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Darkspore

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Darkspore
Darkspore cover art
Developer(s)Maxis Software
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts
Producer(s)Thomas Vu[2]
Designer(s)Paul Sottosanti, Fred Dieckmann[3]
Composer(s)JunkieXL
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows[4]
Genre(s)Sci-fi Action-RPG
Mode(s)Multiplayer, Cooperative, and Single-player

Darkspore is a video game that borrows the award-winning creature editor technology from the 2008 video game Spore. It is described as "a fast-paced, sci-fi action-RPG in which the player battles across alien worlds to save the galaxy from the mutated forces of Darkspore."[5] In addition to the creature editor, the game features a unique squad-based mechanic, various multiplayer options, and a PvP arena. The game was released in North America on April 26, 2011 for Microsoft Windows, and in Europe on April 28, 2011.

Plot

The Crogenitors were a race of unrivaled scientists that through eons established a massive empire encompassing an entire galaxy. Many of them lived on the planets of their empire, performing secret experiments on the populations they oversaw. Being masters of genetic manipulation, they used their knowledge to create a personal army of genetic heroes, often called "Living Weapons", carefully selecting particular natives of the planets. However, the discovery by Crogenitor Xylan of the Exponential DNA or E-DNA—an experimental amino acid that bonds to DNA— changed everything. Capable of achieving a millennium of evolution in a matter of hours, it had an immense potential to weaponize life itself to levels never achieved before.

Unfortunately, E-DNA proved to be unstable. All of the test subjects who came in contact with it were transformed into uncontrollable genetic mutants soon named "The Darkspore". Fearing these new creatures, the Crogenitors threw Xylan into exile for his behavior and negligence, outlawing the use of E-DNA. Xylan faked his death and went into the hiding. Believing himself able to control the power of E-DNA, he injected it to himself. This act transformed him into the Corruptor—a mentally unstable, yet extraordinarily powerful, mutant who can master all Darkspores. Determined to get revenge on the other Crogenitors and conquer everything, he gathered allies, formed an army of mutants, and strengthened the E-DNA mutagenic power. Afterwards, the Corruptor began conquering the planets of the Crogenitor empire, infecting them through the use of E-DNA bombs, and destroying Crogenitor fortresses with his mutants and war machines.

The first planet to fall was Zelem's Nexus, home of the most brilliant Crogenitor scientist, Zelem, and key planet of the Crogenitor empire, rapidly followed by many others. During the Mutation Wars, almost all genetic heroes were slaughtered, the majority of all Crogenitors were killed, and the Crogenitor empire dissipated, star by star. Retreating to their capital planet Perceptum, as a desperate plan, the Crogenitors put selected companions into enormous laboratory cryoships and launched them into space luckily undetected, mere minutes before the Corruptor's final extermination campaign. Awaiting the moment when one of the HELIX A.I. networks installed aboard each starship would complete the stabilization of the E-DNA, the surviving Crogenitors slept indefinitely. After 1000 years of calculation, the HELIX aboard one of those spacecraft succeeded. Awakening the surviving Crogenitor that it was carrying, the HELIX informed the slightly amnesiac Crogenitor about the plan to free the galaxy: gather the best surviving genetic heroes, then strengthen them with the power of the stabilized E-DNA, forming the "Crogenitor Insurgency".

As the game begins, the player takes on the role of this Crogenitor. Starting with only a few brave heroes, the player goal is to purge the Darkspore from the galaxy planet by planet, moving ever closer to the ultimate goal of destroying the Corruptor forces.

In the end, after building an army of genetic heroes and eliminating Darkspore on each of the base planets, the Corruptor's hideout is located on the ruined desert planet of Perceptum renamed "Scaldron". Ultimately, the Corruptor is defeated, and exploding into a burst of white light. After his demise, all that remains of him is the mask of Xylan, laying lifeless on the ground.

In the closing moments of the game, HELIX then informs the player that without their leaders, the Darkspore forces are splintering and the other surviving Crogenitors are completing the work of restoration; life is returning to normal on the various planets that the Player has aided. After this, the game zooms back down to Scaldron and shows Xylan's mask on the ground. HELIX then calculates the probability of Xylan resurrecting, and gets 0.00832%, but then corrects herself after a short moment, and instead, comes out with 0.00833%. Right before the screen fades to black, one of the eye holes on the broken mask begins to glow red before flickering back out...

Characters

As some of the Heroes and the Destructors existed long before the Darkspore invasion (more than 1,000 years ago), it can be safely assumed that all characters have a long lifespan.

Heroes

The Heroes or "Living Weapons" are beings native to the planets that the Crogenitors oversee, selected for powerful transfections among their kinds for their unique abilities. Though the Crogenitors have appeared on their planets for millennia, none of the population knows of their presence until the Mutation Wars ravaged their planets. Only the Living Weapons (but not all of them) have knowledge of the Crogenitor existence, as many of them were gathered in defense armies. The Heroes are divided in five genesis types: Plasma, Quantum, Bio, Cyber, and Necro. The Darkspore enemies also follow the genesis division, but are ranked differently. It is important to remember that Heroes will receive double damage from an enemy attack hailing from his same genesis type.

A subdivision of the heroes divided them into Sentinel, Ravager and Tempest heroes.

  • Sentinels are immensely strong and durable but slow. Sentinels specialize in powerful melee attacks and raw defense abilities. They can easily plow through hordes of tough enemies, and shrug off attacks that would normally cripple Ravagers and Tempests.
  • Ravagers are very quick and agile and deal high damage, but have low resistance to damage themselves making them very diverse hit-and-run fighters. They specialize in melee but three of them (Krel, Arakna, Seraph-XS) have ranged attacks.
  • Tempests are not very resistant to damage, but some have useful healing abilities. They specialize in fire off long-range blasts of damaging, support abilities, set up defensive structures or summon small combat companions.

Killing Darkspore during exploration, the Player gains EX to level up the Crogenitor Level. Every time one level is gained one hero can be unlocked, the choice of whose among those available is free. Certain levels makes available 3,4 heroes for unlocking, as well general upgrades from the store. Although there are only 25 basic heroes, the player will be able to unlock 3 other "genetic variants" of each hero, raising the number of total heroes to 100. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants exist, each of them with different base stats and a different ability called Variant ability. Unleashed by pressing the 2 button there are four different Variant abilities for each genetic types (Alphas are the base and original form of the hero). For exploring an area, a squad of three heroes must be composed and used.

