Dark Alliance is Dungeons & Dragons without the dice. It is an intense, combat-focused action RPG in which you defeat monsters, collect loot, and fight alongside a powerful party of heroes, but without the trappings of a traditional RPG. There are no walls of dialogue or deep, long quests. Just lots of goblins and other creepy beasts to slay, and you do it in some very impressive locations.

Dark Alliance follows the "Friends of the Hall," a legendary group of adventurers led by D&D favorite Drizzt Do'Urden, as they search for a magical MacGuffin called "The Piece." An army of villains and monsters from all over Phaerun - the Dark Alliance - are after the Shard and its power, and you must stop them. It's a pretty standard fantasy plot, but given weight and authenticity by the participation of R.A. Salvatore, a veteran D&D scribe and the narrator of one of the most memorable stories in Icewind Dale. The story takes place immediately after "Shards of Crystal," the first in the author's "Icewind Dale" trilogy, and there is much crossover with the main story.

Icewind Dale is a freezing cold tundra region and one of the most heavily storytold areas in Fairrun. Fans of Black Isle's Infinity Engine RPG of the same name will be even more excited to return to this frozen realm of ice dragons, snowbound passes, and deep dwarven halls. It is the best part of Dungeons & Dragons and can be enjoyed as a dramatic backdrop to an action RPG. The world is large in scale, stacked with history, and is the most vivid and vivid depiction of the Forgotten Realms I have seen in gaming. Because "Dark Alliance" is a linear action game, you can't explore the world as thoroughly as you can in an RPG. What is there, however, overwhelms the viewer. [In particular, the atmospheric, cavernous environments look as if they were brought to life on the cover of a vintage fantasy novel. Particularly striking are the crystal fortresses hidden in the mountains, crawling with creepy shard-worshipping cultists and glowing eerily in the pale moonlight. You will also visit the ruins of a shattered ancient city, a huge dwarven forge with rivers of molten metal crisscrossing it, and a winding canyon turned into a makeshift town as goblin hordes squabble. Everything is exaggerated, colorful, and larger than life, which is refreshing in this era of dark, bland medieval fantasy.

The monsters are also stunning in appearance. By the end of the Dark Alliance story, you will have defeated all of D&D's classic monster beasties: dragons, beholders, duergar, giants, trolls, wraiths, and thousands upon thousands of smelly, butt-sucking goblins. These familiar creatures are brought to life with expressive animation, delightful voice acting, and a host of unique abilities that make them a joy to fight. Goblins are full of hate, and piercing their entrails with swords is exceptionally delicious. Fighting hordes of monsters is the most fun I've had since the equally unique and hateful orcs of Shadow of Mordor.

Huge carnivorous barbegs grab you by the chain and pull you toward them. Trolls have thick skin and regain their strength. Duelger mages strike you down with ice magic. Cultists teleport you across the battlefield and shoot beams of arcane energy at you. It's a really fun and varied selection of enemies, and you're often fighting several different types of enemies at once, forcing you to combine tactics on the fly. The game is relentlessly fast-paced, rarely allowing more than a few seconds to catch your breath before the next scrap.

There are four playable characters, each bringing a unique flavor to the combat. Drizzt, the drow ranger, is fast on his feet and athletic, slicing up enemies with his twin scimitars and directing Gwenhwyver, the spirit panther, against them. Brunoa, the axe-wielding Dwarf king, is the party's tank, able to absorb massive amounts of damage and draw aggro by taunting. Wolfgar is the berserker's rage, a barbarian who can inflict additional damage with his massive hammer. Kathi-Bree is a bouncy, nimble archer who can attack from a distance. The flow and feel of combat varies greatly from character to character, but it is nice to be able to try out each hero without having to redo parts of the game, as levels unlocked by one character will unlock other characters as well.

The variety of enemies, combined with the ability to block, dodge, and parry, gives Dark Alliance incredible depth. The feel is great as well. Combat is chunky and tactile, and chopping up enemies with big, heavy weapons is naturally satisfying. A swarm of weak enemies can be beaten up without much thought, but stronger enemies require some patience: locking on, rolling away from an attack, or blocking and parrying the moment they attack you. It is a perfect mix of crowd control and more thoughtful and methodical one-on-one dueling.

Dark Alliance is designed with cooperative play in mind: the four heroes have MMO-style abilities that complement each other, such as status-boosting buffs and recovery spells. They can also launch team attacks against a single enemy. However, it is also possible to play solo and enjoy the game. I played a good portion of the story alone and enjoyed it very much. There are a number of difficulty levels to choose from, and solo play is a breeze on the lowest difficulty level. On higher difficulties, you have to think a bit more tactically in combat. As you increase the difficulty further, the game gets really difficult, especially in the dungeon levels later in the game, where the enemies are stronger and more numerous. [I especially struggled with battles where I had to fight hordes of regenerating trolls at the same time. But I always made it to the end of the level, even if it meant dying and respawning dozens of times. Wiping out the enemies in the arena would give me the opportunity to set up camp, regain HP, and activate a checkpoint. Or I could bypass the checkpoint altogether and instead increase the rarity of my loot. This adds a nice element of risk/reward to the game. Some enemies will make derisive comments about you trying to face them alone. The game is best suited for cooperative play, with levels ranging from 30-60 minutes, so there is no need to set aside hours to play with a group of friends who don't have the time. However, I am pleased that the developers have made solo play equally effective. I just wish there was an option to fight alongside an AI party in single-player.

Dark Alliance is first and foremost a fighting game, and the level design reflects this. Each map is a series of combat arenas connected by corridors, with the occasional secret passageway or room marked by a splash of red paint. Most of the secrets are fairly conspicuous and seem to be the developer's concern to keep the player moving and the action flowing. There are a few optional bosses, but for the most part, the player just moves in a straight line, defeating monsters until reaching the end of the level. Along the way there are traps, simple environmental puzzles to solve, piles of gold and treasure chests. The world is truly a place for fighting, and rightly puts combat front and center.

That said, there were a few things that bothered me. When fighting an enemy next to a rock ledge, an invisible wall magically prevents the enemy from falling. However, if you keep moving forward while swinging your weapon, you will eventually fall through the enemy and fall off the ledge yourself. Falling doesn't kill you, but it is still frustrating. The ease of viewing large, chaotic battles can also be poor. With so much going on and the screen cluttered, it is easy to lose track of who you are fighting or miss a clearly telegraphed attack.

There were also UI problems, such as enemy health bars disappearing. At one level, the portal stopped working, leaving me stranded on a floating island with no way to kill myself and warp to the last checkpoint. To get back to where I was, I had to restart the entire level and fight a grueling 50-minute battle. And once, for no reason at all, I was silenced permanently, unable to use magic for the entire act. My cooperative partners also encountered the bug. Such problems are a shame, as they put a damper on an otherwise solid-feeling game, which I was able to play at a steady 60 fps at 4K on max settings with my RTX 2080 Super and i7-9700K.

But bugs aside, Dark Alliance is a blast. It brings the Dungeons & Dragons universe to life beautifully, with meaty combat, gorgeous worlds, and truly dastardly monsters to slice and dice. It's a reminder that the Forgotten Realms is such a great fantasy setting, and a welcome chance to return to the Icewind Dale that so many PC gamers, including myself, have come to love. You may find the nonstop combat a bit much. This is a game about killing monsters above all else, and even if you don't have anyone to kill with, it's still the most fun and brutal monster-slaying experience on the PC.