Dark Messiah has never looked better, as Ubisoft hands the keys to a squad of community modders

It’s not often you see a publisher give community modders unfettered access to a game’s source code, even less so to offer up a full delve into its software to help them out. Dark Messiah may be 20 years old at this point, but a passionate mod team, supported by Ubisoft itself, is bringing about a mighty suite of magical upgrades to Arkane’s cult classic RPG, making for a full-fledged ‘Community Edition.’ An RTX mod for the game is already up for testing, and there’s even a rework for its relic system you can now get your mitts on.

In a new ModDB post, project lead ‘KingDavidW’ gives a detailed rundown of the Dark Messiah of Might and Magic Community Edition’s status, and it’s a mouth-watering prospect. The Lite Edition of the RTX mod is now available, and it looks spectacular. Though it’s not the finished product just yet, it includes “a first pass of every single environment texture in the game,” bringing them up to a more modern graphical standard; at least, as modern as a 2006 game can get.

Dark Messiah originally included collectible relics which rewarded additional skill points and an Achievement. However, taking a leaf out of Halo’s book, these have now been accentuated with ‘runes.’ As KingDavidW explains, scooping up a specific relic or relics throughout a level unlocks an associated rune. This unlocks certain modifiers that can make your time in Ashan “more challenging, wacky, or easier” – think Skulls, but more stoney than boney.

The Dark Messiah Community Edition easily could’ve been shot down, but has instead been allowed to flourish and then some. Reddit user ‘sldjake’ recalled, “A few years back we coulda been hit by their [Ubisoft’s] legal due to the deep reverse engineering and the exposed SDK I was working on, but they held and made sure to protect our work.”

It’s clearly been a Herculean undertaking, made considerably smoother by Ubisoft’s involvement. The modders made the pilgrimage to the developer-publisher’s Montreal HQ, where the team was provided with assistance on its Dark Messiah’s Advanced Software Development Kit (SDK). I honestly can’t remember the last time a firm was this forthcoming with community dev support, which is incredibly heartening to see. The trip’s paid dividends, particularly when it comes to Dark Messiah’s co-op mod. ‘KingDavidW’ says the old version was “filled with a bunch of bad detours and fixes,” which can now be rectified and refactored.

A short, sweet, and linear experience, Dark Messiah is a beautiful blend of Bethesda vibes and Arkane’s top-tier first-person combat (kicking enemies off the map never gets old), making it a must-play if you’ve somehow tired of exploring Cyrodiil and Skyrim. The base game can be cleared in a sitting or two, so it’s perfect if you’re strapped for time. Roguelike elements for the expansive Kha-Baleth mod are being tested, and a full-blown dungeon generator’s on the way, so expect your play hours to shoot up when the Community Edition arrives.

If you’re thinking about picking Dark Messiah up in advance of the completed project, I’d advise staving off for now. The aforementioned ‘sldjake’ confirms that, when the time comes, it’ll have its own Steam page where you’ll be able to scoop up the full mod suite in one place. If you can’t wait that long, though, you can nab the base game for less than the price of a coffee right now. Simply download the available mods, lock in, and enjoy.