Tap to unmute
I Spent 30 Days in a Dead MMO (and it was amazing)
Embed
- Published on Jan 19, 2026
- Welcome to Dark Ages.. a game from 1999 that once had a steady playerbase but was forgotten in time. However, the servers are still running so I paid to find out if anyone still remains.
So is Dark Ages popping off now??
FOLLOW-UP VIDEO: • So.. I kind of Revived...
Business Inquiries to: bind@clovertalent.gg
New Player Links:
Unofficial Discord - / discord
Main Website - www.darkages.com
The Ultimate Guide to everything - vorlof.com
Community Art, Story and History - www.darkages.c...
Player-Run "fan archives" of history of game - www.loureslibra...
Owner of Dark Ages on X
x.com/darkages...
YO! It's been a few months since this video dropped.. coincidentally if you're reading this, I just uploaded a follow-up video ruclips.net/video/0zNtATsb5eg/video.html
Link is also in the description!
The game is also FREE so go and play it!
Wow
Thank you for letting me know
I actually also had this video in my watch later for a month or two
I decided to watch it the perfect day
crazy, you revived that game. What a great move dude, your a goat!
I was in fact coincidentally reading this because someone liked my comment from 3 months ago
I love how the veteran was that "Hold on, is that a legit newbie?" and immediately started helping you out.
flabbergasted indeed lol
In a world where you've done everything and it doesn't actually "end" you *inevitably grow bored;* folks either move on or they *look far deeper* into the esoteric to try to discover meaning among things that really often do not have co-relation to one-another. When something or *someone* new appears it's exciting because it's change you didn't anticipate, and often exploring the unknown can be fun with others.
Also if they like the game they might not just skip onto the next, Elite Dangerous was *terrible* for that, and having *one more guy* in combat on *your side* can be really handy.
@EddieSpaghetti69OK ChatGPT
@EddieSpaghetti69cheers chatgpt
yeah he got groomed tf out of 😂
"This game feels like home to me" not gonna lie, this got me emotional
Me too I literally broke into tears
men, im not a weirdo then
don't we all have some now "dead" games that we used to love? i remember a couple which had tight knit and friendly communities that are still being played. it's honestly just great that these things go on for so long.
yeah when D2 Resurrected came out and I loaded it for the first time since 2004 I was like ... honey I'm home.
as i type i am playing osrs. a game that i have played for the last 20 years of my life. i understand this sentence.
"It used to be Thousands.
There's alot of fun stuff that Happened. It's all in the Past." :(
I felt it too ;’(
o7 to him, hopefully there's more in the future for him
Sentimentality! Nostalgia! Strong things.
I felt that in my soul as a mid 2000s RuneScape player. Thankfully, we have Old School RuneScape now that has like 200k+ players…these people don’t have anything quite like that.
50,000 People Used to Live Here. Now It's a Ghost Town
You ever feel secondhand nostalgia for something you've never experienced?
That was how I felt watching this video. I'm so glad that the servers are still alive to this day.
That feeling is called "anemoia"
@NicholasHEADSHOT Interesting! Ty for sharing, I had no clue there was even a word for it!
@VampireJester NP! There is a book called "The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows" which is for difficult to descibe emotions.
Despite it's name, not everything in it is a "sorrow". There is also an youtube channel with this name that has a video for each of those emotions.
Yeah.
It's weird but... Good.
I had the same feeling with FF7 REMAKE i never played the OG, but when i saw the designs, and the soundtrack (particularly the one in the slums)
It felt like home! 🥲
I never played this game. But i definitely get big nostalgia from it, and it reminds me of playing runescape a long time ago
This is a real life version of an isekai. Like, they have Lore. There's only 1 "ancient" still playing. I love shit like this so freaking much
Ayeeee my people!!!!!! So I wasn’t the only one thinking this, it’s literally Isekai vibe, those og players were like npc inside a game but the game made it look like players..?? You get me?? I’m just delusional 😭🤣
@Lamy-n7kI absolutely get what you mean to be honest the video is so cool it's like something I want to do
@Lamy-n7k do you read manhwa? I love the ones where the gamer isekai's/reincarnates into the game they've been playing. Its one of my favorite tropes.
@TheDON2111someone that likes manwuas here? Ooooh
biomagus being the first master wizard, the last to still be alive in the world, and only tends to keep to herself is some hard fuckin lore holy shit
True
The fact that he never met her too. What a legend
She is like Frieren
straight yoda
Bro I felt goosebumps when he said that! just got recommended to this video and the lore was op almost reminiscent of overlord
That first encounter, "not many novices these days", was like something straight out of an actual quest. Magic moment you made here.
Some words auto filter to sound more roleplay-ish. Newbie or noob changes to novice. Lol changes to Amusing
@jackgoodrich oooh
@jackgoodrich Now all the "amusing" makes sense lol.
@jackgoodrich Neat way to use filter tbh, keeps you immersed without really intending to RP
@jackgoodrich ohhh, that's why everyone kept saying Amusing all the time, that makes so much sense
I doubt this'll get attention, but I'm still going to say this.
Back in the heyday of Everquest, I joined the guide team. We were basically baby GMs, similar to Yukii. But during my training, we entered the GM Zone, in one of the buildings, there's a set of statues of characters in various gear with names and such. My trainer explained they were the GMs who had passed throughout the years. It was a solemn moment, and something that sticks with me, even 20 years later.
Do you always decide whether or not to say something based on if it will generate a bunch of attention?
🤫
I played EverQuest for years! Never knew that, but I love it 💖
EQOA here. Castle Lightwolf server. I miss those years
Huh? As someone who played from release through Luclin... A mini gm? EQ players didn't have any authority over other players. Were you a Verant/SOE employee?
"Game is so dead that a brand new player logging in was the biggest news in a long time." New isekai plot just dropped.
Omgosh that would be great! And like, all the veteran players are so strong and excited that they help the main character do insane quests. I would love an isekai where the protag was genuinely the weakest.
I would watch that!
Fr, I was literally thinking abt this
There's one like this, it's called Full Dive. Kinda trash but it's a fun watch.
