Tale of Dark Lands PS5 Review: Is This Grim RPG Worth Your Time?
The world looks grand from a distance, pulling you into a great-looking third-person space packed with memorable locations that promise a proper action RPG adventure. You drop right into a low-poly realm where you grab quests from town folks, track them on your HUD compass, and head out to smash up the environment for hidden loot. But the immediate atmosphere instantly feels a bit hollow, leaving you to wander massive landscapes with absolutely zero voice acting or solid music to carry the weight of the journey. It sets up a vibe that is half charming indie explorer and half frustrating test of endurance as you struggle to guide yourself through the quiet, quiet wilderness.
QUICK NAV: [Specs] [Gameplay] [Performance] [Settings]
Tale of Dark Islands PlayStation 5 Review
- Developer: Tale of Dark Islands Developer Site
- Publisher: Tale of Dark Islands Publisher Site
- PlayStation Store Link: Tale of Dark Islands PS5 Digital Store Page
- Download Size: 1.02GB download size.
- Trophies: Platinum trophy with 21 trophies to collect.
- Save Mechanics: Full support to save and quit whenever you need.
Tale of Dark Islands PlayStation 5 Review
Diving headfirst into the action RPG gameplay reveals a system that loves hack-and-slash-style combat, where you can see enemy health bars clearly during a scrap. Fighting your way through the world lets you earn exp and level up to get points to put into one of your stats, allowing you to freely choose between health, defence, strength, and dexterity. You get missions from people in town, and it then gets pinned to the HUD, with a handy compass at the top of the screen showing points of interest and mission markers. Once you find the crystal in town to teleport, you unlock a world map level select, where you choose a numbered location and off you go instantly to your next target. Breakable objects like barrels and boxes can have loot or money in them, but you really have to keep an eye out, as the drops are small and not easy to see at all. Enemies can drop loot as well, and you can harvest resources directly from the world like textiles, wood, and mushrooms for health, before taking them to the blacksmith you rescue to craft new weapons and gear back in town.
The core loops might sound solid, but the game refuses to help guide you around or tell you what needs to be done, turning exploration into a proper headache. I just found the areas to be too big, and with no signposts, it just drags the game out into a massive, empty slog. Navigating the inventory screens is a total nightmare because closing menus and using them in general is clunky and awkward to an annoying degree. You are dealing with full inventory management where you can equip items and armour to main hand, off hand, boots, trousers, chest, gloves, and helm, but you cannot compare armour and weapons, and with the clunky menus, it isn’t fun. To make it worse, I am not a fan of gear and weapons being tied to level, so a lot of shop stock is completely unavailable to you early on. Buying and selling at merchants is fully supported, but all selling is done per item, so it takes a hot minute to clear your bags. The interactions with NPCs are a drag, too, offering in-game cutscenes and character interactions that you can click through eventually, but it’s still slow, and there is no voice work, just small text filling the screen.
Tale of Dark Islands PlayStation 5 Review: Performance & Fidelity
- Visual Style: Low-poly graphics present a great-looking world with memorable locations to explore.
- Camera System: Full 3D game world, and you play in third person with total 360 camera control.
- Collision & Boundaries: It was surprising how easy it was to get stuck in the scenery or get stuck in the air, and invisible walls don’t help the case either.
- Physics Systems: Physics are shot to pieces for both good and bad outcomes. Hitting an enemy that goes flying is the best, but seeing loot go flying is not.
- Audio Presentation: There isn’t any voice work or solid music sections, so the game world isn’t oozing in atmosphere or anything.
Settings, Customisation & Control Details
- Character Creator: Offers a basic suite to adjust hair, eyebrow, facial hair, face, skin colour, and eye colour, alongside the option to name your character.
- Tutorials: No actual tutorials included; you are forced to go into the controls menu to see what the buttons do.
- Controller Settings: Features invert axis inversion toggles, sensitivity sliders, and the ability to fully remap the controls.
- Aim Assistance: Includes a dedicated auto-aim option in the menus.
- Movement Controls: Run is not available as a toggle, so you have to hold the stick down constantly.
- Audio Mixers: Individual audio sliders provided for ambient, FX, music, and master volume, even though the menu text says total volume.
- Accessibility Limits: The game completely lacks any accessibility options like dyslexic font or Colourblind support.
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Tale of Dark Islands PlayStation 5 Review
Summary
GOOD STUFF:
The world itself is actually a great-looking low-poly environment, boasting genuinely memorable locations that look charming when you are running around in third person with full 360 camera control. The hack and slash combat loop keeps you engaged as you watch enemy health bars drop, and earning exp to dump points into health, defence, strength, or dexterity feels like proper RPG progression. Smashing up breakable barrels and boxes for extra loot is a nice touch, and rescuing the blacksmith to craft new weapons and gear using materials like textiles and wood gives you a solid reason to hoard items. Plus, sending an enemy flying through the air because the wacky physics are completely shot to pieces is an absolute laugh and easily the best part of the combat.
BAD STUFF:
On the flip side, dealing with the menus is an absolute chore because closing them and using them in general is clunky, awkward, and takes away all the fun. You can’t even compare armour and weapons side-by-side, selling loot to merchants has to be done slowly per single item, and I hate that gear is strictly tied to your level, leaving shop stock entirely out of reach. The game completely refuses to guide you, throwing you into massive areas with no signposts, so everything just drags out. There are no actual tutorials, forcing you to dig into the controller map just to see what the buttons do, and having to hold the stick down because run isn’t a toggle is a pain. To top it off, the physics will send your precious loot flying into oblivion, you constantly get stuck in the scenery or the air, invisible walls block you constantly, and the lack of dyslexic fonts or colorblind settings is a major letdown.
FINAL VERDICT:
Tale of Dark Islands has a neat low-poly aesthetic and some fun, chaotic hack-and-slash ideas, but it gets dragged down heavily by its own clunky execution. Wandering around huge, signpost-free zones with no voice work or music leaves the world feeling empty rather than atmospheric. Fighting with the awkward menu layout and getting stuck in the level geometry turns what could be a cosy indie RPG into a frustrating test of patience. It has its moments when the broken physics work in your favour, but the lack of basic accessibility and quality-of-life features makes it a tough recommendation.
