Dark Reign: The Future of War

About Dark Reign: The Future of War

Dark Reign: The Future of War (1997) is Auran's science fiction real-time strategy game for Activision, with two truly different sides, terrain-based line of sight and unusually customisable unit AI, which sold 685,000 copies.

Dark Reign: The Future of War in Depth

Like Command & Conquer, players build structures for production, resource gathering, power and defence, paying in credits earned from shipments of water from fresh springs, while power comes from harvesting Taelon. Deposits regenerate but slow down when depleted, and the Water Contamination Unit can destroy enemy water supplies. The two sides have completely different units: the Freedom Guard are weaker but faster and better on rough terrain, suited to raids and ambushes, and can "phase" underground to hide, while the Imperium rely on armour, firepower and hover technology to overwhelm their enemies. An Infiltrator can sneak into an enemy headquarters to steal weapon designs, at increasing risk the longer it stays.

Line of sight depends on terrain height and shape, so forests suit ambushes and mountains limit recon. Buildings can be powered down to save energy, production queues are shared across factories, and named paths let units patrol or loop. Units can be told to search and destroy, harass or scout, and their pursuit range, damage tolerance and independence can each be set. In the story, the player is one of the last Tograns, whose world was destroyed in the war between the two sides, and must win simulations of famous battles before travelling back in time to Strata-7 to save the philosopher Alpheus Togra.

Making Dark Reign: The Future of War

Auran co-founder Greg Lane led development of Corporation: Offworld, whose units, unit AI, tile-blending, map and production systems and real-time line of sight were already in place when Activision signed it in 1996. Auran kept building its Tactics Engine while Activision added a new story, and Dark Reign was released for Windows in 1997 with a large single-player campaign of thirteen missions, playable from either side, and online multiplayer. Edge praised its three-dimensional terrain for affecting how units moved. It was critically and commercially successful, with global sales of 685,000 by 2004, and a prequel, Dark Reign 2, followed on 3 July 2000.