"That time i got reincarnated as a hero in a dead MMORPG"
The way Yuki showed you the statues, and started speaking of the first 5 like they were heroes of yore, its so magical
Amusing
This whole video feels magical
Thay was beautiful ngl.
Amusing
Kinda like how they introduce Frieren's party of Heroes😅
"This game is like home to me"
That hits hard man... Maybe she/he used to play with friends and been do so much fun together 😢💔
fr i physically aww reading that 😢
@HoloFanzerSame 😢
Even though its not this game. A lot of people have the same feeling with other MMO. For me myself its terra online. Sometime i remember chilling my character in my fav spot. Man,, the memory itself is so bittersweet..
@toxicaf3025 global agenda, lego universe, so many more. I miss some a lot
Yes, it's sad and poetic.
this shit be like finding a ruined and abandoned civilization and finding out people still live in it, it's actually insane
hopefully it revives and renews into the modern era
This game seems way ahead of its time. The creator clearly was limited by the hardware and software. Imagine this game being made today by the same person with better tech.
hmmmm. sometimes the new tech comprimises
I can imagine it being strongly similar to Tree of Savior
Hoper they see this comment and do it
@darkfighter3559 i wish the same thing! Games dont seem to made with love anymore. The man who created this game was a pioneer. He trully has love for the game. I wish i could speak and finance them i thing we all would gift at least $2 to make the creator revitalize this "franchise" best words i could come up with.
Yeah, this needs lootboxes and sakura events
People reviving dead games is my new favorite genre on RUclips.
This.
Amusing.
can we do astonia next please?
😂😂😂@bmax5928
Same, no wonder these videos popping up on my recommended list
the lore at 9 minutes man.
the Original 5 masters... only 1 remains, the wizard, she prefers to stay alone, in the quiet company of her guild mates.
Seriously, it was like straight out of a fantasy story. The old wizard that retired after years of adventuring to tell stories to their friends.
Ah yes... Friren.
Almost like Overlord too.
It’s very intriguing
I played for years and i Only saw her a couple of times in towns, but she was *almost* always on top of the charts eventualy people starting to cought up to her but still living legend
日本語のショートでこの動画とこのゲームの存在を知りました！私は英語が苦手なので、Bindさんの言ってる事も動画の英文もほぼわからなかったのですが、それでもすごい奇跡にSuper Thanksさせて頂きます！
Shinzo Abe why no more desu?
@Madge.56709 that's insulting.
もし時間があったら、一緒に日本語の字幕を作ろう！日本でバズったら嬉しいね😊
Discord やたってる？
同じく
The legendary master wizard of old who lives in seclusion and wishes not to be disturbed is CRAZY for organic player driven lore 😭
The only one of the originals left...
sis has matt mercer levels of roleplay dedication.
I like how he hinted that he might meet the wizard, and never did. 🤣
With statues of all the masters of old. That's some pure fantasy dopamine.
Frieren and the band of heroes be like
We genuinely can't thank you enough for showing the world how special Dark Ages and this community truly are. Your support means everything to us. Wishing you and your wife a beautiful, healthy baby. Sending all our love! 💖 - DA Dev Team
You guys have created an amazing game genuinely. I really want to commend the entire team and all the hard work and dedication put in!
You guys have an awesome community and awesome game, thanks for keeping the fire alive for all these years. You guys are legends!
Hope you guys can take this new opportunity for something greater in the game!
Are you an actual game account? I say it because it was registered 6 days ago.
can i play it for free i want to play it
As a 20 year veteran player, please consider opening a fresh new server!
Suddenly you became this protagonist who has found a lost civilization with its own culture and history.
I bet Sodapoppin and Vei would love this game for a month
I got chills when they showed him the first masters for that exact reason!
@Sleepierheadsame
@Haggis-Giggles4692Sodapoppin lost his groove ever since he pooped one too many times.
Actually main character syndrome for 30 days. Was a weird experience, in a good way.
As one of the old school players who started playing around 15 (40 now), thank you for this video. It brought back a lot of good memories, DA was unlike many have ever experienced. It released back before anything similar existed, the first true MMO to me. The internet had only recently went more mainstream, so a few thousand players in a game like that was quite big. Those few thousand players also typically knew, or at least knew of most of the other more endgame players.
It wasn't just a game, it was a close-knit community. Everyone frequented the same areas, and there was only one server so it typically felt very lively. Even the hunting areas (which could take like an hour to get to) were shared with everyone else. You'd often run into the same people who frequented certain hunting areas, as there were only a handful of spots to pick from. This was expanded a bit when they added a new land and advanced classes.
That community and shared experiences are what helped all the player controlled aspects (religions, politics in multiple different towns, pvp, rangers) run so well (including its own political scandals!). Many lifelong friendships, and a lot relationships grew in this game. I personally knew multiple people who met in-game and eventually married out of game, as well as personally developing some deep friendships. I had the privilege of being an Arena Host for some time, which was a lot of fun. While there was a PvP free for all arena you could enter, Arena Hosts could set up matches with teams in a separate arena, which a lot of us often looked forward to each day. The main FFA arena wasn't very big, and often had groups of friends hanging out in one of the corners. It was often used as a hangout just like any other area in the game, the main difference being that a few different groups of friends would often ambush other groups to try and take the arena over. It definitely made for some drama!
I'd popped back in a handful of times over the many years since I moved on from DA. It was nice seeing a few people I remembered and chatting, definitely getting a rush of good memories as I walked around. To any other old school players, hope you're doing well. To anyone who chooses to check it out, I hope you can experience even a fraction of the community and enjoyment it gave me long ago for many years.
2:56 "Amusing"
I still say that to this day. It was years before I realized the chats auto-filter was converting people saying lol into "Amusing"
That's pretty amusing
Kek
Thank you for the explanation!
😂 Amusing
Lmao I thought something seemed super cultish about that. Thanks so much for clearing it up
As a MMO player in his mid 30s. This is what I miss about the old days of the internet
I am going to subscribe asap
Same here, and this video hit me hard in the feels. My game like this was Star Wars Galaxies.
