Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Darkwatch delivers a tightly paced first-person shooter experience that blends classic Wild West gunplay with dark supernatural abilities. As Jericho Cross, you’ll alternate between wielding period-appropriate firearms—like a six-shooter revolver and dual pistols—and deploying melee weapons such as a crossbow fitted with dynamite bolts. The game’s pacing never stalls, thanks to fast respawns, dynamic enemy placements, and a variety of combat scenarios that keep you on your toes. You’ll find yourself swapping between guns, grenades, and vampire powers fluidly as you navigate train cars, dusty towns, and decrepit crypts.

The introduction of vampire powers adds a strategic layer uncommon in shooters of its era. Choosing the path of good unlocks abilities like Silver Bullet, which imbues your shots with holy fire, and Vindicator, summoning chain lightning to fry groups of undead. Conversely, the evil alignment powers—Blood Frenzy for devastating melee strikes and Soul Stealer to siphon health from distant foes—encourage more aggressive playstyles. Regardless of your moral alignment, core abilities such as Blood Shield, Vampire Jump, and Blood Vision maintain a consistent power set, ensuring you always feel superhuman yet balanced against hordes of reapers, banshees, and undead riflemen.

Single-player mode offers two distinct experiences: Story Mode, where you progress through Jericho’s tale chapter by chapter, and Gunslinger Mode, which lets you revisit any unlocked level as either a benevolent or malevolent Cross. Each completed stage is graded on kills and accuracy, unlocking concept art and in-game cinematics for those who master the challenges. Darkwatch’s enemy variety combined with different level layouts—the lumbering reapers in shadowy mine tunnels, swift banshees in wind-swept canyons—keeps the action feeling fresh throughout the campaign.

Graphics

Visually, Darkwatch stands out with its moody, stylized interpretation of the Old West. Environments are richly detailed, from the creaking wooden beams of desert saloons to the damp, rune-carved walls of hidden vampire lairs. Lighting plays a critical role, casting long shadows and plunging corners into darkness, which heightens tension and makes the vampire powers—especially Blood Vision—feel both functional and cinematic. Blood clouds and holy fire effects on your projectiles burst in vivid reds and golds, contrasting sharply against the muted browns and grays of the frontier landscape.

Character models are robust for their time, with fluid animations that accentuate the supernatural aspects of combat. Jericho Cross’s coat flares behind him as he reloads or leaps with Vampire Jump, while Lazarus and his minions exhibit snarling, inhuman movements that are genuinely unsettling. The visual distinction between good and evil powers is also well executed: benevolent abilities glow with ethereal blue-white hues, while sinister powers pulse with a crimson sheen that seeps into the surroundings, reinforcing your moral choice through color alone.

Multiplayer maps retain the aesthetic fidelity of the single-player campaign, offering dusty train yards, abandoned ranches, and moonlit graveyards as arenas for up to 16 players online or four in split-screen. Dynamic ambient effects—dust devils across the plains, torches flickering in abandoned chapels—add atmosphere without sacrificing performance. The frame rate remains stable even in the most chaotic firefights, ensuring that the visual style never comes at the expense of smooth gameplay.

Story

At its core, Darkwatch’s narrative is a clash of myth and frontier justice. The game thrusts you into the role of Jericho Cross, an outlaw whose life takes an unexpected turn when a vampire lord named Lazarus bites him during a train heist. Instead of being cured, Cross is claimed by the mysterious Darkwatch organization—an ancient order sworn to eradicate evil—setting the stage for a personal redemption saga. The premise feels fresh, marrying Western tropes like train robberies and desert towns with gothic horror elements such as banshee shrieks and haunted catacombs.

Narrative progression is delivered through a mix of in-engine cutscenes and voiceovers, highlighting Jericho’s inner conflict between maintaining his humanity or embracing the vampiric curse. As Lazarus’s influence grows, you’re given meaningful choices that affect your abilities and dialogue. While the branching paths don’t drastically alter level designs, they do provide subtle variations in cutscenes and power sets, encouraging at least one replay to experience both moral alignments in their entirety.

Supporting characters within the Darkwatch organization offer terse but memorable interactions, grounding the supernatural mayhem with a sense of camaraderie and shared purpose. Villains like Lazarus and his lieutenants are suitably menacing, delivering villainous monologues that feel right out of an old pulp novel. Though the story’s pacing occasionally dips—particularly in the mid-campaign—it quickly rebounds with high-stakes set pieces, such as a frantic escape from a collapsing mine or a climactic duel against Lazarus aboard a roaring steam locomotive.

Overall Experience

Darkwatch carves out a unique niche in the FPS landscape by seamlessly merging Western action with vampiric superpowers. The result is an experience that feels both familiar and novel: classic shootouts are invigorated by gravity-defying leaps and blood-fueled melee strikes. The weapon variety and supernatural abilities combine to offer multiple playstyles, whether you prefer a run-and-gun approach or a more deliberate, powers-focused tactic. Replayability is further bolstered by Gunslinger Mode and the moral alignment system, making a second playthrough as appealing as the first.

Multiplayer remains robust, with a suite of modes—Death Match, Capture the Flag, and Soul Hunter—providing endless opportunities for competitive and cooperative fun. Soul Hunter, a mode centered around collecting Blood Clouds to fill your bar, stands out as a fresh twist on traditional objective-based matches. Whether you’re vying for the top kill count in a free-for-all or teaming up to outmaneuver rival squads in split-screen or Xbox Live, Darkwatch’s multiplayer holds up remarkably well.

For potential buyers seeking a shooter that breaks the mold with supernatural flair and solid Western aesthetics, Darkwatch represents an exceptional package. Its well-crafted levels, striking art direction, and engaging story ensure that every minute feels purposeful. While a few narrative lulls might test your patience, the core gameplay loop—shoot, leap, unleash a power, and repeat—remains consistently satisfying from start to finish. In short, Darkwatch offers an unforgettable adventure at the crossroads of blood and dust.

Retro Replay Score

7.7/10