  • Zrin, The Sun Fist - "Criminal. Scoundrel. Gangster. Outcast. By the time the Corruptor’s hordes conquered Cryos, the jailers of prisoner Zrin were either corpses or mutated creatures who’d left their prisoners to die in their cages. While he lay dying in his cell from silicon poisoning, Zrin received a visitation he did not understand and never would. A towering creature unlike any he’d ever seen appeared inside his cell and touched his head. Zrin writhed in agony, feeling his body surge with unbearable heat, as if from the skin of a star. And then the super-being--Crogenitor Ptyron--vanished as if he’d never appeared. But when Zrin awoke, he stood, energized. And as if by instinct, he released plasma from one fist and lightning from the other to blast apart his jail cell. Slaughtering a raging mass of Darkspore, Zrin escaped his gulag and ran for the nearest city he could find. Zrin’s aims were simple: pure survival. Had the Corruptor’s forces offered those to him without stealing his mind, he would have joined them in a heart-beat". A Cryosi Plasma Sentinel, His left hand is constantly aflame while the right hand is crossed by electric sparks, and he wears two metallic gauntlets on his forearms. He also gained a tough skin and the ability to summon two doberman-like pets called Pain Hounds. The Alpha variant can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 3.
  • Vex, the Chrono Shifter - "Hailing from Zelem’s Nexus, Vex grew into his full teleportational strength because of Crogenitor Zelem himself. As one of thousands of technicians assigned to maintain the Nexus teleportation network, Vex knew the grid completely. He did not know that constant exposure to the network’s quantum-gravitic, temporal and wormhole distortions were poisoning him. Nor did he or Zelem know that those quantum-gravitic energies were mutagenically unlocking Vex’s latent ability: individual, self-directed teleportation. When Vex first accidentally teleported from inside the Nexus out to the vacuum of space, he reacted instinctively, teleporting towards what he energetically sensed was the safest zone: Zelem’s enclave. Alarmed by the grotesque alien in front of him in a region he didn’t know existed, Vex immediately attempted teleporting away. Quantum-jumping around the enclave again and again, Vex destroyed whatever he could to escape the strange alien he perceived as a captor. Growing more powerful with each ’port, Vex gained the power of temporal sabotage--the gravitic warping of time-flow. He slowed Zelem himself with that power, and would have destroyed him if not for Zelem’s wiser defenses. Porting away, Vex realized the strength at his command. When the Darkspore invaded soon after, he deployed his powers against them as what he’d become: an unstoppable, unpredictable teleportational warrior". When the Darkspore invaded the nexus, he used this ability to fight them gaining the title "". This reptilian Zelemi Quantum Ravager fights using two katana-like temporal blades set on his forearms that slow down enemies he attacks. The Alpha variant can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 4.
  • Sage, The Life Forester - " Once a brilliant scientist, Sage began to perceive that alien forces were at work on his world. Training his most sensitive detectors across the EM spectrum, he eventually discerned the presence of a powerful intelligence he named Entity 13. Eventually Sage used ultraviolet wave transmission (UWT) to communicate directly with this being, who was in reality the Crogenitor Astra. He gleaned that while Entity 13 posed no threat to the safety of Verdanth, another onrushing force did: the hordes of the Darkspore. Unable to stop the Darkspore invasion, Sage witnessed the destruction of his once-green world. He turned his vast intellect—and everything he’d learned from Entity 13—to the defense of his people. He repurposed reforestation technology as a weapon for planetary liberation. Sage’s greatest weapons were his devastating power to spawn mobile and ultra-strong trees, and other entities called Dendrones as his protection force. Sage used his metabolic disruptor to slow and damage his targets, and his Rejuvenating Blast to heal his allies. Sage swore that one day, his world would be free again, so he could put down the weapons of war and once again pick up the tools of science". This Verdanthi Bio Tempest appears similar to a mix between a centaur and a tree.His weapon is an energy cannon fixed in place of his right hand and naturally spawn two vegetal pets called Dendrones. the Alpha variant is automatically unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 2 in Simulator mode.
  • Goliath, The Energy Guardian -"Following the planet’s ecological doomsday, society collapsed on Infinity. Of the few who survived, criminals and those merely accused of crimes became outcasts or escapees. Bounty hunters, zealots and mobs mercilessly hunted them across the wastelands. But when those hunted were innocent, they sought a hero to defend them: Goliath, the Energy Guardian. According to legend, Goliath rose from one of Infinity’s ancient technomartial orders. But Goliath had no lineage: no master, no elite ancestors, no one to protect him when he himself had been a fugitive fleeing across the poisoned wastelands. No one except for Crogenitor Suzu. Finding Goliath burned half to death in a toxic swamp, Suzu genetically altered him for resistance to his world’s lethal ecology, fusing what remained of his body with a hyperkinetic exoskeleton. But Suzu’s greatest gift was the Electro Sword, a devastating weapon capable of cutting through any substance. Rising from Suzu’s laboratory, Goliath confronted his hunters in open combat, obliterating them all. Thereafter, Goliath pledged to defend all fugitives and exiles, sometimes holding off or defeating hundreds of attackers without any ally but his invincible weapon. Honorable, brave, and compassionate, Goliath is a symbol of hope for all who crave justice". Goliath is an Infini Cyber Sentinel whose Electro Sword resembles a Lightsaber. The Alpha variant can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 3.
  • Arakna, the Soul Collector - "Wherever the Nocturni Legion conquered, it faced opposition from those who cherished freedom. When no forces could dislodge a rebel position and no elite troops could smash the final blockades, the Legion always brought in one final means to destroy those who held out. Arakna, the Soul Collector. A product of Crogenitor Ingto’s many horrific breeding experiments, Arakna could hurl volleys of neurodisruptive hyper-pulses, or “soul bolts,” and strike with necrotic bursts. When overwhelming the Legion’s enemies, Arakna could scramble over any barrier, even mountains of bodies, in her merciless advance. Weaving a necrotic web of agony around the minds of her victims, Arakna ripped strategic secrets from even her mightiest opponents, before ultimately ripping the neuro-intellectual identities or “souls” from their bodies. For the souls of her final hold-outs, Arakna reserved two grotesque fates: to be transformed into necrotic weapons of destruction against their own comrades, or the ultimate horror, to be fed to the throbbing thousands in her egg sack, who feasted upon those stolen souls until they were born". She is a Nocturni Necro Ravager similar to a spider and her weapon is a neuro based gun set on her abdomen. The Alpha variant can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 4.
  • Meditron, the Repair-Bot - " An explorer, Meditron returned to his home enclave on Infinity to discover that the Darkspore had mutated every intelligent species into genetic slavery. Horrified, Meditron escaped, warning every creature he'd previously encountered of the impending Darkspore Armageddon. But while fleeing through the canyons of Iktotom, Darkspore creatures shot him down, making Meditron crash inside a crevasse called Iktotom’s Skull. And there inside the Skull lay a discovery beyond reckoning. Iktotom’s Skull was an abandoned laboratory of what had obviously been a vast alien intelligence. The lab gleamed with indecipherable technology run by almost unfathomable science. Yet there were fragments Meditron could understand, including one word: “Crogenitor.” Meditron calculated a plan. Knowing that his pursuers were closing in on him, he redesigned and repurposed the nanobots he had once used for detection, healing, and perception-amplification. Accelerating nanobot production from millions to billions per minute, he lay in wait for those who planned to destroy him. And when the Darkspore attacked, Meditron penetrated their central nervous systems with nanobiotic beams that amplified their sensory perception, especially the sense of pain. Those Darkspore experienced such agony that they ripped themselves apart. And Meditron emerged to hunt all those who would hunt him". He is an Infini Cyber Tempest with six legs and possesses a laser device that shoots swarms of nano-bots in place of his right hand. A Sentry-drone constantly orbits around him. He is the only Cyber Hero who was already a cyborg before his strengthening and the only hero together whit Char whose role didn't specified whose Crogenitor saved them (although is simply intelligible). The Alpha variant can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 14.
  • Blitz, The Storm Striker - " When Crogenitor Ptyron first assessed the fallen world of Cryos for possible revival, he dismissed it as a lost cause. Gripped by a ravaging ice-age, Cryos seemed as if it could never live again. But when Ptyron saw a creature possessed of seemingly cosmic will-power, he became convinced that Cryos deserved a second chance. Ptyron had found a nest of twelve reptiloids so resilient that they repelled attacks by a predator ten times their size. Subjecting the entire brood to genetic modification, Ptyron turned the tiny beings into a squadron of devastating, fiercely loyal, highly intelligent bipedal warriors. And strongest among them was Blitz. With his devastating blade-claws, a plasmatic shield, and the ability to ride lightning itself, Blitz led his brood-mates on a vast trek across Cryos’s tragic, frigid wastelands. Losing nearly all his siblings, Blitz established an enclave in Cryos’s equatorial region that became the centre of Cryosi civilization. Not a conqueror, but a defender of justice, Blitz accepted any into his protectorate who could feed his growing community and raise a city around them. But if anyone attacked him or those under his protection, Blitz unleashed the full strength of his electrical wrath, earning the title that has survived a thousand years: the Storm-Striker". He is a Cryosi Plasma Ravager armed with a pair of claw gauntlets and possessing control over electro plasma. The Alpha variant is the very first hero playable, unlocked during Simulator Mode.
  • Jinx, The Dark Reaper - "Jinx gained her powers not by genetic heritage, but, like many of her kind, because of the malevolent Crogenitor Ingto. Ingto had so shredded the membrane between the necrotic and biotic realms that countless Nocturni were born mutilated or mutated. Many died shortly after their agonizing births. And a few, like Jinx, became more powerful than anyone could have suspected. Why Jinx joined the Nocturni Legion, the military force that had conquered her people, was a mystery. Some of her people denounced her as a collaborator and a traitor. Others claimed she was simply naïve or brainwashed. Regardless of her initial motive, Jinx kept her powers a secret, even after she rose to the rank of commander. Which is when she broke with the Legion and vowed to destroy their masters, the Nocturni Eternals. Becoming a resistance leader, Jinx turned on her fellow commanders in a devastating betrayal. Employing powers she’d kept hidden from the Legion, Jinx hurled dark matter devastators--darma-like necrotic grenades--at his former Legion-mates. Taking her finest warriors with her back to their ancestral hives, Jinx sought to liberate her enslaved people. She might have succeeded, had the Darkspore invasion not forced her to change his target from those who'd conquered a world, to those who'd conquered the galaxy". She is a Nocturni Necro Tempest similar to a mosquito with four large wings and two arms and fights with a dreadful staff to channel her powers. The Alpha variant can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 5.