@senn4237 You should still play it, it has more than 1k ppl online
My golden years were in Lineage 2. Epic sieges & open-world fights that spanned entire continents (yes, the famous RB kiting - who knows, knows :)) and these fights sometimes could have up to 1000 players (and sometimes back&forths in these massive alliance battles could last for 10+ hour - and mind you, it was not a game where you can just instantly jump back into fight after you die, even if you revived!). Most people remember La2 for its amazing PvP & epic political drama between clans, but there was casual RP too, small groups & the beautiful parts of the world worth exploring (and some would yield epic rewards - e.g. that place in Rune city where healers can exp 10x faster than best groups, solo, on "turn undead" skill (no pointers and require a key to enter which was also quite obscure to get). I miss mechanics like these & communities who were there...in modern MMORPGs people sometimes care but there just not many mecanics like this anymore in newer games....
EverQuest was like this for me. There are people I still speak to from time to time that I met in that game 25 years ago.
I sometimes miss the old days of the internet, when communities like these flourished, and people were connecting in honest and genuine ways with one another.
I actually worked on this game -- I made a handful of the music tracks. I only recently found out people were still playing it. I'll let the game director know he'll be thrilled.
So, people don't actually play this game anymore - they just run bots now, unfortunately... 😅
Yes. Most of us only left because the game sort of... Stagnated?
I mean... It is obviously still a good game, still fun, still playable... Just... Everything has been done, and nothing is happening.
If you really did work on it, you should get the Game Director to randomly drop a content update out of nowhere, as a little passion project
Revive the series with some new content ( not monetized, make people grind for that new content instead so they don't have to pay ) new monsters, new areas, etc. Perhaps town development could become a thing
Dark ages: let me die
Community: No we love you
Hi, I'm Mayheart in the game. I'm so glad you made this video! It was a lot of fun to watch and to see you hanging out and having fun.
Heeey mayheart :D
Mayheart for Knight!! ❤
Soooo cool, y'all jumped in and helped 😊
Play this game alot years ago. I'm happy to see people still play..I wish they would remake this game
we loved you guys in the video, i also feel happy and saddend the game has low player base, so many mmos out now, and this one actuallyy has true joy
Having statues of the first top players is so cool especially seeing them a quarter of a century later
Seriously that actually was so cool to see.
It's probably not just a quarter century in game time though. Like in Everquest 72 minutes in real life is a day in game. Everquest released March 16th 1999 so a famous legend character from that age would in game have happened like, 520 years ago in game. And, almost all of those people are forgotten, even in real life. We remember characters like Tigole and Furor who both went on to create and make World of Warcraft for example. And we remember their guild names "Legacy of Steel and Fires of Heaven" as if they are the Roman Empire or Prussia.
@Zygoth80 Yeah, the game time advances 8 times as fast as real life. The statues are actually of the players who broke the seal of Temuair and unlocked the new continent in Deoch 35 (the year 35 in the game calendar), which was in 2003. I think the current year in the game is Deoch 212.
In the game Faldon, also released in 1999, there's gravestones for old players who have passed away. The game had a very small community going for a long time, and still does...very few people have even heard of it. The game is still running.. but no one knows or plays it. I wish this youtuber would make a video playing it!
@Zygoth80Correct; in-game time, it’s been 177 years since the statues were earned and erected.
ngl at some point Yukii started to sound like an endgame superboss hiding in plain sight.
This is like discovering a previously unknown tribe in the deepest Amazon.
This is what MMOs were meant to be. Man I wish they were still like that. To all the players who appeared in this video, thank you sincerely for keeping the original spirit of MMOs alive.
Unfortunately, world is changing and original idea of mmos wouldn't attract as many players =( But sometimes, playing Lineage 2 (not official) or GW2 I can get similar feeling. Just joining the group of randoms for the farming or killing roaming raid boss or being in the city just chilling and maybe roleplaying in GW2.
I think the only one where it is still like this would be FFXIV but even there it is not as it used to be.
@SlashProducts You can find plenty of these communities still thriving in OSRS and RS3 for example.
@TheDimir oh man my first MMO was lineage 2 so many years ago... so many fond memories. i lived in that game and was the top healer in my server... well besides the one chinese/hacker clan that ran the RMT lol.... im not surprised ppl still play it. WoW kind of killed that game even though Lineage2 was better
@humanbean3 lineage is very much alive. But hopping pirate servers is the only way to play it basically.
The way he just started using "amusing" in his speech while talking to players like its some kind of cultural thing is so peak i love this channel
when you say lol the game automatically says amusing
@Abusiveyes Yep. It was confusing when I first started playing, then I soon figured it out lol
@AbusiveyesOOH that's very funny
Amusing
Amusing in deed
Man.. as someone who played this game for almost 20 years(Hyrro/Rocandy).. you brought back so many memories seeing a lot of my old friends still around... Greenery, Venezia (Yukii), Biomagus, Kallina. side note, Bio is also a sweetheart and helped create a lot of the guides and quest/item databases we use today. Im gonna have to pop in and say hello; thank you for putting such a light on my childhood. This game was the heart and soul of so many and it deserves another chance.
yeah, this is crazy for sure, I always wounder how life of my online gaming friends turned out and where are they now...
Your name sounds really familiar, I either know you from Palia or Fantasy Online or something (OMG nevermind, you were part of that one community around some streamer named Sebastian)
This is exactly what I was hoping when I dropped the video. So glad to help bring back a core memory. Get in there and feel those feels again
@Bindmove Damn please make another video about them like a few weeks or months later, I'm very curious if some players returned or joined because of your video :O
@apmanti12in jail 😂
''this game feels like home to me..." damn
Skyrim for me
As a developer of this game, I appreciate the attention
Does it still get updates?
its crazy how involved everyone still is
Did you work for Kru or Nexon? I knew everyone there and Dave Kennerly and Lilith were friends of mine.
Nice homie.
As a former pro Dark Ages player, both political and top 20 early ascension warrior-monk (fun fact I had both bat and scorpion form and was famous for being broken) I spent my early teen learning English and facing being an adult online, thanks to your game!
I made a YT account just to thank you for making this video.
He ain’t lying 😂
One day old account. 😂
You actually made an account just to thank someone for making a video? What?
DEDICATION RIGHT HERE
“Is that a real novice?”
Former Deoch 3 Aisling here.
