Hands-on with Lord of Darkness, the Korea-only hack n' slash game you should be playing

Once in awhile we stumble onto something on the Android Market which makes no sense to us. Lord of Darkness by BiCORE is one of those things that just doesn't make sense. This is a hack n' slash side-scrolling 3D action game with RPG elements but it is only for people in Korea.

Location specific games are nothing new really but what doesn't make sense here is that even though this game is for Korea only, it is completely localized and is fully English. If this game sucked we wouldn't care but it is actually a great game which is why it being specific to one location makes no sense to us. While the Android Market description is entirely in Korean, leaving us to guess at a lot about this game, we do know some things about it from testing it out.

We guess there is at least 100 levels to this game although there could be more but there is at least 100. Secondly there is an Arena game mode which is essentially a survival mode where you play, and hopefully survive, various waves of enemies. There is also a shop where you can upgrade and buy new gear using the coins collected in-game. You can also purchase Cubic, the in-game currency, to buy much more powerful weapons and armor although this is completely optional.

The game itself features some great 3D graphics, similar to game like Wind-up Knight. You can have up to 3 skills available at any time to use plus you can cycle through weapons you currently have. Some weapons use different skills as well and when you cycle to a new weapon, those corresponding skills become available. One thing to note, this is a very challenging game at times and you will need to use skills to live.

As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, this game is for Korea only even though it is completely in English. To get this game you will need an app like Market Enabler which will spoof your devices carrier and allow you to download the game even though it is location specific. Lord of Darkness is available for free on the Android Market. To see the game in action, you can check out our hands-on of Lords of Darkness in the video below.

Thanks to ShadowOfAnAndroid for the tip!

Developer Website: BiCORE (Korean)

Android Market Link: Lord of Darkness