  • Magnos, The Binary Star Sentinel -" Why would any opponent fight Magnos, the champion who crushed or shattered every being who ever faced him? How could anyone hope to stop a monster who could wield the power of gravity itself? For decades, Magnos lived for nothing more than the applause of spectators who watched him eviscerate his opponents inside the Pristine Triangle blood sport that was the center of his civilization. Like all members of his clan, Magnos possessed a superior ability to manipulate mass. But Magnos’ power came not simply by genetic lineage... but the genetic mutation of Crogenitor Zelem. Zelem magnified Magnos’s quantum abilities so Magnos could feed directly from any source of radiation: cosmic rays, plutonium ions, or lasers. And in the ring, Magnos was invincible. When the Darkspore conquered the Nexus, Magnos and his mightiest opponents—the few he’d left alive—formed a devastating wrecking crew. Combining their hatred of the Darkspore, their limitless endurance and their unmatched quantum attacks, they ripped apart a dreadnought with nothing but their armored hands. And ripped a hole in the myth of Darkspore invincibility forever". He is a reptilian-like Zelemi Quantum Sentinel who fight only with his physical strength and his clawed hands. The Alpha variant can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 8.
  • Tork, The Fungal King - "On Verdanth before the Darkspore, most creatures sought harmony with all living things. And then there was Tork. An outcast and a scoundrel, Tork took whatever nutrients and psychoactive bioceuticals he desired from whomever was nearest, as long as he was strong enough to dominate them. And then he fell victim to someone whose power he could not hope to match: Crogenitor Astra. Made a test subject for a decade, Tork lived in constant terror. Although Astra never tortured him, subjecting him only to repeated anatomical and endurance examinations, Tork came to see Astra’s other specimens as being just like him: powerless and terrified. He swore that if given the chance, he’d free every living being in the laboratory from the bizarre, giant alien who’d captured them all. And one morning, Astra gave him that chance. On purpose. When Astra allowed Tork to think he could overpower the Crogenitor during an examination, Tork fought him with everything he had, including abilities he’d had no idea he possessed: a somno-cloud of sleep-inducing spores, and a blast of thano-pollen which would have poisoned any creature other than a Crogenitor. Escaping with his fellow Verdanthi back into the wild, Tork used the rejuvenating spores that his body has always possessed, but which were now much stronger, to heal his newfound friends. And when the Darkspore conquered his world, he used his abilities no more to take advantage... but to liberate". A Verdanthi Bio Tempest less vegetal than the other Bio Heroes from the planet Verdanth with a pump-mask on his face, He is equipped with a pair of gas cannons set on his forearms to pump spores through a pack on his back that will put enemies to sleep . All variants can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 25.
  • Titan, the Impenetrable - "One of the last of his kind, Titan was an engineer on the super-polluted corpse-world called Infinity. Building soaring towers and vast bridges, delighting in the power of his mind to connect and create, Titan dreamed of resurrecting the ancient factory-cities to make his world live again. But working alone for decades took its toll on Titan’s body, until the day he fell to his death. Only to be resurrected by the Crogenitor Suzu. For Titan, it seemed like a nightmare transformed into a dream. He remembered plummeting horribly, his body battered against steel and rock before crashing into a toxic tailings pond. And then blackness, and agony... and finally, a symphony of electrical sensation. His body surged with the energy and power of his rebuilt, cybernetically-infused body. Reborn by forces he did not understand, he emerged from Suzu’s enclave to continue his vast project of rebuilding his world. But the Darkspore descended to incinerate those dreams. Repurposing whatever repairbots he could find into his own personal legion, Titan shifted from resurrector to destroyer, specializing in guerrilla raids that taunted his enemies. Defended by his personally-designed energy shield and inflicting concussive blasts at will against ensnared enemies, Titan vowed to wipe out the Darkspore on his world, so he could live long enough to put aside his weapons of chaos for his beloved tools of order". Infini Cyber Sentinel Titans don't have hands, instead being quadrupedal. His shoulders-mounted machine guns shoots bullets all around him and his stomps can inflict damage. The Alpha variant can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 8.
  • Andromeda, The Gravitic Warmaster - "Before the fall of the Nexus, Andromeda was an elite gravitic engineer who saved the heavily populated island of Mishima. When a reactor malfunction sent a dozen islands hurtling straight at Mishima, Andromeda aimed anti-gravity pulses to repel those islands and saved countless lives. So impressed was the hidden Crogenitor Zelem by the brilliance of his "child," that he revealed his presence in the Nexus to her with a series of cryptic communications that eventually led her to his enclave. Once she arrived, Zelem made her his protg along with the other genetic heroes he'd created, teaching her as much as she could learn about Crogenitor cosmological and gravitic theory. When the Darkspore invaded, Zelem either died in the attack, or disappeared. Deprived of her mentor, Andromeda constructed a series of gravity weapons, fighting alongside Zelem's other genetic heroes on guerrilla strikes against the Darkspore controlling the Nexus". Andromeda is a Zelemi Quantum Tempest. She is very humanoid in appearance, albeit sporting wing-like appendages, tentacle-like hair, four-jointed legs, and a tail. She uses a technological staff to channel her powers. The Alpha variant can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 14.
  • Wraith, the Spectre of Vengeance - "Before the Nocturni Legion attacked and enslaved his clan, Wraith was a necro-guardian, an energy-wielder who kept the balance between the biotic and necrotic energies of Nocturna. For a century, Wraith had toiled in Nocturna’s eternal night, tending to the membrane that separated the realms of the living and the dead, a membrane ravaged into dangerous instability by the manipulations of Crogenitor Ingto. But when the Nocturni Legion hauled away all his fellow energy-wielders and exterminated the spectres who dwelled beyond the membrane, Wraith fled deep into Nocturna's mines, surviving despite the intense necrotic forces that enveloped him. Mutated, Wraith became huge, immensely strong and seemingly invincible. Emerging from the bowels of the mines, and at war with the Nocturni Legion, Wraith discovered and unleashed necrotic powers against his foes. He could become incorporeal, allowing projectiles to pass through him harmlessly. He could psychically project terror that weakened his enemies. And when the Darkspore toppled the Legion, Wraith fell upon them with even greater fury".A Nocturni Necro Sentinel, Wraith resembles a werewolf with an avian goat-horned skull for a mask. He carries around a large battle axe as a weapon and can turn intangible to elude attacks. The Alpha variant can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 3.
  • SRS-42, the Missile Commander - "Once, SRS-42 was a humble mechanical engineer on the planet Infinity. But as he lay dying on a factory floor from the toxins that had already killed 99% of his people, SRS-42 received an alien visitation: the Crogenitor Suzu. Bowing to heal him, Suzu fused SRS-42’s dying body with the very machines he’d spent a lifetime constructing and repairing. He became, as a cyborg, a mobile combat rocket launcher. Leaving the factory that would have been his grave, SRS-42 was confronted by waves of creatures he’d never seen before: the invading Darkspore. Reacting with astonishing speed, SRS-42 obliterated phalanx after phalanx of Darkspore ground forces before turning his remaining rockets onto a Darkspore troop carrier and a Darkspore destroyer. Their hulls ripped apart like the flesh of great beasts, they crashed into the toxic sludge of a poisoned ocean where they ignited like miniature suns. Reborn from death, SRS-42 possessed no fear. Any who dared his challenge had a simple choice: immediately overpower him, or face total annihilation". An Infini Cyber Tempest with powerful missiles equipped on his body that cause area damage, His special abilities allow him to work at a distance or charge in for short periods of time with invulnerability. Being stationary for 5 seconds increases the damage SRS-42 can do to the Darkspore. He is bipedal, resembling a walking army tank, has no arms and is considerably less agile than Titan. The Alpha variant can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 5.
  • Krel, The Living Firestorm - "Before a Crogenitor found him, Krel had wandered across the frozen deathlands of Cryos. Facing death by exposure, Krel faced creatures twice his size, but he refused to die, knowing that if he did, so would the thousands of eggs he'd left back in his nest. No matter what, he would bring back food so when they hatched, his progeny would survive. But eventually ice storms became even more powerful than predators, while Krel lay dying, a Crogenitor appeared to him in a pillar of lightning, and having been impressed by his fighting spirit, transformed him. Krel arose, no longer a being of mere fur and flesh, but possessed the power of a star. But the Crogenitor who transformed Krel had motives more than mercy for an individual-he knew the Darkspore were coming, and with them, a horror-storm of mayhem and death. Cryos, Krel's homeworld. By the time Krel returned to his nest, dragging with him the charred carcass of a megabeast he'd slain, he found all of his children dead. In one mass mutation of eggs, the Darkspore wiped out the hope of a future for Krel's entire species. Krel stalked his foes, stunning them with fiery barrages, unleashing twinblazing attacks and triads of fire arrows. And thus, Krel, The Living Firestorm had become the scourge of every monster who haunted Cryosi territory". Krel is a Cryosi Plasma Ravager that resembles a demonic canine-like beast. He use a tri-cannon set on his shoulders that shoot fiery darts. He is the only Living Weapon that doesn't belong to a sapient species. The Alpha variant can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 11.
  • Viper, The Toxic Ravager - "When the Corruptor’s horde ravaged and genetically enslaved Verdanth, Viper was one of the scattered survivors. Before the fall, he’d manufactured tools. He turned his prowess to crafting weapons of wood and stone, but saw the guerrilla forces he armed repeatedly fall beneath the power of the Darkspore. And then one night, while Viper was desperately assembling weapons inside his workshop, an alien intelligence captured him. As prisoner of Crogenitor Astra, Viper was genetically and somatically altered so that his muscles would possess ten times his species’ normal concentration of fast-twitch fibers. When Viper awoke, his reflexes and strength had increased so much that he nearly destroyed his own weaponry workshop. But after mastering his new physical might, and creating new weapons suited to his superior abilities, Viper became a resistance leader. In combat against the Darkspore, Viper fought at blinding speed in terrifying attacks. Over years of the war, he developed his biogenetic prowess to generate an armor of poisonous defensive thorns that, at close range, could be launched with devastating results. Leading fighters armed with his toxic and invincible weapons, Viper inflicted vast losses on the Darkspore, provoking the Corruptor to initiate an epidemic that devastated intelligent life on Verdanth". Viper is a Verdanthi Bio Ravager who resembles a cross between a cactus and a cricket with four arms and his weapons are a pair of wrist mounted blades that draw poison from his skin. The Alpha variant can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 4.