I poured my heart and soul into this game for many many years, I was friends with BioMagus back in the day too! I ran my own very large guild, won art awards, mentored hundreds of players, was Judge of Rucesion 7 Times and was a Master Warrior.
It kills me to watch this. I would still be playing this game today if not for the account purges.
One year I was unable to play or pay for my account as a result, Nexon or KRU, can't remember... Deleted all my characters from my account but kept my account active?
I still keep in touch with some of my old friends from DA, and have even joined the discord with them, but since the deleted my characters (especially my main) I've had zero reason to ever rejoin the game...
Like most, I have moved on to other games but the community in ever single game I've played will never compare to the community Dark Ages had.
BioMagus, Stilgar, Manipulator, Angelica & Bentic, Moiraine, Sarc, Levinia and all my Knights from the guild...
I miss you all~
KnightFlynn
What a touching comment, thanks for sharing!! ❤
Deoch 51 Aisling here. I got to meet BioMagus for the first time last year and I was so giddy, haha. I never got a chance to meet those other names you mentioned, but I remember seeing some amazing art from Bentic!
Long Live Temuair!
Some of those names seem familiar to me, Angelica, Bentic, Moiraine, Sarc, Flynn and especially Stilgar I remember in his ranger outfit. I played around the same time, Deoch 6 or so. My sister's character was Deoch 3 as well I believe. My characters were Vivica and Benelli, my sister's character I believe was named Jessie or something. I logged back into the game years after I'd moved over to WoW, my sister had continued to play, she was a pure warrior that went gladiator. I more associated with Mier/Mierco/Vierca and some of the Yakuza people, usually hanging out pvping in the arena. I had some old screenshots around somewhere but I guess lost them years ago. Should see if I have any old hard drives I didn't toss. I remember one screenshot of myself and 2 or 3 others in jail with 5 rangers standing in front of us lol.
its so awesom reading these comments and seeing the replies its like gaming friend reconnecting after many many years
Stilgar was my mentor, the first person to show me the ropes in DA.
And yes, I remember Vivica!@eyphix
@DylanlanDarkages should you see her again please tell her KnightFlynn says hello! 😊
Man, the first masters lore and statues was giving me a Frieren vibes. This video definitely touches me as an old classic gamer.
3:30 "Too long. This game feels like home to me." that made me kinda emotional to be honest
I've been playing FF14 for 3.5 years (very casually) and it kinda feels like home to me as well.
I log in, I say hi to the folks hanging around Limsa's main square, I shoot the shit with some guildmates.
It's just comforting. Even though players come and go, it's a nice haven to have.
Saaameeeeeeee... same..
@Noki_Kelevra I've been an on and off player of FF14 for YEARS. I'll play for a month or two at a time just to catch up with friends.
same almost tears, reminded me of maplestory
EQ Project 1999. 🫡
This felt like an actual video game quest. The first person you talked to saying there aren't many novices, to meeting a "powerful" character with elevated privileges teaching you the game's history/lore, to having a party thrown for you at the end. The only thing missing was the final active player with a statue coming out of hiding to meet you on day 30.
For Realz! His 30 day quest could be its own adventure movie
@NormalGuySC2no
Not me logging in after years just to see my character again. This was such a blast from the past and I'm glad to see someone else enjoying it even after all these years!
They haven't done purges? Might have to see if my old characters are still around
@tehgybThey did a purge a while back. I can't remember the exact year. Hope your account is still around!
Same here. I was shocked to get my passwords reset and still be able to log in with no purge after many years.
So many forgotten worlds.
EDIT: I am at awe of how this video is booming. I was even contacted and offered a full investigation into my issue mentioned in my original comment below ❤. Also this game is free to play till level 99, give it a shot!
I met my wife on this game in 4th grade. Yes, you read that right. We met in game when we were in elementary school and we stayed in contact and played games together over the years until I flew to another country to see her for the first time at 18 years old. We got married not long after that.
Anyways back to the game. We stopped playing when the internal player political system started to get abused.
Basically player mods “rangers” that soft ban people by throwing them in the in game jail and it leaves a permanent “legend mark” that looks bad on your characters legend.
The game itself was great and I don’t think I have more playtime on any other game than I do on Darkages.
It will forever hold a special place in our hearts.
I'm curious what countries you were from? Forming that relationship in 4th grade is incredible. Would read a longer version of your story
Wow that’s awesome.
That’s an incredible story
That’s a beautiful story, a true testament of what old school MMO communities could culture. My first MMO was EverQuest, it had such an impact on my life and growth at the time.
I'll believe that. So many stories of old MMOs forming long lasting friendships that still last to this day and some even get married. Will never forget how people will just chill in spots and talk for hours and just be content with that.
my dad is a long time player of this game, hes been playing for over 20 years. hes always told me about how much he loves this game, thank you so much for bringing more attention to this. :]
cute
Honestly - if this video revived the game, then Bindo deserves his own statue.
Honestly, first player that aids Bindo, introducing him into the game deserves their statue either. Best first impression anyone could ever have. or better yet. immortalized their character into a tutorial NPC
@JoeMaple24Amusing
@JoeMaple24 great idea there.
Up!!!
It's a bit weird, cause when you start looking for the info about this game the first thing you'll find is info about pretty recent (2020) massive update with better resolutions, textures and so on. And well, huge update for a 20+ year old game just few years ago doesn't seem like a description of the "dead game", ain't it?
missgreenery talking abt how the game is dead is lowkey sad
Imagine beign plezent:
Imagine playing a game for over 10 years with just 20 people - completely dead - and you only log in out of nostalgia, always remembering how amazing the game once was... with a touch of sadness, knowing it could end at any moment.
Then suddenly, someone completely new shows up - a total stranger. You help them out, and it brings back memories of the fun years you had in the game... and then, to your surprise, one day there are over 500 people online again - all because the person you helped inspired everyone to come back!
I'd love for that user to show up in the comments section!!!
