The Story Timeline Order of Drakensang Games
Drakensang is a franchise of role-playing games (RPGs). Drakensang video games are story-driven, party-based RPGs with real-time combat with pause set in a medieval world. Drakensang video games are inspired by The Dark Eye, a fantasy tabletop role-playing game. While most Drakensang video games are single player, story-driven RPGs, Drakensang Online is an isometric ARPG. More differences between Drakensang Online and the other Drakensang video games are explained in this article.
What Are Drakensang Games Like?
Drakensang video games are typically set in high fantasy medieval environments inspired by The Dark Eye tabletop RPG. Environments seen in these games often include forests, villages, dungeons. Gameplay also includes classic RPG features such as medieval weapons, spells, chests.
Drakensang (2008), also called Drakensang: The Dark Eye, can be played in different camera perspectives, such as third-person camera perspective, as well as isometric camera perspective. Combat in Drakensang (2008) is real-time with pause, such as classic cRPGs (computer role-playing games). Drakensang (2008) also features NPC companions that follow the player and make remarks on different locations, adding to the lore of the game.
Drakensang (2008), Drakensang: The River of Time, and Drakensang - Phileasson's Secret all feature a similar gameplay, with similar camera perspectives and overall gameplay. Drakensang Online, however, has a fixed isometric camera perspective. Not only that, but in most Drakensang games, when talking to NPCs, the camera moves closer to the NPC, creating some kind of close, while in Drakensang Online, this camera mechanic is absent, in which case players are presented with the text box containing the speech of the NPC. Due to these unique characteristics, while Drakensang Online is set in the same universe as the other Drakensang video games, this game is more similar, gameplay-wise, to other ARPGs (action RPGs), such as Diablo, Grim Dawn and Sacred, than it is to third-person RPGs, such as the other Drakensang games. It also seems reasonable to describe Drakensang Online as an ARPG. Personally, it also seems to me that Drakensang Online has a grim atmosphere, opposed to Drakensang (2008), to Drakensang: The River of Time and to Drakensang - Phileasson's Secret which all do not feature this grim atmosphere. For these reasons, playing Drakensang Online can be quite a different experience than playing Drakensang (2008), Drakensang: The River of Time or Drakensang - Phileasson's Secret. Nevertheless, Drakensang Online is set in the same universe as the other Drakensang video games.
Is There an Order to Play the Drakensang Games?
While it is possible to play and enjoy Drakensang games in any order, Drakensang video games are story-driven RPGs, and for this reason, these games present narratives that are heavily influenced by the story events of their universe. Not only that, but Drakensang games share a common inspiration, The Dark Eye tabletop RPG. For this reason, it is worthwhile to consider playing these games in the chronological story order. Beyond this reason, Drakensang video games take place in different time periods, in which cases some games take place before others, chronologically. Hence, players who want to experience the universe of the Drakensang video games in a chronological order could consider playing these games in the chronological story order presented in this article.
It seems to me that Drakensang Online, while being set in the same universe as the other Drakensang video games, does not have a clear, direct story relation to other Drakensang games. However, it seems to me that Drakensang (2008), also called Drakensang: The Dark Eye, Drakensang: The River of Time and Drakensang - Phileasson's Secret are all set in similar time periods, or in other words, in approximate time periods. For this reason, it is suggested to play these games in chronological story order for the most comprehensive story experience possible.
The Story Timeline Order of Drakensang Games
This is the story timeline order of the Drakensang video games. This is not the same as the chronological release order of these games. Instead, this is the order in which the story events of the different Drakensang games take place. This is suggested order in which to play the Drakensang video games for the most comprehensive story experience possible.
While Drakensang Online appears after the other Drakensang video games in my chronological story order list, this does not mean that Drakensang Online necessarily takes place after those games. Instead, I simply decided to include a blank space between the other Drakensang video games and Drakensang Online because I did not find information regarding the exact time period of Drakensang Online, and for this reason it was not possible to include it with an accurate placement in my chronological story order list of Drakensang games.
Drakensang - Phileasson's Secret
Drakensang: The River of Time
Drakensang (2008) | Drakensang: The Dark Eye
Drakensang Online
Drakensang (2008) and Drakensang: The Dark Eye are different names for the same video game. I decided to include both names because people may know this game by these different names. Even though they are different names, they refer to the same video game.
Drakensang - Phileasson's Secret is an expansion to Drakensang: The River of time. Despite being an expansion, or add-on to Drakensang: The River of Time, the story of Drakensang - Phileasson's Secret is actually set before Drakensang: The River of Time. For this reason, this expansion was placed before Drakensang: The River of Time in my chronological story order list of Drakensang video games.
It is unclear to me the chronological relation between Drakensang Online and the other Drakensang video games. For this reason, I included this game separately in my chronological story order list, with a blank space to mark the differentiation. This is not to say that this game is not canon. Quite the opposite, I have no reason to suspect that this game is not canon. By all means, as far as I know, Drakensang Online is a canon game in the Drakensang games universe. However, considering that I do not know its time period or its relation to the time period of the other Drakensang video games, it was possible for me to find an accurate placement for this game in my chronological story order of Drakensang video games. Thus, I suggest to play Drakensang Online in any order in relation to the other Drakensang video games. It could be played before the others, it could be played after the others, and it could be played in between.
If you are interested in the story timeline order of RPG video games, you may also be interested in checking out the story timeline orders of Dungeons & Dragons, Final Fantasy, The Elder Scrolls and The Witcher.
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