  • Maldri, The Quantum Raider - "When civilization flourished inside Zelem’s Nexus, Maldri was what other species would have called a burglar. Anything denied him by encryption, by a lock, by the law, was what he desired the most. When the Darkspore invaded, most of Maldri's fellow Nexus-dwellers saw nothing but catastrophe. Maldri saw opportunity... for looting. And when he eventually stumbled upon one of the lost laboratories of an alien almost no one believed existed, Maldri knew he’d found the greatest treasure trove of his life. Inside Crogenitor Zelem’s abandoned enclave, Maldri tried taking everything that wasn’t welded in place. And then he accidentally activated a device that shifted him dimensionally, granting him, as he soon learned, a range of quantum powers. Emerging from Zelem’s lair, Maldri found himself surrounded by Darkspore. He quantum-jumped instantaneously to wherever his enemies were standing, attacking them physically before teleporting away. With his improbability assault, Maldri counter-inflicted any damage done to him. Some of his foes he slowed or stopped in time. Still others, he blasted back or blew up. To the Darkspore, Maldri is an unpredictable, almost untouchable spectre... a quantum raider". A very special Zelemi Quantum Ravager with a mantis-like appearance, the "gamma" variant of Maldri is unlocked at the start of the game for players who pre-ordered their copy of Darkspore (or reaching the Crogenitor level 42), while the Alpha variant can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 11. He uses a pair of wrist-mounted sickles.
  • Orion, The Lightspeed Tempest - "Once tasked with mechano-gravitically ensuring the stability of the nexus, Orion nearly died when an equipment failure sent two Zelemi islands on a collision course. Doing everything he could to save the Nexus from destruction, Orion held to his station while everyone around him abandoned theirs. And that is why he was struck by a gravity wave, pulsed from the centre of the Nexus by Crogenitor Zelem himself. Surging with energies activated from genetic latency, Orion reached out his four arms as if by instinct, creating an antigravitic buffer between the two islands and saving millions of lives, nearly at the cost of his own. Orion had little time to recover from the stunning exertion, because the Darkspore invasion forced him into hiding. As a fugitive, Orion struck against the invaders with controlled bursts of his power, and in his most spectacular victory, used his dimensional shifting power to banish his targets to another cosmic realm, picking off stragglers with his hyper-kinetic projectile weapon". This Zelemi Quantum tempest travels with a hover-pack and two of his four hands hold a pair of celestial blasters that damage enemies greatly, but at the cost of increasing the enemy's speed with every hit. All variants can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 40.
  • Lumin, The Lightning Provoker - "Charged with rescuing his fellow Cryosi from the Darkspore, Lumin valiantly threw himself into every mission of mercy, whatever the danger, and whatever the plan. He risked himself to rescue trapped miners, lost expeditions, wounded diplomats, and imperiled larvae of the next generation. But no matter his heroism, Lumin still lost too many innocents to the horrors of combat, and too many victims to the monstrous deformities that Darkspore mutations produced. And every time, Lumin had no choice but to terminate the genetically-doomed before they could slaughter their fellow Cryosi. By the time Crogenitor Ptyron found him, Lumin had gone mad . Knowing that Lumin’s only hope to regain his sanity was a return to saving his people, Ptyron transformed him into a superior entity. Surging with power he’d never dreamt could exist, Lumin became lightning personified, able to command ionic death from his staff, to summon bolts of electrical punishment from the sky, and to electrocute whole squadrons of his enemies as if they were connected by a cable of destruction". Lumin is a Cryosi Plasma Tempest who channeled his lightning-based powers across his staff. The Alpha variant can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 5.
  • Skar, The Shadow of Death - " Until the devastation wrought by the Darkspore, no force was more feared on Nocturna than the Nocturni Legion, largely due to creatures such as Skar. And such fear was the result of genetic manipulation by the horrific Crogenitor Ingto, who loved nothing more than inspiring terror in his subjects, and sometimes in their prey. Amplifying Skar’s naturally-occurring necrotic powers, Ingto gave Skar the ability to storm through waves of enemies with blitzkrieg intensity. Skar smashed foes with dual strikes and shadow stings, and in rare moments of vulnerability, he retreated behind a cloak of invisibility. Even greater than his powers was his acumen which enabled Skar to take advantage of any opportunity or weakness. Only the Darkspore’s conquest of his species prevented Skar from attaining ultimate power on Nocturna. With the power of death in his tendrils, Skar aimed to stop at nothing until the Darkspore was eradicated and he could reclaim Nocturna for himself". A Nocturni Necro Ravager similar to centaur-like spider, his weapon is a pair of small daggers set on his two wrists. He is able to turn invisible and his attacks are more dangerous if dealt behind the enemy. All variants can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 35.
  • Revenant, the Deathraider of the Stars - "In the recorded millennia of the Nocturni Legion’s wars of enslavement, few Legionnaires have evoked as much terror as Revenant. According to legend, a neutron beam struck him during combat, and instead of killing him, filled him with energy. But those legends were wrong, hiding a far more grotesque fate. Revenant was the victim of Crogenitor Ingto's eco-toxification program. What the Nocturni perceived as a string of natural disasters, from volcanic eruptions to plagues, was in fact Crogenitor Ingto’s "evolutionary" scheme to kill off the majority in favor of the most naturally resilient. Ingto then seized the survivors, subjecting them to even more painful experiments. Ingto took the orphan grub Revenant and altered him genetically, turning him into a living battery and radiator of neutrons—in essence, a walking death ray. Revenant soared up the ranks of the Nocturni Legion. In combat, he released endless spheres of necrogenetic energy from his head, projectiles that came to be known as “death-head grenades.” With his hellish ability, Revenant struck at the Legion’s enemies and his own commanders from a distance, seizing the ranks of centurion, commandant and finally Praetor. Revenant crushed realm after realm for the Nocturni Eternals, the self-proclaimed rulers of the planet, and so with unflinching confidence they dispatched their greatest warrior and his forces to engage the invading Darkspore. The Darkspore obliterated them, and Nocturna fell. Facing defeat for the first time, Revenant became the galaxy’s most feared guerrilla, unleashing his death ray against the Darkspore wherever he found them, all in hope of one day slaughtering the Corruptor himself". This Nocturni Necro Tempest is the only tripod hero and uses a diadem set on his head to channel his necro powers. The Alpha variant can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 11.
  • Arborus, The Viridian Protector - "Every millennium, the denizens of Verdanth install their six hundred most ecologically harmonious minds as their Ikuyu, the Gods of the Infinite Green. In their divine order, the gods of Verdanth regulate their planetary biosphere and construct the next epoch of their culture. When the Darkspore brought contamination, warfare and death to Verdanth, Crogenitor Astra was less concerned with galactic defense than with irreplaceable experimental conditions. Genetically enhancing scores of Verdanthi to find which could become the most resilient and the most hyper-kinetically powerful, he found a candidate who surpassed all others: Arborus. Prefect Arborus had been nowhere near attaining godhood. But the Darkspore’s mass deicide meant hundreds of insufficiently-prepared Verdanthi had no choice but to stand in their planet’s defense. Linked to all the other Gods of the Infinite Green, Arborus wielded powers he never could have wielded alone: splitting mountains, redirecting rivers and spawning volcanoes, all to rid his world of the despised Darkspore. He hoped that one day he could guide his world to even greater expressions of biological beauty and diversity, and perhaps eventually explore the stars. But with Verdanth under siege, Arborus was determined to defend his biosphere... by any means necessary". A Verdanthi Bio Sentinel, Arborus is a hulking being, similar to an ogre or a troll mixed with a tree with four arms and a heavy spiked wooden club. The Alpha variant can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 8.
  • Savage, Lord of the Beasts - "Once a generation, a few Verdanthi are born able to understand animal communication. But Savage was unique. Orphaned followed a devastating earthquake, Savage lived in the wild among the beasts of the rainforest, and was entirely separate from intelligent life... except for the Crogenitor Astra. Directing the lost child towards mutagenic fungi of his own design, Astra marveled at the effects on the young Verdanthi. Savage grew from being able to understand animals, to being able to speak with them pheromonally and empathically. Gaining power over beasts and enormous heights, Savage became a legendary spectre of the rainforests. He enchanted the civilized Verdanthi who on rare occasions encountered him, as when he saved them from accidents or disasters. But following the Darkspore invasion, Savage became an avenging warrior-spirit. With his army of ferocious animals and his legendary, ruthlessly loyal fighting companion, he inflicted more damage on the Darkspore than any other fighter on the planet". A Verdanthi Bio Sentinel less vegetal than the other Bio Heroes, His weapon is a pair of gauntlets on his forearms with long curved blades and fights with the aid of his pet Savage Ally. All variants can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 14.
  • Char, The Blazing Inferno -"Across the wastelands of Cryos, Char had spent his entire life as a destroyer, tracking criminals and then slaughtering his quarry. But not even Char could catch everyone. Eventually, enough of his escaped foes banded together to trap him in an ice cage in Cryos' northern dead zone. Although he killed five of them before the surviving criminals escaped, Char would have certainly died from his terrible wounds. That is, without the intervention of a Crogenitor. Char knew nothing of the Crogenitors and didn’t care. All he knew was that a bizarre alien granted him a healed and amplified body, and powers he never dreamed existed. With his newfound ability to wield plasma energy and pyrokinetically attack anything he saw, Char incinerated any foe foolish enough not to flee. And when the Darkspore invaded, few stood against them with as much wrath and power". A Cryosi Plasma Tempest who have two eyes, a flat face, five oddly-positioned legs, but no arms or weapons. He can temporary summon a pet called Elemental Guardian (very similar to a Dendrone). All variants can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 30.
  • Seraph-XS, The Infiltrator - "During the violent hyper-industrialization that signaled the end of their civilization, the denizens of Infinity split into armed factions. Fighting for the few resources left to them, they fought wars of starvation. Eventually, the only factions to survive were those whose soldiers needed the least food and drink to survive: the cyborgs. Seraph-XS combots provided the Randayn faction the deadly might they needed to protect their supplies from outsiders until they eventually turned on themselves. And the last Seraph-XS standing was Seraph-XS 919. Taking pity on Seraph, Crogenitor Suzu granted her additional capacities. Scrubbing her algorithms clean from “master-control,” Suzu gave Seraph-XS free will. That should have guaranteed Seraph-XS a better life. But the invasion of the Darkspore turned the freedom to pursue life into the freedom to select targets for death. Possessing at that point three centuries of horrific combat experience, Seraph-XS inventively and ruthlessly slaughtered her Darkspore enemies with a combination of deadly mines, attractor bombs and auto-turrets. Crogenitor Suzu hoped that one day, his “child” might be free of the terror that defined her existence. But Suzu knew that day could not come until the galaxy was free of the Darkspore". An Infini Cyber Ravager She have four legs and two arms with a grenade-launching cannon in place of her right hand, and have the ability to turn invisible and release Auto-Turrets and Attractor Bombs. She is the only completely mechanical Hero. All variants can be unlocked when you reach the Crogenitor level 20.