That would be a crazy feeling
bro helped out the chosen one with out realizing there was ever supposed to be a chosen one lmao
This is actually some crazy lore man 🔥
bro is the chosen one, it's like he destined to do this revival of this game
They were commenting already, u can also meet them in game. I talked to Yuki for a second there (if I remember nick name correctly)
Everyone talking about the lore that biomagus has
But nobody mention the corupt rogue who got the entire playerbase against him
Reminded me of that South Park episode about WoW. I need to hear more about this 😂
Biomagus being IRL Frieren. 😭😭😭
3:27 "This game feels like home to me" ok but why did that make me tear up a little 😭
Hot damn, I played this back in the day. A few commenters have mentioned there's a theatre in game. Fun fact, I was part of the group that got the devs to build it, and I wrote and directed the first in-game play: Aisling McDanger and the Necklace of Light. I still have the script heh. What a time. Thanks for the nostalgia hit!
Well now you've got to drop the script so the new wave of players can perform it
What deoch was that in? I think I might have been there…
I thought the first play was... Oh no, I've forgotten. Dartanian wrote it.
I would love to see that
Eric! It's Patience! I love you and hope ya'll are doing well ❤. Wild to run into you on RUclips 😂.
Amazing that DA is still around - I played back around 2000 or so? The rp was great, did Mileth town guard for a while. This is where I originally met my wife, we talked and played together in DA for a year before we ever met in person. Still together today, and married since 2009.
This comment gave me the widest smile I've had all day lol, very wholesome story and I'm happy for the both of you
That's goddamn awesome
That is fuckin awesome! I feel like I would have been on this game 24/7 as a kid
Amusing!
Awesomeeeee
2 mins in: idk what Amusing means
4 mins in: writes Amusing after everything
So the game replaces “lol” and “lmao” and those things with “Amusing”
@Bindmove aaah i was wondering why everyone keeps ending sentences with amusing!
Thats funny Amusing
@Bindmove Amusing
Amusing, amusing even
I felt nostalgic for a game I have never played. Great vid man.
Same here. I want to play this now
Im a player from Deoch 18,. Wife and i met on this game,. and are still together to this day. Just wanted to jump in to say......those Statues,... they wasnt the first to master....it was the first to Grandmaster when the new zones came after the UI redesign.
I also met my wife on this game too. Been on and off since Deoch 30ish. (I was AngryZero)
How did you met your wife in this game? Like how do you guys meet up@RokarDraalYT
@raptordarwish887 we need the lore
the fact that So many couple born from this game is amusing...
@RokarDraalYTyo bro I remember you on DA if I’m correct you’re from Texas
Initially I clicked on the video for some white noise.
Little did I know, I was glued to the screen for its entirety.
Great video.
Same for me! Lol
me too!
Same
I did the exact same thing 😂❤
white noise, Amusing... yeah, me too!
8:56 This is such an anime plot. The old masters, great adventurers who people built statues for... and now only one is left, preferring to stay in the quiet corners, softly chatting with old guild mates as they watch the young'uns (relatively speaking) have their fun.
ew, no.
Yeah and the "detective" gave of L vibez
The Frieren comparison is too strong
Overlord but the person actually has contact with their guild mates
Nostalgic for something I never experienced.
Some of MissGreenry's lines, like that they've been playing too long, 'This game feels like home to me', and 'There's a lot of fun stuff that happened; it's all in the past' put tears in my eyes, and I never knew of this game. It's just so relatable, so earnest and sincere, and so very, very human. Sad, too, in a way. Not in a bitter way, though. Few corners of the internet have an atmosphere quite like this, and even most of those can scarcely keep it, either as their populations grow, or as they dwindle. Thank you for showing us these people, that they are there, and what they are like. I wish them all the best, and all the best to you, too.
Well that was quaintly beautiful.
I agree, wholeheartedly.
I used to play this game back in its heyday. As a 14 year old kid (now nearly 40). I played this game on and off for 10 over years and it was a great time for my childhood memory.
Back then, you’d have so many newbies levelling up and just enjoying learning about this complex and rich game. To date, it’s still one of the most in depth gaming experience out there. The developers really nailed it in terms of building a rpg with heaps of things to do, true and proper endless character customisation.
You can get married to one another, form a guild, capture castles as a group in a pvp event, work together to take down mega bosses, go hunting for special events, there was Halloween, Xmas, and more specific events that made your aesthetics and gear really cool. Early key decisions on how you leveled up your character impacted it so much, one wrongly misplaced stat point or levelling up too fast could potentially cause you to miss out of a vital skill or spell.
There’s even a politics system that requires you to go around asking for votes to make you a count or countess, or mayor and more of the towns in game. There was about 5-6 towns so that’s like 60 positions available for people to aspire to.
There were many hunting grounds and lots of quests to achieve. Each leaving a mark or history in your characters book. You can see when you were created, achieved key milestones, who you married or divorced, who you mentored and much much more.
To make matters more complicated, this game is actually based on a Korean game and that had a separate own game in itself, with different languages and a different gaming company.
Off the game, things like napster, myspace and Facebook was taking over. And dark ages community started creating forums, social media sites and hosting “team speak” servers for others to put a face to an in game character.
People were getting married in real life based off this game.
This game was truly something else.
Ah Prontera…
Can't relate. Have never lived, played or been in a community long enough to get attached to anyone, made friends or call anyplace home.
@CybersteelEx Well that was weirdly sad.... Would you like one?
I played this game for 10 years man. Crazy to see how it is now. I tried to go back and play but man the learning curve is insane and you basically need people to play it with you. There are so many things you just can’t do alone. Even back in the day you didn’t really play it for the gameplay but the community and atmosphere. I was someone who mostly just chilled and occasionally quest as well as pvp arena. But you had numerous people roleplaying there characters and you could even become a town guard and do patrols and stuff. There’s a pvp mode where you basically conquer the castle and anyone can raid your castle (there’s only one castle on the server) so it was always the top quilds who had it. But if you stormed the castle in the middle of the night you could grab it sometimes. I remember at the time there was this guy named Eternality and he had like 100k+ hp pure warrior and our guild spent like hours trying to kill this guy and when we finally did it was so epic. Good times, crazy to see a RUclipsr feature it.
You should record it bruh
EQ had a similar magic to it, hopefully another 25 years can be instore
Last few sentences reminds me of the south park episode "Love Not Warcraft"
oh wow it's magia baiser
I played this game as a kid. I remember having a GF called "meow" in the game and crying so hard when she broke it off with me. LOL. The master system and all the mechanics were so cool back then. (I was like 12)
To be fair, I wouldn't mind a little let's play series of this game... Or a deeper exploration... I loved this video!
