''Darkspore'' was a

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

that borrowed creature editing technology from ''

Spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, f ...

''. It was described as "a fast-paced,

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

action role-playing game An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre. Definition The games emphasize real-time combat where the player h ...

in which the player battled across alien worlds to save the galaxy from the mutated forces of Darkspore". In addition to the creature editor, the game features a unique squad-based mechanic, various

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

options, and a player versus player arena. The game was released in North America on April 26, 2011, for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

, and in Europe on April 28, 2011. EA has removed the store page of ''Darkspore'' from

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

, meaning any attempt to purchase it through Steam cannot be made. The game was later relisted with EA saying that they would continue to support the game. Those who have purchased it prior to the page's removal still have the game and could play it until the servers were shut down permanently on March 1, 2016. The game is currently unplayable without circumventing its DRM scheme that requires a connection to servers which no longer exist.

Plot

The Crogenitors were a race of scientists that established a massive empire encompassing an entire galaxy. Many of them performed secret experiments on the populations they oversaw. Being masters of genetic manipulation, they used their knowledge to create a personal army of genetic heroes, called ''Living Weapons''. However, the discovery of an experimental

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha am ...

that bonds to DNA changes everything. Capable of achieving a millennium in terms of evolution in a matter of hours, it has an immense potential to manipulate

life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energ ...

to levels never achieved before. Unfortunately, ''E-DNA'' proves to be unstable. All of the test subjects who came in contact with it were transformed into uncontrollable genetic mutants soon named ''The Darkspore''. Fearing these new creatures, the Crogenitors throw hero ''Xylan'' into exile for his behavior and negligence, outlawing the use of E-DNA. Xylan fakes his death. Believing himself able to control the power of E-DNA, he injects it himself. This act transforms him into the ''Corruptor''—a mentally unstable, extraordinarily powerful mutant who can master all Darkspores. Determined to get revenge on the other Crogenitors and conquer everything, he gathers allies and strengthens the E-DNA mutagenic power. Afterwards, the Corruptor begins conquering planets of the Crogenitor empire, infecting them through the use of E-DNA bombs, and destroying Crogenitor fortresses with his mutants and war machines. As the game begins, the player takes on the role of one of the last Crogenitors. Starting with only a few heroes, the player's goal is to purge the Darkspore from the galaxy, planet by planet, moving ever closer to the ultimate goal of destroying the Corruptor forces.

Hero Editor

The Hero editor in ''Darkspore'' has been described as an enhanced version of the one found in Spore, with thousands of parts to collect. The parts allow the customization of several character aspects, including body parts, armor, weapons, facial features and coloration by spending DNA as a currency. DNA helixes can be collected during gameplay from Darkspores or destructible objects, or obtained by selling pieces of loot.

Alternate reality game

''HelpEDNA'' was a Darkspore alternate reality game that went online in mid-2010. It plays out as a puzzle text adventure which gives clues about the Darkspore game, and is set before the events of the game. HelpEDNA is a puzzle text adventure, in which the player is a contact that has begun receiving messages from an unknown character. After the game is completed, it contains an epilogue page containing a message from Maxis, with links to all the pictures and videos from the website.

Online

In addition to a

product key A product key, also known as a software key, serial key or activation key, is a specific software-based key for a computer program. It certifies that the copy of the program is original. Product keys consist of a series of numbers and/or letters ...

registration, Darkspore required a persistent,

broadband In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...

internet connection and an EA account in order to play the game after installation. In June 2013 many users had problems logging in to play. This combined with Darkspore being removed from Steam led to concerns that EA had abandoned the title and it would no longer be playable. However, shortly after, the errors were fixed and ''Darkspore'' returned to Steam.

March 2016 server closure

The online servers of the game were shut down permanently on March 1, 2016. The game is no longer playable. The move attracted criticism, with Techraptor stating that the failure to migrate away from the always-online requirement before the server shut down was tantamount to "banishing the title from gaming history". ''

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

'' noted that ''Darkspore'' "revealed just how harmful DRM can be for games and their consumers".

Development

Darkspore was developed by Maxis, being the first game they made after Will Wright departed the company. After an internal

technology review, the developers were closely surveying the comments left on the forums. Ultimately, their decision was to build up a game that is centered around different creatures fighting together, with co-op gameplay getting the main focus. The fundamentals found in Spore allowed for very quick prototypes, and the team became aware that action RPG was very suitable for the technology. Maxis added "spore" to the title as a homage to the technology that was running it, but the main idea was to create a standalone work that wouldn't be viewed as an expansion pack nor a sequel to Spore. The early designs were inspired by Magic the Gathering and Pokémon Trading Card Game, and the developers thought they needed someone with an experience in that segment, which led to hiring Paul Sottosanti, a designer from Wizards of the Coast. A team formed of 40 people included the people that worked on previous Maxis games, along with several freelancers.

Reception

Darkspore has received mixed reviews, with an average of 65% on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

References

External links

Official website
via

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

''Darkspore''
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

''Darkspore subreddit''
- efforts at resurrecting the game {{Sim series 2011 video games Action role-playing video games Electronic Arts games Inactive massively multiplayer online games Multiplayer and single-player video games Products and services discontinued in 2016 Role-playing video games Spore (2008 video game) Video games scored by Junkie XL Video games set on fictional planets Windows games Windows-only games Video games developed in the United States