Non-hero characters

  • The Crogenitors - The Crogenitors are the protagonists of Darkspore. The Crogenitors are humanoid beings, covered in armor. All known images of them show Crogenitors wearing masks. Their actual size is a subject of debate. Their origin planet remains unknown. They have roamed the galaxy for eons, to the point that no planet was untouched by them, as they mutated creatures, mainly Genetic Heroes, by genetic transfection which they mastered enough to restructure life at molecular levels. They secretly created fortresses and settlements on the planets of their empire, overseeing and experimenting without reveling their presence on the local populations. All Crogenitors lived in a solemn order-like organization, which was supposedly led by the greatest genetic scientists in all of history. As such, the term "Crogenitor" became more like an honorific title than a species name. They are highly advanced, capable to create machines and mutagenic devices, such as the enormous Cryoships, the Shield Ring of Zelem's Nexus, Astra's mutagenic fungus, Ingto's "natural disaster spawner", Suzu's inventions, that he used to create the Cyber Heroes with, or Arcturus' cybernetic "solar sonds". Unfortunately the ambitious and machiavellian Crogenitor Xylan discover the unstable E-DNA, which led to the creation of Darkspore, a genetic nightmare beyond control, and the Crogenitors galaxy went under siege soon after the rebellious Xylan began infecting planetary biospheres. The Crogenitors' greatest mistake soon prove fatal: in the Mutation Wars, Xylan lead their empire to crumble, their Genetic Heroes to slaughter, and the kind of the Crogenitors finish almost extinc. Only few Crogenitors remain alive today, deeply cryogenic asleep inside Cryoships somewhere in the outer space, unbeknownst to the Corruptor. The Player is the only know not mutated Crogenitor alive and awake during the game. The other surviving Crogenitors awakes and began to reconstruct the galaxy after Corruptor's death. As seen in the case of the Destructors, Crogenitors possess a natural partial resistance to E-DNA, making them keep their own separate minds and personalities.
  • Zelem - The most brilliant Crogenitor scientist. Along with the other Crogenitors, Zelem in the past created multiple living weapons, and He was a specialist in Quantumgenesis; unlike some of the other Crogenitor scientists, he had few qualms injuring innocent people while performing experimentation. Unfortunately, all but a few of his Quantum heroes perished during the first coordinated attack on Zelem's Nexus by the Darkspore, now known as "The Nexus Massacre", making Quantum heroes almost extinct. According to HELIX, Zelem was the leader of opposition against E-DNA experiments. When the Darkspore invaded Zelem's Nexus, he tried to flee, but met his demise in the sector Outer Ring of the Nexus.
  • Ptyron - Crogenitor Ptyron resided on Cryos and is known for his large size. He seemed to be the most kindhearted of them: instead of seeking powerful beings to turn into Living Weapons, he gave the power of the Plasmagenesis to the ones who touched him. Even before the Darkspore invasion he had tried to help the frozen planet, but it is unknown if he is responsible for the white hole incident. Current location and status unknown.
  • Astra - Astra resided on Verdanth for a long time. He appreciated the positive qualities but employed questionable methods for his goals. Also he apparently rather cynical as he is more concerned about experimentation rather that galactic welfare, as when the Darkspore attacked he saw it as the perfect excuse for experimentation of new lifeforms. He created living weapons from the Biogenesis. Current location and status unknown.
  • Suzu - The Crogenitor that resided on Infinity. He, like Ptyron, has a kind personality helping the suffering people of the super polluted Infinity with his Cybergenesis modifications. Is unknown if He had a role in the Infinity pollution and destructive civil war. He is the Crogenitor on which we have less information. Current location and status unknown.
  • Ingto - Like Astra, Ingto had no problems with performing dangerous experiments on the people of Nocturna and on the planet itself, as his goal was to wipe out the majority of the population and then mutate the strongest in powerful soldiers. His plans were however halted by the invasion of the mutants. Is unknown how He obtained the permission for such terrible project while for similar actions Merak, Xylan and Orcus finish ruined. Current location and status unknown.
  • The Player - The player is one the last living Crogenitors. He or she has remained dormant in a cryogenic capsule aboard of one of the last Crogenitor starships for 1000 years, until he/she was awoken by the ship A.I. HELIX. Due the cryogenic sleep, the Crogenitor is amnesiac so HELIX informed him/her of his/her task to create the Crogenitor Insurgency with the recently stabilized E-DNA. The Player controls the Living Weapons during their expeditions on the planets through a remote control called Fusion Command directly from aboard the ship.
  • HELIX - The A.I. networks of the Crogenitor fleet, HELIXs were tasked to take care of the cryogenic sleeping Crogenitors assigned to them, while trying to purify the highly unstable E-DNA, a task succeeded by this particular HELIX after 1000 years of elaboration. It then awakens the player, one of the last of the surviving Crogenitors. It speaks with a soft feminine voice slightly distorted. Despite being a computer, it has quite a personality: if you repeatedly try a disabled action, it will eventually respond to you with annoyed replies, and light insults (one of them is an Easter Egg of the most famous quote of Spider-Man).
  • The Destructors - The Destructors is a group of Darkspores composed by Xylan/the Corruptor and five other Crogenitor outcasts, Merak, Nashira, Orcus, Polaris and Arcturus, who allied themselves with him and became after transfection as him, the most powerful Darkspore. Being the leaders of the Darkspore army, the Destructors directed them in their galactic conquest, the Mutation Wars. All of them (with the exception of the Corruptor) belong to one of the genetic types, and oversees one of the six planets presented in the game. All Destructors have a cinematografic incoming and death, and leave behind their heavy glowless masks on the ground upon defeated (but not always these masks are shown on screen). They appear for battle in Threat levels X-4. Each of them spawn minions for aid; is interesting to note that Blasting Fiends and Exploder Scarabs appear even outside the Destructor battles (and Gravity Wells, Enemy Portals and Rotating Laser Turrets (who in turn appear only in Invasion and Apocalypse difficulty modes) technically aren't Darkspore or alive just enemies) making Nashira the only Destructor without a unique spawn (but she can clone herself in indistinguishable copies like the Necro Minion Split Beetle):
  • Merak spawn Blazers (Plasma Minions);
  • Polaris spawn Gravity Wells (Quantum Minions);
  • Nashira spawn Blasting Fiends (Necro Minions);
  • Orcus spawn Biosoids (Bio Minions);
  • Arcturus spawn Exploder Scarabs/Rotating Laser Turrets (Cyber Minions);
  • the Corruptor spawn Enemy Portals (a random genesis type enemy related to Mutation Agents that spawn on its own all species of Darkspores Minions depending of its genesis).
  • Merak, the Devastator - "Hailing from a powerful faction of plasma specialists, Crogenitor Merak was charismatic and ambitious. Tragically for the galaxy, his intelligence, training and ethics never rose to match his thirst for power. While working in the Nexus alongside Zelem himself, Merak accidentally shattered three per cent of the Shield Ring. The damage was costly to repair, but far costlier in lives: thousands of Zelemi perished. Disgraced by a disaster that even his powerful allies could not hide, Merak disappeared from public life. In secret, he began secretly colluding with Crogenitor Xylan on dangerous E-DNA experiments. When the Crogenitors exiled Xylan, Merak knew his sponsor would eventually return to seize leadership of the galaxy. Using all the influence he had left, Merak purchased key defense secrets. He traded them to the Corruptor for transfections to make him powerful enough to crush both their enemies. Merak became an incarnation of plasma, able to weaponize lightning and meteors. During the final attack on Perceptum, Merak personally directed the destruction of the Perceptory, obliterating the institution containing the very greatness that he himself could never achieve". After transfection Merak maintain an humanoid shape but now he is giant, with spikes on his back and a magmatic appearance. He harnesses the power of plasmatic energy to destroy his enemies with lightning chains, meteors, stunning tackles and the aid of particular Plasma Minions called Blazers. He is now Plasmagenetic and oversees Cryos.
  • Nashira, the Shadow Void - "Crogenitor Nashira had always taken death very personally—whether the death of an individual, or of a species. Indeed, Nashira had probed the most shadowy regions of the galaxy for centuries, dissecting what had caused the mass-extinctions that had turned whole planets into graveyards: comet strikes, magnetic field shifts, or explosions of neutron stars. While Nashira was able to transplant hundreds of threatened species to living worlds, the resurrection of entire ecosystems eluded her—and all other Crogenitors. And finally facing that failure, Nashira abandoned biogenetic research forever, and instead turned to death. Obsessively investigating the hyperdimensional realms of anti-life, Nashira concluded that every biosphere lost to galactic history could be recreated inversely--as a necrosphere. But she needed power, resources, and allies. Dismissed as dangerous and even insane by her peers, Nashira finally turned to Crogenitor Xylan, who promised her the E-DNA to drive her necrogenesis. Transfecting herself first, Nashira gained the ability to create void-zones, which she theorized could be expanded to encompass entire planets. But during the Mutation Wars, she used them to devastating effect on the battlefields of a dozen worlds". After transfection Nashira sprouted two bat wings on her back, six insectoid legs, two clawed hands and four eyes in a diamond pattern, with the one on the top bigger and oval shaped. She can clone herself, unleash a dreadful banshee scream and summon Necro Minions called Blasting Fiends (classified by mistake as lieutenants and with a wrong picture on the ufficial site). She is now Necrogenetic and oversees Nocturna. Nashira is also the only known female Crogenitor.
  • Polaris, the Gravity Manipulator - "Having been physically weak his entire life, Polaris was fascinated by powerful cosmic forces, and how to apply such energies towards destruction. At the same facility pioneering E-DNA research, Polaris was designing a prototype combat exoskeleton. When E-DNA mutants slaughtered the scientists who gave them life, Polaris piloted his own combat suit, suppressing the uprising. But that emergency experiment came at cost: the Darkspore destroyed the war suit, and Polaris suffered terrible injuries. Convalescing for years, Polaris obsessed over the flaws of his design and the fact that flesh creatures could crush his combat mechanism. Eventually Polaris sought Crogenitor Xylan, who convinced him to fuse his own research with Xylan's, so he would never be vulnerable again. And so Polaris joined Xylan in a pact that ultimately caused the downfall of the galaxy. Xylan transfected Polaris into a gigantic, relentless smasher with terrifying gravitic powers. He could deploy multiple miniature black holes to attract and crush projectiles and hostiles, and unstable singularities functioning as time-bombs. He also could overpower his victims via gravitic projection". After transfection Polaris became giant, with six insectoid legs, two strong arms and a long tail. His overall appearance bears a resemblance of Nashira's but with an extension more horizontal rather than vertical. Polaris can manipulate gravity and space-time to warp at will, shot energy bullets, tackle the enemy and spawn troublesome Gravity Wells. He is now Quantumgenetic and oversees Zelem's Nexus.
  • Orcus, the Devourer of Life - "Biogenetic specialist Orcus had been fascinated by how prions, viruses and bacteria functioned to conquer and destroy life. He argued that such destructive entities were microcosmic examples of all the greatest military minds of galactic history. He claimed even that such entities possessed a fundamental, aggressive consciousness that, if decoded, would serve as the natural model for universal progress. Despite being the galaxy's leading forensic mind, Orcus found himself laughingly dismissed for his theory of "Biomolecular Ascendance." Determined to redeem himself, Orcus planned a series of experiments on Verdanth's intelligent races. Denied permission for the scheme that would have caused the deaths of millions, Orcus chose an even more extreme path. Believing he could commune directly with the theoretical consciousness of biomolecular aggression, Orcus asked Crogenitor Xylan to transfect his brain so he could communicate in what he called "genetic language." No one knows whether Orcus achieved his goal. But he gained a host of terrifying powers he unleashed during the Mutation Wars. Chief among those powers is the ability to contain and expel pathogens in a "breath of death." Yet even with such lethal capacities, in physical combat, Orcus is a nearly matchless engine of destruction". After transfection Orcus became more similar to an insect with a total of six legs (which one pair was previously his arms), an horizontal extension, a cone shaped head with a long fanged mouth, two pairs of eyes at the sides of the head (two bigger and backlog, two smaller and more forward), leaf appendices and a reptilian tail. In battle, Orcus can emit a toxic breath, sprout harmful roots from ground and summon Bio Minions called Biosoids to attack, or consume them to regain health. He is now Biogenetic and oversees Verdanth.
  • Arcturus, the Cybernetic Colossus - "Ambitious, arrogant and ingenious, Crogenitor Arcturus rose to prominence by exploring the interiors of stars via peerless cybermechanical engineering. In doing so he advanced Crogenitor astronomical knowledge by generations. Arcturus reportedly sought permission to conduct astro-explosive experiments—literally, he planned to destroy entire suns to study the results. His colleagues concluded he was a sociopath. Determined eventually to have his way, Arcturus joined Crogenitor Xylan's faction, believing Xylan's promise that with him, anything would become possible. Once Xylan "resurrected" himself as the Corruptor, Arcturus bolstered Xylan's war with a new weapon. He transformed failed Genetic Hero candidates—test subjects not suitable for the rank, for whatever psychological or genetic reasons—into cybernetic living bombs. Those cyber-soldiers descended into Crogenitor strongholds on Zelem's Nexus and detonated themselves, securing Xylan the first major victory of his campaign. Xylan rewarded Arcturus with a series of powerful transfections, including the ability to leap great heights and crush his opponents upon impact. Xylan also granted Arcturus weapons, including rotating blade-projectiles and combat lasers. Thus, in battle, Arcturus has become of the most terrifying destructors in the galaxy". After transfection Arcturus became fused with his cybernetic armour, now his basin resembles a seat with armrests, has four eyes (two bigger and at the usual spot, two smaller and on the cheekbones), two strong arms and three insect-like cybernetic legs. He attacks with missiles, lasers, a saturation bombing of the area, and summons Exploder Scarabs and Rotating Laser Turrets (Cyber Minions). He is now Cybergenetic and oversees Infinity (or DB's Palace)
  • Xylan/The Corruptor, Master of Darkspore - Crogenitor Xylan is the one who discovered E-DNA. After Xylan was thrown into exile for negligence he transfect himself with E-DNA, but his plan went awry, mutating and becoming the Corruptor, leader of the Darkspore. Gaining unbelievable powers, He put in action his old dream of galaxy domination, gathering five renegade Crogenitors and turning them into his personal lieutenants, the Destructors (the game's prime bosses). After the Crogenitors fled Verdanth, Xylan revealed himself to be the Corruptor to all the other Crogenitors, and E-DNA experimentation was then completely outlawed. After Verdanth, the next action of the Corruptor was directing an attack to Cryos, where the first combined assault of all Destructors completely destroyed the local Crogenitors refugees. In the core of the Perceptory of Perceptum, he personally reunited and slaughtered without mercy what he thought were the last Crogenitors. Before the return of the Player, Xylan believed that the Crogenitors were extinct. All his actions confirm that Xylan is a heartless being, with absolutely no pity or mercy for his foes and megalomaniac dreams of total domination. Though he effectively dominated the galaxy for 1000 years after the Crogenitor defeat, he is proven to be not a good leader, as all the planets fallen under his control were in total chaos and anarchy, even because of the adamant resistance of the native populations. This is his role :"A brilliant Crogenitor, Xylan pioneered galactic E-DNA research. That research produced violent mutants who slaughtered most of the engineers who created them. Despite the bloodshed, Xylan argued that banning E-DNA would be a crime against science and would deny civilization the greatest achievements of galactic history. Exiled to unexplored space for his negligence, Xylan apparently died when his ship's plasma coil ruptured. In fact, Xylan faked his own death, and with help of shadowy allies, he escaped to the Noktroto Nebula. There Xylan transfected himself with E-DNA to gain powers beyond any the galaxy had ever seen. Xylan gathered like-minded Crogenitors to expand his grim experiments. With the nebula hiding him from his enemies, he subjected nineteen planetary biospheres to his cruel E-DNA testing. Ultimately weaponizing billions of life forms, Xylan selected the DNA he deemed superior, combining genes and incorporating radioactive isotopes into the DNA molecule itself. His new E-DNA, even more powerful than the original, dramatically accelerated mutation and adaptation. Now as the Corruptor, Xylan emerged with his Darkspore horde to engulf the stars in the Mutation Wars. He destroyed Crogenitor civilization, charring its ancient capital Perceptum into a world he renamed Scaldron". After transfection, Xylan become an hulking colossus, partially fused with his armor, with tubes and wires sprouting out of his flesh, two clawed hands, four eyes in a square pattern and four legs. The Corruptor is one of the few Darkspore (the others are Mutation Agents and Enemy Portals) that don't belong to any genesis type. Instead the Corruptor changes constantly genesis, using abilities belonging to the corresponding Destructor: Orcus' pathogenic breath, Merak's lightning chain, Polaris' summoning of Gravity Wells, Nashira's banshee scream and Arcturus' dual laser beams. He is also the only character besides the HELIX (and apparently Lumin) who speak English, during his battle. As a sign of triumph the Corruptor prefer keep the Crogenitor graveyard under his feet, so he station on Scaldron.
  • The Darkspore - These horrible nightmares have a hive mind and an unstoppable instinct to kill everything on sight who don't belong to their army. Overall They are indeed intelligent but not sentient, and require someone to lead them in a true organized battle, a role that is filled by the Destructors, who mutate maintaining their sentience. The biology of the Darkspore are very variegated as it includes mutants belonging to varied species and taxa, as well biomechanical entities and devices both mutated and reprogrammed. Darkspore ranks are divided in Minions, Lieutenants, Elites, Operatives, Captains, Destructors and Mutation Agents.
  • Minions are small, low-level, grunt-like enemies that have lower amounts of health than other enemies, and they usually have only one or two different abilities. These are more common, and make up the bulk of enemies encountered, usually posing a threat only in large number. Adding Gravity Wells, Rotating Laser Unit and Enemy Portals to the total, there are 62 different species of Minions (14 Plasma (the Plasma Operative Magmatic Brute summon two additional Plasma Minions, Volt and Cinder), 12 Cyber, Quantum, Bio and 11 Necro, with Enemy Portals being genesis indefinable) plus four Simulated Darkspore (2 Plasma, 2 Bio) elaborated by the HELIX during Simulator Mode.
  • Lieutenants are larger enemies that have higher amounts of health and multiple powerful attacks. 30 different species of Lieutenants exist, six for each genesis type, plus one Simulated Darkspore Plasma Lieutenant (Simulated Darkspore Quadra), elaborated by the HELIX during Simulator Mode.
  • Elites are powered-up version of Minions or Lieutenants with random bonus Affixes that either naturally spawn or are produced by Mutation Agents. Initially rare they become more and more common as the game proceed. Sometimes the transformation in Elite change the appearance of the Darkspore that differs from the usual enemy of that kind. Players have noticed that several of these are the winners of the Spore Template Challenges.
  • The five species of Operatives, one for Genesis Types, (listed with the Lieutenants on the official site) appear only during a multiplayer campaign and lock-down players while draining their life, leaving them in the hands of the other players.
  • Captains appear at the end of each sector of each difficulty mode with the aid of an horde of other Darkspore, for a total of 72 different Captains. As Scaldron have Captains to every genesis type except Necro, the latter have a lesser amount of Captains. They belong to twenty-four selected kinds of the thirty species of Lieutenants (the same through each difficulty mode), but bigger, stronger and with Elite affixes and have a personal name and a title like heroes and Destructors. Captains of the same kinds don't have same elite affixes. They are sector specific but if the sector is set in a Threat level X-4, the player will face a Destructor instead.
  • The Destructors are six mutated Crogenitor renegades who are now the leaders of the rampaging mutants.
  • Technically Mutation Agents aren't Darkspore, they are instead orbual mutation devices deployed en mass on the planets by the Deep Space Mutation Mines, spiked spherical space devices seeded by the Corruptor through the galaxy that crash lands on planets when they detect the absence of E-DNA on surface (They are observable during cutscenes or landed in the background scenery of certain sectors). Planetary origin of the Mutation Mines remains unknown at date. Mutation Agents, like The Corruptor and Enemy Portals, don't belong of any genesis type instead taking casually one of the genesis types present in the sector and appear only at the end of unavoidable gated horde. The gates broke down only after the Mutation Agent defeat. Their special ability is to create Elites bumping super-powered E-DNA in random nearby Darkspore, while defending itself with poisonous black clouds of E-DNA. Mutation Agents are the game mascot, being used for the game and official site icons.