This, subbed, would love more content.
Agree
just dont do it on the main server, that company kru interactive is horrible. they constantly spit in the faces of the players. Find a private server like unora.
@lawrencecrocker4870what di you mean like that?
14:32 "...A demon at that."
"AMUSING!"
4:42 Players mentoring other players like this was a REQUIREMENT in this game originally! You had to mentor another person in order to be able to level up your own character. There’s literally never been any MMORPG which has come close to the role playing features of this game.
There aspects to this that should be around way more
who mentored the first mentors...?
Shout out to neverwinter nights persistent worlds, anybody looking for rp mmo lite should check them out
There were many games with similar systems, including some where it was mandatory or kinda mandatory (aka giving such insane benefit as you would better start over if you level past certain level without a mentor). but most games dropped this feature as these games aged and the flow of new players dried up.
@DoktorBeta having to mentor someone to level your character doesn't imply you had to be mentored I guess. Which is even cooler, because that means the first mentors figured out the game on their own and then shared that knowledge
Starting with a priest seems weirdly fitting for an abandoned world
Thank you for your honest review! We're excited to welcome new players and share the game's rich history. Our in-game GMs, including Trial, And, Error, are here to make the experience memorable. 💖
Awesome to see Kru responding to this huge influx of new players! ❤
is there 3 gms names 'trial' 'and' 'error' ? AHAHHAHAH no way
Whatever happened to Deice and Stilgar? I still wanna dunk on em in the arena for jailing me for filterskippin back in like Deoch 45.
The literal GM responding to a video 😭
@ogc1974there's also one named syntax
Please for the love of god keep doing what you do, Nostalgia hits hard these days especially when you see something from your childhood that had you playing for hours every day, I've never played this game but watching you play and finding players hits hard man
Players in the late 90s to early 00s were lucky to experience the lightning in a bottle that were mmos then. Games were ok, but the people and communities were the magic.
Oh yeah, it makes me a bit sad I didn't get to go through that, but I did get a bit of a taste with one of club penguin revival projects, that my friend got us to try. The people there were so happy and willing to joke around and goof off. It was such a strange mix of people and things to see and references to things you wouldn't expect in such a game, but alas, like with all those revivals, disney smited it. Can't go against them and it is such a shame people, who still clearly number in at least thousands are left behind in the pirsuit of greater profit. Profit in general and competitiveness is why I never got much into multiplayer, but I think I might just give this a shot.
Indeed. I played Dark Age of Camelot, it was an amazing MMO in 2001, before WoW. It had 100 player wars that actually worked.
@futurefox635 More like 600 player wars, on dialup. My server typically had 200+ people out from all 3 realms daily.
In June 1999, I scripted social systems for an MMO. In June 2025, a video walked through some systems. Such as player-run churches and governments. I felt grateful to the video creator. By the way, the video mentioned you moved to North Carolina. I am currently visiting Cary, North Carolina. Are you near Cary?
Thank you for making a beautiful game and the donation too! The systems are amazing and timeless, and now some more players are around again to use them. I’m not far from Cary but my wife is due any moment now!
Dark Ages creator and Dark Ages reviver chatting to each other. Amazing!!
@DylanlanDarkagesAmusing!
Time to add a new statue.
@posteador - Heck yeah I think if there is a Statue cap, this could definitely be a grounds for creating a new one in honor of this guy, well deserved I think.
I hope you know that for every one of these games you're looking at, even if you don't "revive it", you're doing something very important for the preservation of the history of these games. Thank you for another great video!
I made this comment thinking you were the same guy i watched do a similar thing with another mmo. You aren't, but this still rules!
to be honest, his videos are reviving. atleast this one. I played darkages since 2003, and for the last 10-15 years it has been pretty dead. This video has breathed a little excitement back into the game and even the devs have noticed. so reviving for a little bit at least.
it looks exactly like endless online
I am a brand new player, who until days ago when I stumbled upon Bind’s video on RUclips, had no idea this game existed. But I’m glad I do. At the time of writing this I have spent around 12 hours inside the game, which in itself is something to note. It’s been years since a game has held my attention for so long in a single session. That was yesterday, June 3 2025 from about 3pm to about 3am June 4. What a ride those 12 hours were.
Within an hour or so of finishing the tutorial and getting my class and some bare bones equipment, I see World Shouts announcing a welcome event for new players. They gave a location and a promise of prizes, and Q&A’s for new players. This made me determined to leave the starting town and learn to navigate the over world to find and attend the event, worth it.
When I arrived at the gardens hidden behind a castle I was met with a sight that didn’t look or feel at all like a dead mmo. It felt like the launch of a new one. The Veteran players, many of whom were part of Bind’s video were all there, having organized the meet and greet to help get the new wave of players settled into this game, their game and they extended a hand to us all to wander in.
After Q&A, trivia, prizes and freely given starter accessories (as well as food and a lot of wine/ale) I was hooked on the community. New players asking questions and getting answers from the most qualified people in the game was such an insanely wholesome experience and in fact, my whole first 12 hours of gaming inside of Dark Age’s was in a word, comfy. Sure there was danger of going one floor too deep in a dungeon and getting killed, there was the challenge of learning a new game as you go while also trying not to hold back other players, but at the end of it all, I had formed several groups with new players and veterans alike, had felled tons of monsters, got led through an impressively diabolical maze and quested for a far off flower for a nice xp boost. All while joining the Discord voice chat and getting to talk and joke around a bit with people I am already looking forward to seeing in game again.
To parrot Bind, Dark Age’s deserves more players. I’m happy to be one of them. I will be paying $10 a month to support this game while I play it. But for me, the people I met and the vibes from the community is where my money is truly going. I went from being clueless and lost to confidently escorting a freshly spawned, tutorial-fresh new player to the temple in the starting town to pick their class, my small, but first contribution to giving to the community what it gave to me…
An incredible time.
Thats awesome man ❤
@trix9596Playing this game has been the highlight of 2025 for me.
