Remember the time, when Ubisoft was not a conveyor? Yeah, probably not, you, probably, were not even born yet or you were, but did not play such games yet. Dark Messiah was one of those games, that would not be made in modern Ubisoft, because it was an experiment. And from what I understand it was not that successful financially, but it did achieve some love from from gamers, so much love, that Ubisoft gave modders X-Box version of the game to make a remaster. God forbid them to do that themselves... But would it deserve a remaster?
This one of the games, that I played back in the day, but for some reason did not finish. I think the biggest issue for me was performance and stability, because Source engine was very demanding back in the day (and still can be). It was a difficult game without that, too, but that was less of a problem for me, from what I remember. Ether way I decided to finish it properly and, I would say it probably could use a remake, rather than a remaster.
Dark Messiah has pieces, that could have been made into amazing game, but most of them feel unpolished, now that I look at them after having more experience. Or, at least, they feel like that now, back in the day, perception would be different, of course. The game has lots of little annoyances in the gameplay. Shields can block half the screen, the lighting can be very uneven with some places being too dark (with night vision not making them more "visible"), and some places can have too much light (or sun shining through buildings somehow). The way you switch through gear is somewhat annoying after Skyrim, but understandable, at least.
The most annoyance for me were physics, though. Worst case was jumping. There were cases when character seemed to stumble or slow down when doing a running jump, and the way I was not able to grab onto lots of ledges when I should have was very frustrating. Kicks seemed to have no effects on some small enemies (although could have a lot of effect on small goblins). Some objects got highlighted for telekinesis, but were not really interactable.
But most importantly (although not the worst in terms of annoyance, of course), was effect on enemies when you hit them. Or rather the lack of it, unless you are doing an adrenaline kill. Most of the times hitting enemies felt like they are not getting any damage at all, and at some point it started feeling like I am clicking them to death. Not literally, because number of enemies and their general toughness does force you to dance around using your skills, but still. The most common scenario for me were those magicians, that seemed to sink in more damage than their fully armored counterparts. Since most weapons do not really provide any tangible feedback of successful attack, it felt like I was playing Morrowind with it's probability based combat on lower levels.
This can be just skill issue, of course, and maybe I just need to git good. That won't help with the story, which could use a make-over. Conceptually it's interesting, there are still not that many games that even try to put you in shoes of a (potential) baddie. But it does not really lean that much into the concept. Some quests from The Elder Scrolls games and, dunno, Mass Effect's renegade choices probably give more flavor. The reason for that is... Characters are just flat, stupid and annoying. They seemed to be mostly an after-thought even to somehow "connect" several maps. Which are not bad, but are still bleak dungeon walls for like half the game.
If the game was made today, then besides polishing the physicality of combat a bit more, it would be required to make the story more emotional, more "heavy", so that your choices matter more to the world around you, and so that it would be more difficult to make them. In the original game, it mostly affect what weapons you may be using in the last boss fight.
Would I recommend this game now? That's a tough one. Definitely do not play it for the story, there is barely any. For combat and some level of freedom you have in it - maybe, but your experience can vary greatly depending on the playstyle you choose. I probably would not recommend playing as archer, because to me it felt really unsatisfying, although the bow itself was fine overall. Maybe wait till the modders finish the remaster? Maybe they will improve more than just looks and some some bugs? On the other hand, it's quite cheep in the first place, so maybe it's fine as is.
