You might notice the image to the right. Darkfall Online is an MMORPG for those who like RPSes. Or an RPS for those who like MMORPGs. Open PK. Full loot. You’re never really safe. Anywhere. It’s not a game full of 12 year olds and gold farmers. There’s no levels, just skills. Hell, there’s a skill for everything but dying! And while your skills in combat affect the damage you do, your OWN skill as a player matter. Clicking attack and watching your toon beat someone up is for chumps! You’re right in the action: pull out your bow and aim. Lead the shot and aim up for range. They juke and close quickly! You pull out your polearm and swing for the cheap seats. They run around you, avoiding your blade, and carving you up from the side. You quickly turn so your back isn’t exposed and give them another chop. This time you connect. They turn and run. Big mistake! You sprint after them and use the long reach of your weapon to nail them in the back hard. Their limp body flies through the air, already dead before they hit the ground. You switch to your staff and heal yourself quickly before looting the corpse and running off before someone else shows up.
That wasn’t a fight with a player, by the way. That was just a goblin! Fighting a player is that times 10, with the added bonus of them jumping on your head!

There are some things I’m less impressed with. The graphics, for starters. For a game that came out last year, it’s still using DX9. Don’t get me wrong, it looks pretty good. But even with my Radeon 5770, it runs a bit slower than it should for how it looks. But a little adjustment of the graphic settings and I’m getting over 60 fps, which is suitable for FPS play.
Another thing is the audio. It doesn’t sound BAD, but there’s not much to adjust. The music - which isn’t that interesting - is controlled by the AMBIENT volume. There are no ambient sounds at the time, so it’s no loss. The 3D sounds are… not very 3D. It’s just simple stereo. While this means you can’t spot someone by sound the way you can in, say, TF2, you have the advantage in that you can hear them from a mile away. Particularly if they are doing something noisy.
And while there is no level grind, there is a skill grind. This is somewhat offset by the fact that you see results immediately. Instead of killing hundreds of goblins to get a lousy “ding” at the end of it, you get dings almost every time you swing your weapon. In the end, it feels more rewarding, at least when you first get the skill.
Finally, the game makers have isolated themselves somewhat from the community. Part of it is that it’s a European bunch and they do things differently “across the pond”, but part of it is that they want to nurture a more self-sufficient type of player base. That isn’t to say you won’t get help if you need tech support or customer support, but they don’t pay any attention to the forums. The result is that the forums are full of whiners, and people telling them to quit whining.
In the end, it’s a very engaging game and a lot of fun if you’re good at making friends and getting into a clan. Without a clain though, it can be quite challenging. Even with one, it’s pretty challenging! Anyway, good luck and have fun.

Oh yeah… no free trial. BUT there’s a $1 trial, 7 days, and it just ends without you getting billed further. Currently, there’s a deal where you buy the game and get a 3 month subscription all for $60. It will take you only a few days to decide whether or not you want to keep playing, so you get your dollar’s worth.