This truly warms our hearts. We're so happy you're enjoying the game and being part of this amazing community!
@belcean7783 🥰
I’m thrilled the game is getting well deserved attention!
I feel like this unlocked a buried memory. For decades, I remembered a game similar to runescape but it wasn't runescape but I couldn't find it again after I played it once or twice. I remember telling my friends I played a free game where I can kill creatures and talk with other players. Maybe it was on miniclips or something and then removed or buried after runescape (2003/2004 version) was released and took over the OG miniclips site.
My friends were adament I just played runescape classic and when runescape was upgraded to 3D they just kept telling me I was confused.
I went on for years trying to find that first game, playing so many different OG MMORPGs from the early 2000s/mid 2000s - evony, eve, wizard101, and so many more and despite me falling in love with runescape, I knew it wasn't that very first MMORPG.
After close to 20 years, you finally helped me figure out I played Dark Ages all those years ago
Thank you.
>:D Radical.
Dont forget Tibia! Another classic
Well, seems like a good time to get back into it. Bring all your disbelieving friends, too!!
as someone who also was lookin for some memory for 20 years i feel that. im really happy for you, ngl :)
UO other good one in that list
oh my God i spent thousands of hours playing this game from middle school to high school. i used to be one of the highest level rogue's in the game and i would make bank laying traps for people and letting them lure monsters into the trap, that's how i would pay for my subscription. my friend was one of the highest level wizards and he was groomed by an older girl to run away from home, the police found him a couple miles down the road. i remember missgreenry, i feel like i'm hallucinating. i used to be a guard for the starting town
how was work? did you like being a guard?
Thanks for that fun fact 👍
So, I guess you took an arrow to your knees, eh?
Good ol leeching services
for the game from 1999 the pixel graphic was very nice tbh
I love how you basically were living a real life movie about a lost kingdom where the inhabitants are dedicated to its ancient ways and history. 😂
I'm Shinn, the creator of The Great Peasant Escape. It's awesome to see that people are still playing our old game. 🙂 I miss all the names and faces from so long ago!
Tuatha de Deo represent. I absolutely adored your video back in the day.
@jackgoodrich Tuatha de Deo forever! What was your character's name, if I could ask?
@Bushido21XXI was Kelsen, back in the day. Still have the character! This video is tempting me back in
ah yes, that was such a hit back when it was posted on PDA. Hope you're doing well these days : )
Oh man I used to love the great peasant escape and the other events that you put on. Used to play as Timelock.
6:43 Bro started using "Amusing" made me teared up
Amusing is actually filtered from the word LOL in the game
@roytanaiAmusing
@roytanaiAmusing
So many memories from this game. 20+ years and I still remember places like Pravat, Mileth, Rucesion, Suomi, a few of the players you met, and even footage of my guildmates at 17:05 . Thanks for this video, man. This is crazy.
comeback vro
Was Suomi a snowy or woody place by any chance?
It's so funny seeing him using the word amusing after he met the first player
You amused me for 17:26! 😄👍🏻👌🏻
Are you the person from the video who called everything amusing? Very cute if soZ
“ it used to be thousands, there was a lot of fun stuff that happened, it’s all in the past..”
Anyone who likes games and has played them very long time can relate to that statement.
@EvolNioxis very much so
Many MMORPGs during the early 2000s had tens of thousands players online, today only SOME have acouple thousand even less.
*Cries in MMO Gamer*
Applies to almost every MMORPG nowadays. Back in the 2000s, MMOs were the shit, everyone played them and many frequently had 10k, 20k even 50k online daily. Now most are lucky to reach 1k without bots.
If you go visit the town of Suomi, in one of the further off corners of town you will find an empty building with an old man npc standing in front of a stage. That is the home of the Temuair Theatre Group, and as a former director of said group, may my ghost welcome you there.
And if any of the other directors or members of the group (Mindrin, Lorre, Landon, etc.) see this, Loeoso says hello.
How many people are playing this game now that this video went viral?
touhou pfp aye, i might just join for that
There's a town called Suomi in the game? Is there any lore to it? This comment caught my eye as I'm from Finland
@daspasunata I think officially the main towns in game were supposed to be based off real world cultures (Mileth as maybe medieval Irish, Rucesion as Italian, Loures as Germanic, Suomi as Finnish), but since it was/is a game world where the players write the lore and the devs work off that, the towns developed their own identities separate from what they were originally intended to resemble.
That said, in the lore, Suomi DID fend off an invasion from a massive foreign power and won/maintained their independence, so there's that.
Amusing, I was there back in the days, Soumi was a big patch when it came out. Knew Lorre and Landon at least. I started in Deoch 7
"this game feels like home to me" oh! my heart....
Heylo, I'm one of those players from Deoch 37 (Deoch = year). That means I started back in the summer of 2003 when I graduated high school. I was very active then fell out in 2008. Made some small returns from 2013 to now. I had heard of the recent new players coming in, and was told "some Bind fella made a video".
As for why I still "care" about this game... From the memories, to the folks I played with, and of course, the progress across my characters. It's good you found some players who were willing to take the time out of their day to help you obtain master. There is more to the game but I'd say you've completed your goal.
Mayhaps I'll run into you one day if you're still playing. And for the newcomers joining because of Bind, welcome to Darkages ; )
Dude I was literally born on 2008 that's crazy
@RandomPerson-dt7xv 👋 Hopefully life is treating you well in these turbulent times.
Oh hey, I also played around Deoch 35~37
@Protokaiser Howdy. 👋
My god man, the memories. Snorri, I’ll never forget you helping my wizard, wherever you are.
Drinking one for your old buddy Snorri 2night I hope he's still around not yet respawned < 3
Being mentored by someone because the game was hard and mysterious. This is a magic that no MMO right now has.
@Bind You definitely missed out on this game back in its glory days. EVERYTHING was ran by the players, even the lore. I wrote a bunch of Wizard lore/history, worked my way into Acadamie Arcanus, a prestigious a Wizard only guild. Thousands of memories from this game. From hours of grinding exp, to teaching my history writings in the college, the epic guild vs guild battles in the arenas.. Always and Forever will be my favorite MMO. Thanks for bringing it some love and attention!
this video is such an experience, like walking into a forgotten world, so vague so archaic but so familiar, then you see the relics that the living people are, living in the memories, living in the past, to conserve them through time, it's such a human thing to do.
