Mages and Archers are ranged characters who are designed to be devastating from afar but at a disadvantage close up. Mages can specialize in either fire or lightening. Specialization in one, however, means vulnerability to the other. Archers can increase the power of their arrows, shoot more than one, or increase the speed with which they can reload. Both characters are designed to make attacks from far away and have a longer running time, even if less speed, than Knights. Assassins have a cloaking ability that allows them to blend into shadows and the ability to one-shot any character with their backstab ability. They can also disguise themselves as members of the opposite team. They are sneaky and lone wolves who wreck havoc amongst the other team. Priestesses are the Assassin’s natural enemy. Priestesses can see through the Assassin’s cloak and mark them for extra experience. They can also specialize in cursing or curing, though going toward one makes the other weaker. In addition, they have several slowing spells and the ability to resurrect fallen teammates. However, for a short time after resurrection, teammates are bound to the Priestess and if she dies, so too do they.

This is the theory behind the cooperative multiplayer as explained. Also present is the idea of ‘campaigns’. Players join a campaign which progresses from a neutral map toward the loser’s home base. Each map progression closer to a base grants a defensive bonus for the previous game’s losing team, which should help to balance any disparities in levels. The campaign ends when the opposing home map is beaten, which requires a siege from the invading team. As players level they gain access to new skills and can rearrange their skill sets at any respawn time and respawn as any class, though XP earned on one class can only be spent on that class. All in all it looked interesting and the playthrough I was able to do on the machines in exhibition hall was very interesting. There are still some rough edges, to be sure. The interface for the skill selection, for instance, is not intuitive and it is easy to undo a skill that you very much wanted to have. Additionally, as witnessed by the currently running beta, the theory behind the balance of the classes and the actual balance has not yet been achieved. Dark Messiah is set to release in mid October, though personally I believe that a longer beta with some rounds of balancing and feedback would be beneficial to this game.