Age of darkness takes place in Edwardian Britain after it has been invaded by Dracula’s forces. The player has the choice to play as either the werewolves, humans or vampires. All have their different bonuses. The humans rely on ranged warfare and mobility, the vampires rely on hit and run tactics as well as stealth while the werewolves rely on brute force.
The game works as a mixture between dawn of war 2 and total war. The main game takes place on a map of Britain during the eternal darkness (which means battles will be very misty and dark). You get your different armies to invade different provinces where you can play in real time or auto-resolve. Using your captured or liberated cities you can modify and refresh your troops so they can be ready for the next battle. The battlefield will affect your army, werewolves are stronger during a full moon, vampires become stronger when they’ve killed units and drunken their blood while humans fight better from cover and can garrison buildings.
Meanwhile civilians will travel the map in either horse carts, steam carriages, on foot or in steamships going up the rivers of Britain. You can either leave these civilians alone, protect them or kill them. The game ends when one race takes over Britain. If the humans win, the darkness will disappear, if the vampires win, the darkness will spread and if the werewolves win, the darkness will remain in Britain.
Though they’ve lost most of the Island, the humans haven’t lost the will to fight. The humans specialize in ranged warfare having units like riflemen, artillery and machine guns. By the end of the game the humans will have a very WW1 like appearance to their army having early fighters, zeppelins and tanks while also acquiring science fiction equipment such as electric riflemen, land ironclads and albatrosses (advanced helicopter like aircraft with heavy ordnance). The human campaign follows Colonel Jonathan Harker and his wise advisor Abraham Van Helsing as they fight to rid Britain from the vampiric threats while rescuing Jonathan’s wife Mina. During the campaign Jonathan befriends many Victorian characters like Victor Frankenstein (who provides electric riflemen) and Robur (An inventor from France who provides Albatrosses to support the human war effort)
The werewolves were the most ancient inhabitants of Britain and they were the original creatures of the night. Followers of the old gods, the werewolves can summon ancient creatures of Britain to their aid. The Werewolves rely on brute force to overpower their opponents. By the end of the game, the werewolves will have dragons and other ancient creatures on their side. The campaign follows Sir Lawrence Talbot who wishes to wipe out Dracula because he is cursed by Dracula to be a werewolf. He summons the werewolf clans and also gets the aid of Jonathan to defeat Dracula. Once Dracula is defeated, the werewolves retreat to the forest.
The vampires are the servants of the devil. Coming from Transylvania, the vampires came to England looking for fresh blood. The vampires excel in speed and can turn into bats to cross over obstacles. Due to their loyalty with the devil, the vampires are able to get demonic units like black dragons and hellhounds to fight with. The vampiric campaign follows Count Dracula as he conquers southern England and drives out the werewolf clans while taking Mina as his bride.
The fair folk: Originally the gods of the ancient Celts, the fairies fled into the deep woodlands Ireland and Scotland. Now that mankind is weakened, the fairies intend to claim back what they believe is theirs. The fairies rely a lot on Ent like creatures and winged serpents to fight. They are good at hiding and can go invisible among the trees.
The undead: Cursed by the grim reaper to reawaken from their graves, these heartless zombies consume flesh from the living. The undead player starts off with five necromancers who have to harvest undead minions from graves. The undead can later resurrect skeletal warriors and headless horsemen.
The machines: These machines were developed by mankind to fight its wars. However after laying waste to the German forces in WW1, the machines turned on Britain because the central AI grew insane. The machines are probably the strongest faction in the game. They come mainly in the form of two legged walkers bristling with machine guns and gas. They eventually get self-propelled guns driven by AI and flying machines similar to jet fighters. The campaign follows the invasion of Britain. (In the machine expansion, the setting is moved to a 1920s aesthetic with deiselpunk tech)