I absolutely love this game!! Forgive me if I jump around a bit...

I was 12 years old and got Dark Earth for Christmas in 1997. I was expecting some mediocre crappy game because my parents weren't very good with picking things out related to video games. It turned out to be one of the best games I ever owned in the Windows '95 and Windows '98 era.

The story of Arkhan unfolds in a unique, interesting, post apocalyptic, dark fantasy setting which is unlike anything else I've ever played. The look and feel of the game combined with great cut scenes to further the story were ahead of their time. The pre rendered backgrounds are reminiscent of Myst and Riven but when you add the story and gameplay, it's so much better than Myst and Riven (even though those games broke the mold for immersive environments and puzzles).

Unfortunately the game only runs the best on Windows '95, Windows '98, Windows XP if you're a techie who knows how to change certain configurations, or a modern virtual machine which emulates Windows '95/'98.

I'm fortunate to have found playonmac.com which allows me to play it on my Macbook. You just download everything, pick Windows '95 in the Wine configuration, then pick to MANUALLY install. Browse your disc drive (or torrent if you downloaded it) for the setup.exe file. Playonmac will run the setup and install the game for you. Then you will have shortcuts showing from the Playonmac menu such as Dark Earth 32K and Dark Earth 256. I double click on Dark Earth 256 and the game runs just fine. Here's the only catch I've found: you can NOT save your game. If you try going into the save menu from the main screen, the game will crash!! So you still beat the game as long as you leave your computer on, use pause, and don't die! :)

It's a shame that ever since Kalisto Entertainment vanished, they abandoned this. There's a video on Youtube showing the development team working on Dark Earth although it's in French. It looks like it was filmed as sort of a promo piece for the game while they were working on it.

*Just add www. before the link

.youtube.com/watch?v=xMYjwM-p0l8

There's also information and screenshots showing a game called Silent Chaos. It started off being the sequel to Dark Earth but was changed a bit once Squaresoft got a hold of it (they were going to publish it). You can very much see from the screenshots and trailer how it started off as Dark Earth 2 and then mutated once Square got it. Just look at the characters (Square) versus the environment (Dark Earth 2).

*Just add www. before the link

.unseen64.net/2009/08/03/silent-chaos-psx-cancelled/


I wish there was some way we could contact someone who was part of making Dark Earth! There has to be a way to bring this to GOG so we can all enjoy it on modern operating systems such as Windows 8 and 10 and Mac computers! What would be even better is if someone enhanced the graphics and everything so the game could be ported as a digital download to PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC/Mac. However, that would cost money and since Kalisto Entertainment is defunct, I don't know who would pay for it and make the effort.

This is such a good game that deserves to be recognized for how awesome it was and still is! When I fired this game up on my Mac yesterday for the first time in about 15 years, I was ecstatic! Sure the controls are a little clunky, the combat leaves more to be desired, and it looks a little dated, but those are minor gripes compared to all the positive things Dark Earth has to offer.

Everyone who enjoys adventure/fantasy/dark/mature themes should definitely give this game a try! It's a pain to get running but I promise you it's a journey worth playing through!

There's a few good Dark Earth walkthroughs I've seen on Youtube too! Spread the word and please try to get this game brought back into the limelight! I'd sacrifice one of my nuts just to get this game remastered or have a sequel made!!

Dark Earth is amazing! Go find a way to play it now!!!

I would love to see Dark Earth make a return as well! I only had a chance to play the demo when it first came out. I sent something to Night Dive Studios on Twitter a while back and they had previously looked into the rights and it doesn't look good :(

https://twitter.com/Completionator/status/687446176430346240

First there was another box cover, but I think they replaced it with this one to sell more copies.

Original cover art:
[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Earth_%28video_game%29#/media/File:Dark_Earth_Coverart.png]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Earth_%28video_game%29#/media/File:Dark_Earth_Coverart.png[/url]

Lol best cover 11\10 XD

Thank you for sharing this! A movie studio?! Really?! I'd love to know which movie studio and what they plan on doing with the rights. Someone who knows what they're doing should sell the rights back to a gaming dev company so it can be re-released or a sequel made. I love what Alice Madness Returns did...they made a modern sequel to their original Alice game from 2000 on PC. To make it even better, they gave you the entire original game to play on the Alice Madness Returns disc! That's exactly what should happen to Dark Earth! Modern sequel with the original attached/remastered in some way! People love dark stuff in today's day and age so I'm sure it would sell good!

Dark Earth even had the seemingly bi-polar choice of speaking to people from the Light or Dark. When you had it on dark, you were a dick but it made for some funny situations.

I think the point that really pulled me in was the cut scene near the beginning with Arkhan, Zed, and the intruding killers. The whole eyeballs popping out scene made me say ok yes, I need to see where this story goes, must play on! lol

Every time I see a thread on a gaming forum titled "most under rated game", Dark Earth is the first thing that always pops into my head. It's a shame the creators just sold it away and didn't seem to care about the franchise afterwards. I think they knew it was the best thing Kalisto Entertainment ever made, hence why they were starting to develop a sequel and/or port to PS2 which was cancelled. From what I read, the owner of Kalisto had to pay tons of money back for some reason so he probably sold off Dark Earth to pay his debts. :(

Back in the day I saw a lot of ads for this game in magazines I collected. I do think I played a bit of a demo, but never the full game.

Always seemed interesting, though.

i love dark earth. i bought it for $0.99 at an electronics boutique discount rack in like 1999. great game, and coincidentally i was thinking about this title the other day.

I remember playing and enjoying the demo for Dark Earth, but I never got to play the full game.

Looks very nice,didn't know about this game.

Hi Crosmando, that's a very good question, I wonder why that game isn't here yet when Microprose/Atari have been on GOG for ages???

That's what I want to know! Who actually owns the rights to Dark Earth today in 2016? They need to sell it off to a gaming development company. At the very least, they could release it for us to play on modern operating systems. At best, they could make a sequel or remaster but it's highly unlikely. Dark Earth would make a fantastic modern remaster in today's day and age. The story is unique, the atmosphere is fantastic, and the dark fantasy feel is appealing.

This game signed my life. Well worthy of a remaster or enhanced edition. Would even be amazing as a live action movie if done well as the story and mood is amazing!

Ah, I see this game is from the developers of Nightmare Creatures. Speaking of Nightmare Creatures, since it was originally published by Activision...

https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games/nightmare_creatures

I had this game when I was a kid and played it to death, found just about all it secrets but never figured out how to get into the lower city as a human as it showed on the screen shot on the back of the box. also did anyone else who owned this ever find a good solution to that drafts like game played on the old ship? Had to reload an old save loads of times because I lost all my good weapons gambling on that.