For those curious, this game was sort of a passion project of the game designer David Ethan Kennerly back in the late 90s/early 00s. He basically got a Korean MMORPG from Nexon's early days (Legend of Darkness) and added a lot of player-run social aspects on top of it as well as the roleplaying focus. He also incorporated a whole Celtic mythology meets Lovecraft theme in terms of the game lore. He intended most of the game lore to be written by players through the contest system. The game has player-run temples (each for one deity, some allied or hostile with one another), a player-run college (with lectures and the contest system for submitting works for the game library/lore), a politics system (including player-run villages with lawmaking, enforcement, courts, and all that being in the hands of players). There are also many other smaller social systems such as tutoring (which used to be necessary to pick a class), mentoring, the hubae system for monks which basically amounted to a student/master martial arts system, among other things. Unfortunately a lot of these systems relied on there being a sizable amount of activity and low level players, which is no longer the case, so a lot of them no longer work as well as they should.
Ethan Kennerly left the staff in 2004 (I think?) and then the focus slowly shifted away from the roleplaying/social aspects of the game, but a lot of people still stayed for those.
Very awesome summary! I actually reached out to Kennerly last year, and convinced him to attend an in-game wedding, haha. He still has fond memories of the game
@DylanlanDarkages maybe forward him the Video? Personally id love to see him getting interviewed on this channel. Just checked his Wikipedia Page as well
No wonder the ui reminds me of Nexon games so much. As a former fan of mabinogi, alot of design decisions feels familiar.
@DylanlanDarkages In-game weddings in MMOs was when I decided to log-off forever. Get a life, people.
@trisbane4086 Likewise.
This felt like an Isekai pilot episode and I love it. I’m definitely gonna have to make a video on this now.
Omg!!!! I have to come back. I was one of the top players in the game. Started in 2000 aka Deoch 21 I played regularly until around 2015. I came back during the 20th anniversary and played until after covid when the game died. If this game is alive again, I'll hop right on! Miss this game! And you found Yukii. She (he) played when I first started.Biomagus was one of my hunting partners. The statues are there because they were the first group to break the seal into the next world.
I'm hyped!
man i miss good days where we played games with friend for hours and it's just a silence now.😢
If you ever make a sequel video for this one, the search for biomagus would be a great objective. the backstory is already set up incredibly
Bio was also the first summoner - a subclass that was added during a major update. She was in the party that unlocked what was effectively the 'expansion' world called Medenia. If there was a wizard first in the game, it was her.
bruh.. how would that be a 'great objective'? if someone is deliberately avoiding others, seeking them out is just blatant disrespect
@tears_of_asariel3198she doesn't like attention. It would basically be harassment
Yes! That would be amazing (amusing haha), aside, a sequel is necessary!
@tears_of_asariel3198have you never in your life seen or read a fiction story where the protagonist searches for some wise or powerful hermit or whatever?
Jesus Christ.
When I was a kid, I used to explore the website wondering what this game was actually like. My parents wouldn’t let me spend the $10 a month to play it. Thanks for solving a childhood mystery.
What’s impressive was this legend was pretty much just a small RUclipsr compared to gaming channels that had 1 million+ subs. He dedicated so much time and effort into showcasing an almost dead game that he didn’t know if the video was going to be successful or not. It could have much lesser views than now(900k). Truly an inspiring video, game, and RUclipsr all in one!🎉🎉🎉🎉
This video found me by the algorithm, I saw 900k views and clicked. I didn’t even realize the low subscriber count until you pointed it out do to the quality of the video
This video is inspired by another creator who made a similar one it was a different game but kind of same thing
@rryangoslingI think I've seen that one you're talking about.
oh dang, i thought this WAS the big youtuber. they have the same cadence and speaking tone hahaha
5M views and 167k subs now. So cool!
coming from playing dota for about 17 years, it is quite surprising that a game can be soo much calming and relaxing and people are genuinely nice
This recommendation from youtube was a winner. Never saw this MMO before, so it was all very interesting, thank you!
"This game feels like home to me." Got me super emotional
When my father passed away in 2005 I lost myself in the World of Warcraft. I eventually got my big sister to play as well, and as we lived in separate countries, WoW became a way for us to spend time together (without racking up a huge phone bill).
WoW eventually lost its grip on me, but my big sister continued to play, and occasionally I would use a Trial account to drop in and hang out with her.
My sister passed away a few years ago, and this time there was no seeking solace in Azeroth.
The World of Warcraft was no longer a place of refuge, but a harsh reminder of what was lost.
The nostalgia hits hard with this video.
That happened to me with World of Tanks. God I loved that game. Once my loved one was gone, I completely lost interest. I haven't played in almost 10 years.
I'm sorry for your losses ❤
I'm sorry for your loss :(
stay strong friend! ❤
Stay strong buddy
This looks like endless online! I miss that game
this game is beautiful! i played about 6 hours last night, made 4 friends with people just starting out, and we leveled to like 9 together already. made friends with a bunch of the experienced players too who helped us out alot.
this game is so cool!! and the influx of players is making it playable again :)
You know what? I am giving it a shot
I need to play to! Let's team up
do i have to pay to play it?? what's the difference if i play it for free?
@deputyd5422 my ingame name is missbee, say hi if you see me!
@deputyd5422 I want to join you guys
You came up randomly in browsing YT today and I'm glad you did. That was such a heartwarming little gamer community story - keep more of these coming 😃
Im also glad people are seeing this video!Thanks so much for the generous donation as well
@Bindmovehe paid the game for you
@TimdenHollander Eh RUclips takes about half so not really.
@yamatoisawoman2802 oh u did get another donation for 20. So that guy payed for you.
Unreal-i remember biomagus back when I played in 2002-2005. I played the characters shinktu, liquiduss and onisagara. Some characters I remember were Weakest, demon man, cotter. Back then, I remember we made a clan called the “white tux mafia”. We were mostly monks or characters able to become invisible. We would periodically raid weddings and events. This game and it’s role playing made for so many memorable moments.