"Dominion of Darkness" - simulator of the dark overlord

Adeptus · Post by **Adeptus** » March 25th, 2024, 12:46

"Dominion of Darkness” is a strategy text game in which the player takes on the role of a Sauron-style Lord of Darkness with the goal of conquering the world. He will carry out his plans by making various decisions. He will build his army and send it into battles, weave intrigues and deceptions, create secret spy networks and sectarian cults, recruit agents and commanders, corrupt representatives of Free Peoples and sow discord among them, collect magical artifacts and perform sinister plots. Note – one game takes about 1 hour, but the premise is that the game can be approached several times, each time making different decisions, getting different results and discovering something new.

Game is avalaible for free, online, here: https://adeptus7.itch.io/dominion

If you are hesitant to play the game, I invite you to watch/listen to the reviews:

- Indie Sampler (video):

- [BOKC] BlancoKix (video):

Of course I am still constantly improving the game, adding new mechanics and content, so feedback would be very useful.

Adeptus · Post by **Adeptus** » November 11th, 2024, 16:02

Time for the update 2.70.

Some of the new things:
- extended endgame, especially for the Influence based characters - you conquered all kingdoms? Now secure your eternal rule by proving your divinity. Or, if you play as Destroyer of Live, carry out a world-scale euthanasia plan,
- new subplot - Rise of the Witchlands. Remember that fallen ancient civilization which ruins You could pillage? That is not dead which can eternal lie.

For the next update I am thinking among others, about extending the Chosen One subplot. What do You think about it now? Is it too easy to deal with? Too difficult? What elements would you want to see in it?
And do you have any other proposals for the next update? Do you think some other element should be extended? Or do you have idea for a totally new feature You want to see in the game?

Adeptus · Post by **Adeptus** » February 23rd, 2025, 09:38

I want to share with You new review of the Dominion of Darkness. It was published in the Choice Beat, Visual Novel and Interactive Fiction zine: https://choicebeat.wordpress.com/2025/0 ... cebeat-13/ Review of my game You can read on the page 30.

Another news - I am preparing to launch new version of the game. Its focus will be on economy (You will gain new possibilities to influence economy of Your enemies and it will influence their situtation in more important ways) and this pesky Chosen One who sometimes interferes with Your glorious plans of world domination/destruction. If You want to participate in testing, please write me on [email protected].

Post by **rusty_shackleford** » February 23rd, 2025, 09:57

Looks neat. Hopefully someone here is willing to play thru it a couple times and write a review.

Post by **rusty_shackleford** » February 23rd, 2025, 10:53

When reading the description/review I thought it's a game @Lich might like.

Lich · Post by **Lich** » February 28th, 2025, 21:38

I played this for about half an hour. It was fun but I don't know enough about this genre to say anything worthwhile.

MrTwinkls · Post by **MrTwinkls** » February 28th, 2025, 21:51

I was slain by the surprise secret boss in the end.

I would suggest to add some kind of small inventory for usable items for emergency stat boosting. Or court evil Jew for resource exchange. Or maybe I am just bad at CYOA games. Last time I played something like this were text quests in Space Rangers twenty years ago.

Lich · Post by **Lich** » February 28th, 2025, 22:53

btw I think "Maximal Condition" and "Actual Condition" are vague, maybe renaming them or explaining what they represent better could be good

Adeptus · Post by **Adeptus** » May 4th, 2025, 14:21

Thank You all for playing and feedback.

Here is an example of the new ending (with foru variants, according to the type of character you play) I am planning to add to the game - in this one You are more like Soros than Sauron. What do You think? Is this not too cringe and obvious? Will it get me banned on itch.io?

Adeptus · Post by **Adeptus** » February 27th, 2026, 19:29

And now it is the time for the big update, focusing primarily on the endgame. Players focused on direct conquest will have new ways to find new battlefields - portals to crazy, Lovecraftian worlds, discovering new lands, and a magical slumber to wait for the rebirth of old enemies/the emergence of new ones (and seeing how the world changes in their absence). For players more interested in the less brutal side of world domination, the options for managing the territories of our empire will be expanded. Will you allow orcs to overrun Dark Elf cities? Will schools focus on training engineers for the army and economy, or on brainwashing them into blind obedience? Furthermore, I’m expanding the Dark Lord’s interactions with other characters, including available romances. Of course, new content requires testing, and since, as usual, it’s highly non-linear and dependent on player decisions (plus random generation), I can’t test every combination myself.

That’s why I’m seeking the help of testers. All you need to do is play once—one playthrough lasts about 1.5 hours (as I mentioned, the game is highly non-linear and is meant to be played multiple times, each time revealing a different story) and send me a short report (specifically, indicating if you’ve spotted any obvious bugs).

Game, as always, is available free here: https://adeptus7.itch.io/dominion No need for dowload or registration.

And another news - one of the players made a fan song inspired by the game:

Post by **logincrash** » March 10th, 2026, 13:43

Finished a single playthrough.

It's alright.
Didn't see any politically incorrect themes, really. And I didn't feel that special despite being an insidious corruptor Dark Lord with the power of air magic, gameplay-wise. Pretty much every action could've been flavored as me being a persuasive king with a very good spymaster.
Gonna give it another go or two and try to check out other strategies/game mechanics.
Also, having half a dozen reminders to like and subscribe and click the bell and all that **** every other click when nearing the end game was kinda annoying.

Adeptus · Post by **Adeptus** » March 19th, 2026, 12:33

logincrash wrote: ↑ March 10th, 2026, 13:43
Finished a single playthrough.

It's alright.
Didn't see any politically incorrect themes, really. And I didn't feel that special despite being an insidious corruptor Dark Lord with the power of air magic, gameplay-wise. Pretty much every action could've been flavored as me being a persuasive king with a very good spymaster.
Gonna give it another go or two and try to check out other strategies/game mechanics.
Also, having half a dozen reminders to like and subscribe and click the bell and all that **** every other click when nearing the end game was kinda annoying.

Thank You very much for playing and feedback! If You play more, please tell me about Your opinion, especially how Your gameplay differed from this one.

And now some news.

Here is fresh hand-drawn fanart of the game:

Its author used it in his fan video:

And here is another new fan video: