I read a review the other day about Pokémon Dark Energy, a Pokémon ROMhack which supposedly has a pretty engaging storyline. “What? Pokémon with a unique story?” I said to myself. Surely, I had to check this out. And lo and behold, it does try some new things and succeeds in many ways.

The Graphics

I have nothing to complain about. The hack features an entirely new map with cleverly generated Routes and caves to explore. There are no bugs or ‘mistakes’ the creator made while placing the tiles, such as a tree standing on top of a house or a person walking through water. There are an awful lot of hacks around where this is an issue, but this hack is just really clean. Creating hacks takes a lot of patience, and it looks like the creator took a lot of time in making the hack look as finished as possible. Kudos.

The Sound

There’s nothing wrong with it, but I wasn’t a fan of most of the revamped tracks played at certain parts. But then, the variety in tracks you’ll hear is quite large, there may even be a couple of tracks you haven’t heard before. There were quite a couple of tracks that were new to me. Perhaps the creator made these himself? If so, I am impressed.

The Addictiveness

Will I play through the game a second time? Without a doubt. Like I said, towns and Routes are created with the utmost care, the story and events are engaging, and there are a lot of Pokémon to catch. If I’m correct, all of the Pokémon are catchable, even the starters. The creator added a lot of little, likely unimportant things to the game which enhance your experience (for example, after you used up a Repel, it asks you if you automatically use another Repel if you have a spare in your Pack). The more well-hidden hidden items are actually worth something too. Where they were mostly Potions and such in the original games, the hidden items that are hardest to find are Pearls or status enhancers like Protein and Carbos. This is hack just does so many things right. I don’t usually praise ROMhacks this much, but for Pokémon Dark Energy, I make an exception.

The Story

So here’s a synopsis of the story: There are five precious stones scattered across the world of Suden, called the Elemental Orbs. An evil group called Team Darkness (whooo, evil!) is bent on finding all five of the Orbs for their dirty schemes. You’re a 19 year-old guy with an Eevee who lives in Capital City, the largest city in Suden. You’re a student at the university, where your mentor is Professor Oak. He tells you and another student about the discovery of an old writing containing knowledge about these Orbs. So Oak sends you and the other student on a journey in order to find the old writing. But there is a lot more going on… I gotta say, kudos to the creator for coming up with this. I didn’t believe a sort-of deep plot would work in a Pokémon game, but I’m impressed. Your own character isn’t a mute, however, it’s an actual person with a ‘personality’. Not a very likeable one at that though. At first, he’s a caring guy who’ll lend a hand to just about anyone who needs help. Then, he’s a cynical jerk to anyone who even says something wrong about him. The student whom you travel with, however, isn’t half bad company. He makes a few references here and there to other video games which got me grinning every now and then.

The Depth

The depth is beyond impressive. Once more, the Routes, caves and towns are awesome, there are a lot of Pokémon to catch and train, and the TMs have been rearranged meaning you can teach different moves to your Pokémon. There’s also a neat Battle Simulator located in the Capital University where you can train to your heart’s content. Furthermore, there are quite a few side quests you can do in the hack, each rewarding you with something. There are some unnecessary stuff added though, such as the item pack you receive at the beginning containing three Repels. There are a lot less grassy areas around, so you’re likely not inclined to use Repels often. Just sell them and spend the money you receive on Potions or Poké Balls. What I actually seriously dislike though, is that the chance of encountering a shiny Pokémon has been drastically increased. When I encountered my first shiny Pokémon (it was a gold Pidgey) I was ecstatic. It was my third shiny I had ever encountered, and when I caught it, I couldn’t believe my (apparent) luck. Then, about five encounters later, I stumbled across a shiny female Nidoran, and so on, and so on. By the time I had reached the second Pokémon Gym (they are pretty close to each other), I had already caught seven shiny Pokémon, and encountered a whole lot more. I was so disappointed. I can see why a lot of people love this aspect of the game, but I’m not a fan. By making shiny Pokémon so easy to obtain, they lose a lot of their credibility and they just feel less satisfying to have as a result. But this is really the only thing I have to complain about.

The Difficulty

While not punishingly difficult or downright unfair, Dark Energy is a slight step up from regular Pokémon games. There’s not a lot of tall grass, so grinding levels might prove to take longer than in most hacks. Trainers and Gym Leaders’ levels have been amped-up and now pose more of a threat, and there are a couple of points in the hack where you’ll be caught off guard when challenged (not spoiling anything though). But still, a juiced-up Pokémon game is still a Pokémon game. There is practically no repercussion of losing battles, other than you losing a little money. You can lose as often as you’d like, eventually you will defeat that tough Gym Leader or boss battle. It has always been like that with Pokémon games, and this hack is no different.

Pokémon Dark Energy is a top-quality Pokémon hack, with an engaging story that will have you hooked to it from start to end. With a lot of stuff added to the game, and a new world that is fun to explore and a lot of Pokémon to catch, you just can’t go wrong with Pokémon Dark Energy. I think I will even make the boldest statement of my life: Pokémon Dark Energy even surpasses some official Pokémon games.

Pros:

-          Devoid of technical bugs

-          Some funny references to other stuff

-          Interesting plot

-          A couple of side quests to do

Cons:

-          Increased chance of encountering shiny Pokémon lower their awesomeness

-          Grassy areas are somewhat scarce