In the three different difficulty modes (Onslaught, Invasion, Apocalypse), Darkspore enemies change names and appearance (the latter applied even to the Destructors) but basically their species traits remain untouched. For example the "Quadrakillers" (Plasma Lieutenants) will be named "Ballistic Quadrakillers" on Invasion and "Quadrakiller Assassins" in Apocalypse. Almost but not all Darkspore species (due of certain errors in text, misplacing, forgetfulness etc.) appear and have a personal role on the official site "Darkspore.com".

Abilities

Each hero possesses one basic attack, one unique ability, one variant ability, a passive ability that is always active, a squad ability, and the Overdrive. Using Overdrive will cause your hero to take 50% less damage, abilities have 50% reduced cooldowns, increases Attack Speed, become immune to Disables, abilities do not use any Power, and gain access to more powerful versions of all 3 passive abilities of the heroes in their squad. The Overdrive Meter is filled by killing Enemies. The squad abilities can be used by all members of the squad. The passive abilities of the squad members can also became all available to the current hero, by using Necro's Soul Link variant ability. Some passive abilities, like Tork's Rampant Growth aura, can help the heroes of other players in on the team. Each ability, except the passive or Overdrive, has a cooldown time. Not all abilities are available from the start of the game; many are unlocked during or after specific levels. Abilities fall under these sub-types:

  • AoE: stands for Area Of Effect, which means they will affect a certain radius.
  • DoT: stands for Damage Over Time. These are periodic effects, and often occur as Burns, Poisons, Diseases, and Curses.
  • DPS: stands for Damage Per Second. These are usually periodic effects, like Sage's 'Strangling Briars' or Zrin's 'Plasma Column'.
  • HoT: stands for Heal Over Time, which means they will gain health over a period of time, like Meditron's 'Reconstruct' or Tork's 'Sporogeneis'.
  • CC: stands for Crowd Control, which means they'll be able to control a large group of enemies.
  • Melee: Melee Attacks are close range attacks, and often deal Physical Damage, but sometimes deal Energy Damage.
  • Ranged: Ranged Abilities can be used from a distance, and include Projectiles. Projectiles often deal Energy Damage, but sometimes deal Physical Damage.
  • Instant Cast: Instant Cast Abilities are abilities that are activated instantly.
  • Channeled: Channeled Abilities are abilities that require the character to not move for a period of time, and have a small timer, called a 'Channeling Bar', used to see how long its duration is and how much time is left.
  • Heal: Healing Abilities are abilities that will restore a portion of Health.
  • Health/Power Leech: Gives a portion of Health and/or Power based on damage dealt.
  • Health Drains: "Heal Drains", such as Lifeforce Siphon or Webbed Transfusion, are actually Periodic Damage with 100% Health Leech. Although it doesn't benefit from +Healing, it does benefit from +Periodic Damage. Also, adding +Health Leech will cause you to receive more health than the damage you are dealing.

Planets

The game is set on different planets. On each planet (excluding Simulator Mode and DB's Palace), four different sectors are explorable. Each Sector (except Scaldron's) has set Genesis types of the five genesis types: two on Onslaught, three on Invasion. The breeds of Darkspores met in the sectors, except for the first exploration, are random, aside from hailing from the specific genesis types; however not all kinds of Darkspore of the fixed genesis types will appear on all planets. Some of them are planet specific or even sector specific. This criteria can change in different difficulty modes. Sectors became random in order after first exploration so not always in a threat level will appear the same sector of the first time. The threat level is a report of the minimum and maximum level of the Darkspore met if the sector set in the chosen threat level is explored. Their numerical criteria is based on a division of four, for a total of 72 different threat levels. Invasion mode starts from Threat level 7-1, Apocalypse mode starts from Threat level 13-1. Except for the tutorial Simulator Mode, each Sector hosts three valuable Crogenitor Obelisks, objects that when accessed release loot and sometimes Catalysts. During the final horde of the Sector, two more Obelisks appear but these are filled with Health and Power Capsules. The surfaces of the planets present some particular features specific to each planet, called Environmental Objects. The function of the objects varies: some can be destroyed to harm enemies or avoid damage to the hero, sometimes dropping DNA helixes or in specific cases Catalyst, while others are indestructible and harmful, and some do nothing. Shreds of the planets' past history during the Mutation Wars, and geographical features are displayed by the HELIX every time you reach a planet for the first time and the first time you explore a sector.

