Alkahest Is the Dark Messiah Comeback We’ve Been Dying For

My knees have been creaking for 19 years waiting for a proper Dark Messiah successor, and I think—I think—Alkahest might actually be the one.

There are some sacred moments in the history of PC gaming. The first time you stacked crates in Deus Ex to sneak past a laser grid! Your first “oh god, what’s that noise?? ” moment in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.! And the first time you set up a perfect running kick in Dark Messiah and sent a goblin ragdolling into a spike wall!! A lovely, janky, physics-based epiphany… and nothing has really scratched that itch since. Until now, that is. A new challenger has just entered the server. It’s called Alkahest, and it seems to have been developed by coders with a framed picture of that kick on their desktops.

Welcome to the Mud

For a start, thank GOD, this is not another high-fantasy, save-the-world epic. The vibe here is pure, unadulterated medieval squalor… a grimy corner of Kingdom Come: Deliverance where everyone’s coughing. There’s some political maneuvering between three noble houses, but you’re no kingmaker. You’re merely some lesser lord’s youngest son (so, a nobody) whose big deal is figuring out why the local goblins have suddenly developed tactical awareness… wait, what?? I’ll take low stakes and high angst over another dragon-slaying prophecy any day of the week, thanks!!

The Immersive Sim of Kicking Dudes

Okay. The combat. This is the main event!! This is where Alkahest delivers on its promises, and it’s pure, uncut Dark Messiah DNA. We’re talking fast, first-person melee where every single room is a physics playground just waiting for you to be its glorious, boot-wearing overlord. The developers are actively encouraging you to push log piles onto people… to kick them off ledges… to use a damn rope as a weapon!! This isn’t about memorizing and reciting combos; this is ad-libbed violence! This is building a Rube Goldberg machine of pure, unadulterated bodily harm that makes you feel like a Mensa-certified super genius for kicking one structurally integral table leg. This is the good stuff!!

Alchemy: A Guide to Questionable Life Choices

Instead of a mana bar, you get a chemistry set with what appears to be a reckless disregard for safety procedures!! You’re not dealing with your mother’s “collect three foxgloves” crafting system here, oh no. Alkahest’s alchemy is built on player curiosity and, frankly, poor impulse control. You can use recipes, of course. Or you can just start throwing ingredients into a pot and see what happens…

The potential here is incredible!! You can make a bootleg grenade… a poison that would offend the Geneva Convention… or try reverse-pickpocketing a guard with an explosive potion?! Or—and this is the best part—you can just drink the whole thing and see what happens. Best-case scenario: you’re a god for ten seconds. Worst case…? Your insides become your outsides. That’s what F5 is for, right?! That’s the kind of high-risk system we die for!

There’s no release date yet for Alkahest, but the vision is laser-clear. I have never smashed a wishlist button so fast in my life.

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