Sins of a Dark Age
Sins of a Dark Age is a dark fantasy MOBA that tried to stand out by making matches revolve around map-wide quests and deep pre-match hero loadouts. Rather than funneling everyone into the same lane objectives every game, it pushed teams to react to timed challenges that could swing momentum with powerful rewards.
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Publisher: Ironclad Games Playerbase: Low Type: MOBA Release Date: May 8, 2015 Shut Down: March 30, 2016 Pros: +Quest objectives that add variety. +Strong hero customization before matches. +Clean, readable UI. +Interesting glyph ability system. Cons: -Hard to learn quickly. -Community could be unpleasant. -Support and updates ended early. |
Sins of a Dark Age Overview
Sins of a Dark Age is a fantasy-flavored MOBA from Ironclad Games, the studio best known for the strategy title Sins of a Solar Empire. At a glance it plays like a familiar lane-based team battler, but its core match flow is shaped by a timed quest system that constantly pulls teams into new fights across the map. On top of that, it leans heavily into build planning, letting you tweak stats and utility before you even load into a match. The game is free-to-play, offers multiple modes, and included more than twenty five heroes that were always available to play. Sins of a Dark Age was permanently shut down on March 30, 2016.
Sins of a Dark Age Key Features:
- Over 25 playable heroes – the full roster is always accessible without rotations.
- Hero Abilities – each hero brings 3 signature abilities plus a passive, then chooses 2 glyphs. Glyphs act as shared extra skills that any hero can equip, and they can be upgraded as well.
- Unique Quest-Driven Objectives – instead of relying purely on static objectives, the game periodically activates quests during a match. Teams compete to finish them first, earning a mix of lasting and short-term advantages.
- Hero Customization – pre-game treasures allow stat-focused tailoring. Players can slot up to four equipment pieces before the match begins.
- Various Game Modes – a standard 5v5 mode sits alongside quicker formats like 2v2 and 1v1 for faster sessions.
Sins of a Dark Age Screenshots
Sins of a Dark Age Featured Video
Sins of a Dark Age Review
Sins of a Dark Age is built around a smart idea, make a MOBA where the “what should we fight over next” question is answered by rotating quests rather than a single predictable checklist. In practice, that design gives the game a strong sense of pacing. When quests trigger, teams are forced to make real decisions about map movement, risk, and timing, and those decisions often create the most memorable skirmishes.
Moment to moment, the game sticks to genre fundamentals: you pick a hero, level up during the match, use abilities in team fights, and try to outplay opponents with positioning and coordination. Where it separates itself is how much preparation happens outside the match. Treasures and ability choices encourage planning around a role, a matchup, or a specific team strategy. It can feel closer to building a loadout than shopping on the fly, which some players will appreciate, especially if they like entering a match with a clear plan.
The glyph system is another strong differentiator. Because glyphs are shared abilities available to every hero, they work as flexible tools that can patch weaknesses or enable specific plays. This adds a layer of strategy to drafts and compositions, but it also increases the knowledge burden. New players are not only learning a roster, they are learning a secondary system that meaningfully changes what a hero can do.
That complexity is part of why the learning curve can be sharp. Understanding quest timings, reading the map, and knowing when to contest or trade objectives takes experience. When you combine that with the realities of online competitive games, the community can sometimes be harsh to inexperienced teammates, which makes onboarding tougher than it should be.
From a presentation standpoint, the interface does a good job of surfacing information clearly, which helps, especially in a game with many moving parts. Unfortunately, the biggest downside is not mechanical, it is historical: development did not continue for long after launch, and the game ultimately shut down on March 30, 2016. That makes it best remembered as an interesting experiment in the MOBA space, one with genuinely good ideas that did not get the time or player momentum needed to mature.
Sins of a Dark Age Links
Sins of a Dark Age Official Site
Sins of a Dark Age Steam Page
Sins of a Dark Age Wikia [Database / Guides]
Sins of a Dark Age Gamepedia [Database / Guides]
Sins of a Dark Age Wikipedia
Sins of a Dark Age Subreddit
Sins of a Dark Age System Requirements
Minimum Requirements:
Operating System: Windows XP / 7 / 8 / 10
CPU: Intel or AMD 2.8 GHz
Video Card: Nvidia Any dedicated GPU with 512 MB VRAM
RAM: 2 GB
Hard Disk Space: 10 GB
Sins of a Dark Age only lists minimum system requirements.
Sins of a Dark Age Music & Soundtrack
Coming Soon
Sins of a Dark Age Additional Information
Developer: Ironclad Games
Publisher(s): Ironclad Games, Steam
Game Engine: Iron Engine
Open Beta Date: March 17, 2014 (Early Access on Steam)
Shut Down: March 30, 2016
Development History / Background:
Sins of a Dark Age came from the Canadian studio Ironclad Games, the team recognized for Sins of a Solar Empire. It runs on the Iron Engine, Ironclad’s in-house technology that also powered their strategy work. The project was first revealed on February 21, 2012, then moved into an early access beta period on March 17, 2014 through Steam. That early access window lasted roughly a year before the official Steam release on May 8, 2015.
In terms of design philosophy, it shared some DNA with MOBAs that emphasize out-of-match planning, similar in concept to systems like runes, masteries, or crafting in other titles. Here, the approach centered on treasures and ability point choices, letting players shape a hero’s stats and options ahead of time rather than relying only on in-match decisions. Despite its distinctive quest objectives and customization hooks, Sins of a Dark Age ultimately closed and was shut down on March 30, 2016.