  • Simulator Mode – This sector is a data simulation created by the HELIX as a tutorial for the recently awaken Player, so He/She can remaster the Fusion Command remote control. The enemies meet there, hailing to the Bio and Plasma genesis, are data simulation of real Darkspores, precisely Simulated Darkspores. No real Darkspore are even vaguely similar to them with the exception of the Simulate Darkspore Quadra and the Simulated Darkspore Sloth, whose names and appearances are almost completely identical to the original creatures, the Quadrakiller (Plasma Lieutenant) and the Electric Sloth (Plasma Minion). It will be no longer visitable after the first visit, being the only sector to do this as also being the only sector lacking of a Captain in the final horde.
  • Zelem's Nexus – Home of Quantumgenesis. Once a peaceful planet called Nakto, it was destroyed when its sun, Zee-Nakto, collapsed into a black hole, dubbed Wha-Nakto. Zelem attempted to preserve this world by creating an artificial gravity-field, but even then the planet was nothing more than a series of floating isles, fossils and junk that risk collision continuously. The general look of the Nexus is the one of a Torus. Primary genesis type is Quantum. The fearless Crogenitor Zelem resided long time ago on this planet but during his escape in the Outer Ring of the Nexus, He was killed. This is the role : "Eons ago, the star Zee-Nakto collapsed into a black hole, destroying most of its planets. Using his advanced gravitic technology, Crogenitor Zelem engineered one of the great marvels of the galaxy: his Nexus, a chain of asteroid islands and atmosphere preserved inside a vast, transparent cylindrical tube called the Shield Ring. Zelem spent the rest of his existence maintaining the massive gravity engines that held his Nexus together. Constructing a teleportation network, he moved easily from island to island, studying the evolution of the surviving life forms. A complex array of independent cultures developed, until one intelligent species after another learned to use the teleportation grid and set out exploring the entire Nexus. Zelem regarded the integrated Nexus civilization that arose as his one of the greatest achievements of his career. In the ensuing centuries, Zelem made detailed studies of countless individual beings, carefully selecting and enhancing hundreds of them to produce a handful of his own genetic heroes. Zelem and his world were the first victims of the Darkspore, in a bloodbath called the Nexus Massacre." The Destructor that awaits the player at the end of the Nexus is Polaris, the Gravity Manipulator, a black hole-generating mastermind.
  • Nocturna - Home of Necrogenesis. It has four moons and is constantly detached by the weak sunlight of its brown dwarf so it is also called the planet of eternal night. Nocturna was the second planet to fall victim to the Darkspore Siege after a barrage of Deep Space Mutation Mines bombarded the planet, unleasing the very first Mutation Agents. The main features of this planet are rivers of liquid plasma, gigantic crystalline formations, and large moving plants. Plasma storms are seen inside the mountains of the planet, and the plants and creatures native to Nocturna are usually bioluminescent. Primary genesis type is Necro. The cruel Crogenitor Ingto resides on this planet. This is the role : "A world of perpetual darkness, Nocturna orbits the brown dwarf star Tibro, collecting neither enough heat nor light to support life. Millennia ago, the Crogenitors undertook massive geonuclear engineering projects, supplying enough heat to support the chemotropic life forms they transplanted there. As a cataclysmic side-effect, geysers and rivers of plasma erupted like lightning from the planet’s mantle, held in place by patch-job Crogenitor energy webs. But the constant use of those energy webs pierced dimensions, causing necrotic energy to flood into Nocturna, further mutating its biosphere and imbuing survivors with the ability to manipulate death-energy. Plant life evolved to achieve bio-luminescence, a mutation arising from metabolizing the abundant deposits of phosphorescent crystals in the soil. But in Dark Eden, the crystals that once were rainbows of life are now a permanent, deathly white. In some regions, crystals have formed towers, absorbing and directing the flow of plasma streams, rivers and cascades. As intelligent life arose in this grim and dangerous environment, it navigated Nocturna's shadows with its own bioluminescence. The armies of one Nocturni region eventually carved out strongholds on three continents, warring for domination for ages against its rivals. Finally uniting, these regions formed the unstoppable military force, the Nocturni Legion. The shadowy ruling body, the Nocturni Eternals, dominated its chain-gang Empire until it met an enemy even greater than itself: the Darkspore." The Destructor that awaits the player at the end of Nocturna is Nashira, the Shadow Void, the insectoid queen whose fearsome power frightens even the other darkspore on her planet.
  • Verdanth - Home of Biogenesis. Verdanth was once a bright, beautiful, lush world full of rainforests of jungles, but after the Darkspore invaded, the civilizations quickly fell into ruin, and most of the wildlife became a dreadful danger, mutated by the power of E-DNA. One of its cities was completely flooded while besieged to the invasion in an action directed by the Corruptor himself. The verdanthi are a highly advanced society, both spiritually and scientifically, and once a generation a few of them are born with the ability to comprehend the animals' languages. Primary genesis type is Bio. The mysterious Crogenitor Astra resides on this planet. This is the role : "A living emerald of a world, Verdanth is a mixture of indigenous life and life forms that originated... somewhere else. Barely visible even from the surface, the crumbled ruins of ancient temples and towers are preserved beneath an organic sheath of lichens, fungi and plunder-grasses. From orbit, only Verdanth’s forests, teeming with trees tall enough to cleave the planet's cloudscape, are visible. The indigenous civilization of hyper-intelligent mobile plants is directly plugged into the global biosphere. Its central phyto-intelligence is the Ikuyu, or the “Gods of the Infinite Green,” a network of the 600 most ecopathically advanced Verdanthi who employ the planet's giant trees as antennae for their ecopathic communications. Hidden inside the planet's massive forests is a mysterious geographical feature: an impact crater, deep enough to hide an asteroid. That geological womb has driven Verdanthi religious and scientific speculation for ten thousand generations. Was the Wound caused by demons? By a comet strike? Or by the crash of a world-ship? Whatever the origin of the Wound, for centuries, Verdanth was the ideal Crogenitor laboratory for bio-genetic engineering, supplying life in greater diversity and abundance than any planet in the galaxy." The Destructor that awaits the player at the end of Verdanth is Orcus, the Devourer of Life, the emperator of all diseases.
  • Cryos – Home of Plasmagenesis, Cryos is a planet currently in a state of extreme global ice age that has destroyed nearly all the local fauna, including the planet's population. A failed attempt of heating resulted in gigantic plasma storms and rivers. The majority of the few surviving fauna dwell the frozen caverns. The Darkspore easily conquered this planet after a combined attack of all the Destructors, whom wiped out all of the escaped Crogenitor residing on the planet. Harboring a unique variety of geological features, Cryos contains ancient Crogenitor technology. Primary genesis type is Plasma. The passionate Crogenitor Ptyron resided on this planet. This is the role : "When Cryos's core cooled unexpectedly, its thriving ecosystem and civilization collapsed into mass extinctions. Arriving after the ice age began, the Crogenitors opened a singularity end-valve (also called a “white hole”), a practically limitless supply of heat, to reheat Cryos’s core. But their results were unstable. Now volcanoes erupt through ice-crusted deserts and oceans, and genetically-modified creatures prey on anything that moves. Most bizarre of all are the Hyro and Helo “oceans,” two plasma storms held in place via titanic energy webs. Each supports an array of sunspot-like, floating, rocky “islands” on its surface. Upon these fragile platforms, mutant life forms savagely compete for existence, while at their shores and beyond, plasma bolts rip up from ocean to sky like rivers of reverse lightning. The question remains, of course: did the Crogenitors, with their vast technology, shut down Cryos’s core in the first place as part of their vast, cosmic experiment, no matter how many billions would die as a result? Whatever methods the Crogenitors used, they clearly intended Cryos to function as a giant laboratory for their plasma-genetic engineering project. Recognizing the threat that plasma-powered warriors could pose, the Corruptor aimed his Darkspore horde with unprecedented fury against Cryos. By controlling the planet, the Corruptor hopes to prevent any revolt from unlocking the Crogenitor secrets that remain buried beneath the ice of Cryos." The Destructor that awaits the player at the end of this planet is the very first ally of the Corruptor, Merak, the Devastator, a towering golem made of lava.
  • Infinity - Home of Cybergenesis. Infinity is a heavily-polluted planet covered in poisoned oceans and factories, the pinnacle of the Crogenitor Empire technology, and primary source of resources. One of the factories even extract materials from the planet core. Many of the inhabitants have either perished due of the pollution, or during the many civil wars that the uncontrolled industrialization brought. The majority of the Infini people who remained were either outcasts, mutant freaks, cyborgs, bounty hunters, zealots or mobs, competing with each other for whatever resources still remained. Most of the surviving inhabitants are cyborgs, who require neither food or water, and were thus able to survive the supply shortages. As it possessed very few defenses, the Darkspore easily conquered this planet and enslaved and all the few surviving areas unpolluted, such the Terminal Heaven, finish totally awry. The Crogenitor refugees ships didn't even landed on the planet as undetected Deep Space Mutations Mines bombarded them, destroying everything. Primary genesis type is Cyber. The kindhearted Crogenitor Suzu resides on this planet. This is the role : "Infinity is an ancient world overrun by mechanical development. AI factories, like tumors or parasites, are embedded inside every mountain, valley and field, strangling the skies with toxic emissions. Deprived of direct sunlight by the perma-smog, Infini plant life has evolved to become magnetotropic, replacing the solar energy of photosynthesis with the abundant super-magnetic sources remaining from Infini industry. Despite the long-ago deaths of their workers, some AI factories continue to operate, having “evolved” into geophagous (“earth-eating”), mobile entities. Burrowing vast tunnels through crust and mantle, these machines surface to belch toxic clouds into the atmosphere, expelling their liquid wastes and "drinking” from rivers of molten sludge trudging their ways to the planet’s poisoned seas. The one place that Infini life forms survive in their original states, inside energy-sheathed conservatories, is the capital city of Infinity Prime. Elsewhere, only genetic freaks can survive, mutated to consume the plastics, metal waste and ore tailings that have choked the life from this world. But Infinity wasn't always a poisoned planet. Before the Darkspore invasion, the mobile AI harvesting and construction complexes protected the planetary ecology that gave the galaxy its tools, fuels, shelters and ships. But the Corruptor deranged their programming, turning them from preservers to destroyers." The Destructor that awaits the player at the end of this planet is Arcturus, the Cybernetic Colossus, a hulking robotic being.
  • Scaldron – Scaldron was once called Perceptum, the Crogenitor's empire capital, but now is an endless wasteland, containing only a few of ruins of the once glorious civilization. Life had never evolved here, so the Crogenitors made the planet suitable for all 5 genesis types. After the first exploration, the genesis types present in the sectors became random. Notable features of the planet are: the Sunken Monastery, where sages in ancient times performed the first genetic experiments, and where the young Xylan was instructed and developed his foolish dream of reshaping the galaxy on his image; and the Perceptory, the central archive and laboratory of the Crogenitor empire and home place of the HELIX's A.I. cores. This is the role : "For centuries before the fall of Crogenitor civilization, Scaldron was called Perceptum, the capital Crogenitor planet of cultural and scientific knowledge. Because life never evolved on Perceptum, the Crogenitors built an ecosystem there from the cellular level up, transforming its atmosphere, water systems and soils to support all the genetic types they transplanted there. Perceptum shone for eons as a beacon of all that the Crogenitors could accomplish: transforming life forms and entire worlds. And in the end, Perceptum became a symbol of another type of Crogenitor accomplishment, when the Corruptor brought his war to its inescapable climax there. When the Darkspore blasted Perceptum's surface into ashes from orbit, Crogenitor escape ships fled, preserving their civilization's records inside their interlinked HELIX AI. HELIX also protected the cryo-sleeping Crogenitors on board, preserving them for the day they might seek victory. Now Scaldron is the central world of the Corruptor's galactic horde, a nightmarish desert planet swarming with every Darkspore genetic type". The Corruptor, Master of Darkspore uses this planet as his hideout.
  • DB's Palace – Added with the patch 5.3.0.125., DB's Palace is a very mysterious sector that caused much speculation among the players. Nothing is know about this zone as the HELIX don't give information neither before landing or during the exploration. A mix of broken down and half functioning high technology, temple-like structures and flourish and thick rainforest are present on the surface, with an overall appearance of a long abandoned laboratory. Bio Incubators, some of them still filled with creatures (a surprisingly friendly Pouching Stalker (a normally highly ferocious Bio Lieutenant)), giant capsules with trees inside, and heavily armed missile guns suggest some kind of unknown and dangerous research about Biogenesis. Darkspores there are, on Onslaught Cyber genesis and Bio genesis, on Invasion Cyber genesis, Bio genesis and Quantum genesis. Not only the Environmental Objects are very odd and peculiar but also is the only level at date that present two captains at the same time, both Cyber type: one for the common final horde, different for each difficulty mode; and another (random between all possible Cyber Captains except for the Shielded Grenadiers ones and the Invincitrons ones), in a shrunk stature, who guards, together a gated horde, all three Crogenitor Obelisks of the sector, in an area which can be accessed only one time for exploration. It can even happen that Arcturus appear there for battle if DB's Palace is set in a X-4 level.
  • TNX Nebula - This region of space was briefly mentioned by the HELIX during the final cutscene. Not much is known about this small region lying between Zelem's Nexus and Infinity. What is known about the nebula is that it has a planet resembling somewhat Cryos and that all contact with Crogenitor ships within the TNX Nebula has been lost. After Corruptor defeat, from this planet some kind of strange signals were detected.

Hero Editor

See also: Spore Creature Creator

The Hero editor in Darkspore has been described as an enhanced version of the one found in Spore. There are thousands of parts to collect, enabling the customization of several aspects of the characters, including body parts, armor, weapons, facial features and coloration. The hero remains recognizable but at the same time unique. For buy and equip the loot or buy some upgrades, DNA is necessary, used as a currency. DNA helixes can be found during exploration, dropped sometimes by slayed Darkspores or destructible objects, or obtained by selling pieces of loot. One of the lesser known features of the Hero Editor is the ability to place items Asymmetrically, rather than using the default symmetrical placement method. After having placed an item on your Hero, you can hold the 'A' key, and then move an item without moving its corresponding counterpart, allowing you to, for example, place both items on the same side of the body or delete one of the items but keep the other. There are additional item rotation bars, that can be used to rotate the selected part. To see them, simply press and hold the 'Tab' key. Press and hold 'i' over an item. It will show its real part name, like in Spore. At the moment, this ability have little function though. Press and hold 'alt' over an item in the inventory will sell it for DNA.[6] Heroes possess two kind of stats, Primary and Secondary.

Primary Stats make up the majority of Stats found in Items. These are shown in the first tab, in the right of the screen in the Editor and in a Heroes profile. These cannot be added and/or removed, but their levels can be increased.

  • Health: Health determines how long your hero can last in battle. Taking damage will reduced your hero's Health level, and once you hero's health is depleted, your hero will die. Health is represented by a horizontal Green column. In PvP your hero will regain Health over time, but very slowly.
  • Power: Power is consumed by using certain abilities, and once all your hero's power is completely consumed, you will not be able to use those abilities. Increased Power will allow your Hero to use those abilities more often. Power is represented by a horizontal Light-Blue column. In PvP your hero will regain Power over time, but very slowly.
  • Strength: Increases your hero's Health, and makes Sentinel abilities more powerful (i.e. Damage and/or Healing), but slightly increases their Power Cost. 1 Strength = 5 Health
  • Dexterity: Increases your hero's Dodge and Critical Rating, and makes Ravager abilities more powerful (i.e. Damage and/or Healing), but slightly increases their Power Cost. 1 Dexterity = 6 Dodge Rating & 4 Critical Rating
  • Mind: Increases your hero's Resist Rating and Power level, and makes Tempest abilities more powerful (i.e. Damage and/or Healing), but slightly increases their Power Cost. 1 Mind = 6 Resist Rating & 1 Power
  • Critical Rating: Raises the chance that your Hero will Critically Strike. A fatal Critical Strike will make the enemy explode, almost always making impossible the resurrection.
  • Dodge Rating: Raises the chance that your hero will dodge a physical attack.
  • Resist Rating: Raises the chance that your hero will resist an energy attack.

