improvements like controller support, split-screen multiplayer, and quality-of-life options such as disabling upscaled assets and gameplay enhancements. Some users find the mechanics slightly outdated but acceptable, though there are occasional issues like unexpectedly large level boosts that may affect balance. Overall, it offers both nostalgic and updated gameplay experiences.

    • “Other improvements include controller support, split screen multiplayer (haven't tested this one personally), upscaled assets and textures, the ability to disable said upscaled assets and textures (if you prefer the original game look), a setting to disable most of the gameplay improvements (like WASD controls or auto gold pickups, if you want to party like it's 1999), and a quest journal to track all those townspeople fetch quests and bounties.”
    • “Darkstone Restoration contains all the mechanics, audio, and gameplay faithfully recreated from the original.”
    • “Darkstone Restoration contains all the mechanics, audio, and gameplay faithfully recreated from the original.”
    • “Game mechanics feel a bit outdated but it's okay.”
    • “Something weird happened in my gameplay: during the Suncross mission, fighting the followers of Khaliba, I leveled up about 4 levels, and then fought the old man in the wheelchair and leveled up another 5 levels per character. I don't remember level boosts this large in the previous game; this might be an unfair advantage and something to look at.”
    • “Other improvements include controller support, split screen multiplayer (untested), upscaled assets and textures, with options to disable the upscaled visuals if you prefer the original look, and a setting to disable most gameplay improvements like WASD controls or auto gold pickups, allowing players to experience the gameplay like it was in 1999.”

  • grinding

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    Grinding in the game involves managing multiple classes, item collection, and engaging in solo or co-op dungeons and quests, accompanied by a memorable soundtrack. However, many players find the grinding process tedious, particularly due to the need to manually select each enemy, with suggestions for more streamlined targeting mechanics to improve the experience.

    • “Grinding is very tedious.”
    • “Selecting each individual enemy is tedious. It would be nice to attack the next or nearest one automatically instead of selecting each target individually.”
    • “Grinding would be a lot less tedious with improvements.”

  • music

    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The music features a standout, catchy title song that players particularly enjoy, especially the memorable bard tunes. While generally well-received, some users note that the overall soundtrack is solid but not exceptional.

    • “4 classes, item grinding, solo and coop, dungeons and quests, and that fantastic title song (don't forget to toss a coin for the bards in town).”
    • “This song is a banger.”

  • optimization

    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game's optimization is lacking, as users report performance issues even on high-end hardware like the RTX 5090, possibly due to demanding graphical elements like grass or fog.

    • “While the game is great and still fun to play, for some reason, the performance is not that great.”
    • “Not sure if it's the grass or fog, but it shouldn't be this heavy on performance on an RTX 5090.”

  • stability

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game generally runs smoothly but has occasional glitches where items get stuck being held, requiring button mashing and character switching to resolve.

    • “There are a few glitches where items get stuck being held until you button mash the action button and switch the character.”

  • humor

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Users find the humor in the game nostalgic and enjoyable, often recalling fond memories from their childhood experiences with the original version.

  • replayability

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game offers high replayability, enhanced by randomized quest selections that ensure each playthrough feels fresh and varied.

    • “Combine that with randomized quest selections on each new playthrough, and it definitely gives the game a lot of replayability.”
Skip Game Offers

Buy DarkStone Restoration

Skip Videos

Videos

Skip Game News

Game News

If you miss the straightforward action RPGs of the past, try the generous demo for Darkstone Restoration

July 27 on pcgamer.com
Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

DarkStone Restoration is a hack and slash game with fantasy theme. Common tags for DarkStone Restoration include pixel graphics, third person, early access, artificial intelligence, retro and others.

DarkStone Restoration is available on PC and Windows.

DarkStone Restoration was released on June 23, 2026.

DarkStone Restoration was developed by Paul Cuisset.

DarkStone Restoration has received overwhelmingly positive reviews from players. Most players liked DarkStone Restoration for its story but disliked it for its graphics.

DarkStone Restoration is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, Darkstone, Sword Coast Legends, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, FATE: Reawakened and others.