Sins of a Dark Age

Welcome to Sins of a Dark Age!

By BlairFraser on 2012/02/20 (8 comments)

Years ago Ironclad began with 5 people and the ambitious goal of creating a unique mix of real-time and 4x strategy. After years of sweating it out in a basement and being constantly rejected by publishers, we finally struck a deal, got an office, expanded to 10 people and released the highly acclaimed Sins of a Solar Empire. Fans and critics loved it so we kept the content coming. While we love science fiction, we also love fantasy so we started working in parallel on a new vision that would require new technology and a radically new game design. After a ton of iteration and experimentation and a lot of hard work from some amazing teammates (we are up to 12 now) we finally feel ready to introduce you to "Sins of a Dark Age".

Sins of a Dark Age is a totally new and unique strategy experience that combines elements of the Traditional RTS and the Action RTS. We took the best parts of each, innovated on both, and added our own twists and turns resulting in something unlike any other strategy game. Despite all this we still feel it is remarkably accessible for new and veteran players alike.

Luckily, we were once again able to find people who shared the same passion for our vision and didn't think we were out of our minds. In order to bring this game to market we teamed up with Infinite Game Publishing, who's team members have remarkable expertise in a number of critical areas necessary to make a game of this type successful including online infrastructure, content delivery, free to play mechanics and much more. We've also got a number of other world class partners working with us to deliver the best possible gaming experience.

We'll be revealing progressively more information about the game over the next few months as we lead up to the beta this summer. One thing we learned from Sins of a Solar Empire is that the year-long beta and open player feedback is incredibly important and was critical in building it into the success it became. I remember people openly trashing our pride and joy and it was very painful - but it was necessary. We listened and changes were made. Hopefully, it won't be that bad this time and it won't take as long but we are willing to go through the same process (or worse) again if necessary. As you may have guessed we don't have a release date - it'll be done when it’s done.

Nonetheless, we've been playing an ever more refined version of the game for some time now and I can tell you even at this point its very fun and we are very excited to get it into everyone's hands as soon as possible!

Blair Fraser
Ironclad Games

By BlairFraser on 2012/02/20 (10 comments)

Ironclad Games’ Long-Awaited Follow-up Arrives in 2012:
Sins of a Dark Age Announced

Epic hybrid blends traditional and action real-time strategy genres for an entirely new and unrivalled strategy experience

MONTREAL – February 21, 2012 – Looming grey clouds crowd the endless sky. Bitter winds and the smell of damp earth do little to mask the pungent stench rising from the blanket of blood stretched across the lifeless valley. Armies of men and beast lay piled high, a twisted mass of spikes and flesh; steam from their bodies still climbing the sheer rocky cliffs. All that remains standing is a monstrous machine of war and four heroic silhouettes honoring their victorious commander. Today’s battle is over, but the war has just begun.

Ironclad Games presents a real-time fantasy strategy experience like no other: Sins of a Dark Age. From the studio that brought forth the genre-blending gem and 2008 PC Game of the Year, Sins of a Solar Empire, comes a new strategy hybrid focused on team-based “Hero and Commander Strategy” gameplay.

In Sins of a Dark Age, players join an online team consisting of one Commander and a small group of Heroes who work together to accomplish a specific scenario goal. Go head-to-head against an enemy team in a short, fast-paced multiplayer match or work cooperatively against the AI in custom scenarios. Earn rewards for yourself and your clan, climb in ranks, and watch and share your most glorious replays. Players can choose from an ever-growing pool of heroes, commanders and factions each of which supports unique capabilities.

Choose the Hero role and you will face the enemy on the front lines as the most inspiring and powerful member of a mighty army. Your success in battle will be well rewarded with experience, unique abilities, and game changing items that will make you an ever greater symbol of power on the battlefield and a critical rallying point for your commander’s army.

Choose the Commander role to devise the master plan for your empire: you’ll oversee your grand army in an epic battle against your most voracious enemies. As Commander, you’re responsible for building your base, directing your peons and positioning your defenses. It’s up to you to properly train your units and use them to support your team’s Heroes in calculated assaults on enemy positions and to capture key resources. The Commander role allows players to call upon larger-than-life ‘Realm Powers’ to turn the tide of battle.

“Sins of a Dark Age is something totally unique in the strategy genre,” said Blair Fraser, co-founder and producer at Ironclad. “Like Sins of a Solar Empire, which blended 4x with real-time strategy, we’ve taken our favorite elements of traditional RTS and action RTS and added our own twists and turns that result in a completely new and unrivalled strategy experience.”

Sins of a Dark Age is easy to learn and accommodating to both new and veteran players of any strategy genre and is designed to minimize griefing and other common causes of hostility in the community. The innovative match design means never missing out on a match or a session being ruined by players dropping out: instantly rejoin games or jump into shorthanded battles to save the day and earn bonus rewards for yourself and your clan.

With leaderboards, stats tracking, online replays, spectating, kill-cam moments and plenty of post-release content in the form of Heroes, Commanders, Factions, Units, Maps and Skins, Sins of a Dark Age is free-to-play strategy gaming elevated to the next level.