Secondary Stats: are fairly uncommon, some more than others, but they have more specific uses. They often occur with Rarified and Purified Loot, however, there are usually only a few of these in each. These are shown in a separate tab than the Primary Stats. These can be added and/or removed. Certain Stats only apply to Squad Abilities. The reason for this is so that they can be useful on any hero, so long as that the Hero's Squad Ability it applies to is in their Squad. Like most other stats, Ability Modifying Stats only apply to the hero that the item is currently equipped on. When the team abilities are being used by other squad members they will not see the benefits. In addition to modifying their effects, they also changes their appearances slightly.

The loot items are divided in drop-loot, found during exploration, and Cash-out loot, found at the end of a chain as a reward. The items are also divided by the color, that indicate the strength.

The drop-loot is divided in:

  • White - Loot with a white aura is very basic and usually has only one or two modifiers. White loot is "Common" rarity, and is the easiest to obtain. White gear will be 5 levels lower than the level it is found in.
  • Green - Loot with a green aura is common, yet their stats and item level are higher than white loot. Green loot is from the "Uncommon" rarity, and is slightly harder to obtain than white loot. Green gear will be the same level as the level it is found in.
  • Blue - Blue aura is also called Rarified and has higher-than-normal stats, as well as additional stats, such as immunity to a certain debuff. They aren't as common as white or green, but not rare. Blue loot is, unsurprisingly, "Rare" rarity. Blue gear will be 5 levels higher than the level it is found in.
  • Purple - Purple aura loot is somewhat rare. It is called Purified loot. It has a high item level, and will increase stats greatly as well as add certain buffs and bonuses. Purple loot is "Epic" rarity, and is significantly rarer than all other types below it. Purple gear will be 10 levels higher than the level it is found in.

The cash-out loot is divided in:

  • Yellow - Yellow aura gear is the lowest type you can receive via the Cashout system, resulting in it having the highest chance to be rolled compared to Orange and Red. They will have slightly moderate stats and extra stats that will effect gameplay, such as +Pet Health. Yellow gear is obtained in a cashout whenever the roll fails to earn you orange or red gear. Yellow gear is the cashout variant of "Uncommon" rarity and is the same level as the element level depicted at the risk/reward screen after each mission.
  • Orange - Orange aura loot is also called Cashout Rarified loot. It is received if the player rolls higher than the chance for a Yellow, but lower than the chance for a Red during Cashout. They will have a large number of stats and can also have stats of other part categories, such as a utility part that increases movement speed. Orange gear is the cashout variant of "Rare" rarity.
  • Red - Red loot is the rarest loot of all, and it called Cashout Purified loot. The player has a very low chance to roll high enough to receive one during a cashout (between 0-10%) and if they are fortunate enough, they will receive a red aura loot. Cashout Purified will have more modifiers than any other rarity and these modifiers will usually be very high compared to other similar level gear. If the CP is a weapon, it will usually have modifiers to increase the minimum and max damage the weapon will deal when equipped to a hero. Red gear is the cashout variant of "Epic" rarity.

During each exploration, by completing certain objectives (visualize through the "o" button), the player will gain some medals, Bronze, Silver or Gold, depending on the performance. The medals rise the changes of a rare item, depending of its value. At the end of each Threat level, the player can choose to continue to the next exploration or obtain the loot immediately. If the player choose to continue, the medals of each mission will sum up and the player will obtain an object for each Threat level chained. However if the player is defeated during a chained mission, nothing will be earned. This is called risk/reward campaign.

All items fall under certain categories, each one will add certain stats. In the editor, those categories are represented by specific slots.

  • Weapon Slot: These are Hero Specific Items, which means they can only be placed on that hero. They increase the Minimum and Maximum Damage of the basic attack, as well as add other stats. Each weapon, comes in 5 different variants. Their variants will determine the kind of stats that they will possess:
  • Default - Default weapons are the weapons heroes start out with. These models can be bought in the Inventory Weapon Shop. They add 1-3 stats.
  • Drop-loot - Looted Weapons are weapons that are picked up as loot during missions. They add 1-4 stats.
  • Cashout - Cashout Weapons are semi-rare, and add many stats, and have a unique appearance. Most heroes are depicted with their cashout weapons equipped in the concept art.

These next 2 variants were just recently added in Patch 5.3.0.99

  • Apoc Drop-loot - Apoc weapons are weapons found the same way as loot weapons, but only in Apocalypse Mode. They are sometimes black and gray in color, meaning that they will be whatever color the hero is. They usually will look like modified versions of the Cashout Weapons.
  • Cashout Apoc - Same as Apoc loot, but found during Cashout. They add the highest number of stats and have a very stylish look to them. They can also be black-and-white, and some also have glowing spots and marks on them. Some of these even have visual effects, such as the Burn effect that is found on Zrin's flaming hand.
  • Hand Slot: Hand Items either add +Projectile Speed or +Attack Speed, as well as other stats. Hand items do not appear until starting/completing Threat Level 5-1.
  • Foot Slot: Feet Items add either +Dodge Rating and/or +Resist Rating, as well as +Movement Speed and other stats. They do not appear until starting/completing Threat Level 3-1.
  • Offense Slot: Offensive Items add +Critical Rating, as well as other stats. This slot is favored by Ravagers.
  • Defense Slot: Defensive Items add +Health, as well as other stats. This slot is favored by Sentinels.
  • Utility Slot: Utility Items add +Power, as well as other stats. This slot is favored by Tempests.
  • Detail Slots: Detail Items do not add any stats nor do they contribute to Hero Level. They are not collected, rather, they are made from parts collected in-game, then stripped of their stats using the "Remove Stats/Create Detail" button when viewing items. A player starts out with 3 detail slots, but can unlock 3 more one at a time. Weapons, Hands, and Feet cannot be turned into detail parts. Heroes start with a number of Detail items on them already, although numbers vary.

Some characters don't have Hands or Feet. To compensate, the developers designed it so that certain characters have an extra slot instead of a Hand and/or Foot slot, based on their Hero Class. Also their weapons add those stats instead.

  • Ravagers have an extra Offense Slot.
  • Sentinels have an extra Defense Slot.
  • Tempests have an extra Utility Slot.

No Hands: Weapons add Attack Speed or Projectiles Speed. No Feet: Weapons add Movement Speed, and maybe Dodge Rating or Resist Rating.

Alternate reality game

HelpEDNA was a Darkspore ARG that went online in mid 2010. It plays out as a puzzle text adventure which gives clues on the Darkspore game, and is set before the events of the game.

HelpEDNA is a puzzle text adventure, in which you play as a contact that has begun receiving messages from an unknown character. Players must register for the site with a user name and password, and log in before joining the game. Players were at first required to ask questions of the character, which would be answered, before receiving puzzles, one of which revealed the time and location of Darkspore's reveal at the PAX game conference. After many challenging mathematical puzzles were solved by the players, the site was updated, disabling the ability to ask questions or solve new puzzles, instead requiring players to work out genetic calculations, charging them with the task of creating the E-DNA genome for the abilities of the game's heroes. Players had to process 10 000 genes in order to complete all of them. After the completion of Meditron, Magnos, Blitz, Arakna, and Jinx, the website's genetic conversion system went unresponsive for several days, before it reactivated with updated text and two newly completed heroes, Goliath, and Tork. Tork had not yet been revealed on the main Darkspore website at the time. The website soon also featured two short in-game videos of Tork. After Tork's revealing, a new hero, Titan, was revealed, also with two short videos of the hero. Following that, another video was shown that featured an unknown hero (Andromeda). Eventually, on 15 October 2010, the number of genes to be processed reached 55, and stopped. Anyone logging into the site from now on will the usual partially corrupted text before it suddenly gives way to a stream of corrupted text data with a message from the Darkspore, stating that they have conquered yet again. The game is over, but still has an epilogue page containing a message from Maxis, and links to all of the pictures and videos from the website.

Plot

Establishing a connection with an unknown source, a contact begins receiving data and messages from a mysterious person who claims to have been isolated in space for more than two million years, and is in danger of being tracked down by another malignant source. After receiving some garbled information, the contact is prompted to ask questions of the person. The person is soon revealed to in fact be a social computer AI known as the HELIX, in a galaxy almost completely conquered by the Darkspore, a strain of aggressive, swarming mutants. Because of these mutants' attempts to track it down, the HELIX was forced to disconnect from the mass network that connected it to all other computer AIs. After completing several puzzles, receiving new information, and processing corrupted text feeds activated by entering select keywords into the HELIX's localized network, the contact is charged with the task of purifying 10, 000 eDNA genes before they mutate into Darkspore strains. The resulting genes were to form the basis for the abilities of the powerful heroes selected to fight the Darkspore. The contact gets to work, assisting the HELIX with processing ten thousand genes. After processing Meditron, Magnos, Blitz, Arakna and Jinx, a virus suddenly causes the HELIX to go into security shutdown mode, rendering the contact unable to finish processing the genomes. But soon the HELIX reactivates, plagued with data corruption but bearing the sequences for two heroes, Goliath and Tork. The contact soon resumes work on the genes, completing the sequences for a hero known as Titan as well as Andromeda. As the contact processes the final genes, with the gene count down to 55, the contact logs onto the network only to have the message degrade into a stream of unintelligible, corrupted data. The Darkspore's computer virus had finally cracked the HELIX's link to the contact. Three cold, chilling words stand out: "WE HAVE YOU - One life, one purpose - Darkspore expands". The mutants had conquered again...

The website now eventually displays the message:

"WE HAVE YOU
one life, one purpose
DARKSPORE EXPANDS"

while the background is filled with white corrupted coding that scrolls down continuously.

It was then revealed on the Darkspore forum that the ARG was designed by some of the Maxis team members to give away small bits of information regarding the game, announce new heroes and plot details, and advertise the game.

DRM

In addition to a serial key registration, Darkspore requires a persistent, broadband internet connection and an EA account in order to play the game after installation.[7]

Beta

On Wednesday, April 13, 2011, the Darkspore Open BETA test was released. Unlike the previous BETA sessions, a beta key was not required for download and it was completely free of charge. Players could unlock up to fifteen heroes (or eighteen, via a glitch) and play up to the fourth level. All existing accounts from the previous sessions had been deleted and were deleted again prior to the game's launch.[8] The Open BETA test ended on April 23, 2011.

Reception

Darkspore has received mixed reviews, with an average of 65% on Metacritic.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Reilly, Jim (2011-03-18). "Darkspore Delayed". IGN Entertainment. Retrieved 2011-03-18.
  2. ^ "Developer Introductions: Meet the Makers". Forum.ea.com. Retrieved 2011-06-10.
  3. ^ Unknown (Unknown). "Game Design" (Screenshot). Imgur. Imgur LLC. Retrieved 10 July 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)
  4. ^ "Darkspore FAQ". Forum.ea.com. Retrieved 2011-06-10.
  5. ^ Electronic Arts Inc (2011). "A NEW BREED OF ACTION RPG". Darkspore. Electronic Arts Inc. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  6. ^ "Darkspore Editor Maxis". Darkspore.com. Retrieved 2011-06-10.
  7. ^ "Darkspore requires constant Internet connection (Update)". Destructoid. 2006-03-16. Retrieved 2011-06-10.
  8. ^ "Darkspore - Home". Gb.darkspore.com. Retrieved 2011-06-10.
  9. ^ "Darkspore on Metacritic". Metacritic. 2011-04-26. Retrieved 2011-11-24.
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