Strategy
Age of Darkness: Final Stand
Give it 3 hours
Gets good by 3h almost every game dips in hours 2–3
Fully opens up by 10h rated like by long-time players
Reach the ending 9% of players who started
Started playing 55% of owners
Steam reviews 74% positive of 10,699
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours almost 1 in 2 reviews are negative (42%); after 10h it's 1 in 4 (24%).
- Fully opens up by hour 10.
- 9% of players who start reach the ending.
- Most players drop off before “Friends Betrayed” (Complete the Prologue Mission of the Campaign): only 64% of starters get there.
- Only 55% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 10,782 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 299 reviews: 33.7h for positive, 16.2h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (55% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Friends Betrayed Complete the Prologue Mission of the Campaign Most players quit here 65% −35
- Rising Star Complete Mission 1 of the Campaign 54% −11
- Fundamentals of War Complete Mission 2 of the Campaign 40% −13
- Together Strong Complete Mission 3 of the Campaign 31% −9
- A Drawn-Out Night Complete Mission 4 of the Campaign 25% −6
- People''s Hero Complete Mission 5 of the Campaign 21% −4
- Gaolbreak Complete Mission 6 of the Campaign 20% −1
- Last Hurrah Complete Mission 7 of the Campaign 17% −3
- The Dark Road Complete Mission 8 of the Campaign 14% −3
- Garden of Crowns Complete Mission 9 of the Campaign 11% −3
- New Dawn Complete Mission 10 of the Campaign 9% −2
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (66)
story milestone ending side
- Paltry Sum Collect 5,000 Gold 100%
- Good Business Collect 20,000 Gold 85%
- From the Dark I Remove Horrified on 5 units 82%
- Night Slayer I Kill 2,000 Nightmares 74%
- From the Dark II Remove Horrified on 50 units 71%
- Effective Merchant Collect 75,000 Gold 67%
- Friends Betrayed Complete the Prologue Mission of the Campaign 65%
- From the Dark III Remove Horrified on 150 units 62%
- Warden of the Dawn I Survive 2 Death Nights 58%
- Rising Star Complete Mission 1 of the Campaign 54%
- Veil Champion I Kill an Elite Nightmare in a game of Survival 54%
- Money Maker Collect 250,000 Gold 49%
- Fundamentals of War Complete Mission 2 of the Campaign 40%
- From the Dark IV Remove Horrified on 500 units 40%
- Dark Addiction I Collect 50 Dark Essence 36%
- Good Fortune Collect 500,000 Gold 35%
- Together Strong Complete Mission 3 of the Campaign 31%
- Veil Champion II Kill all Elite Nightmares in a game of Survival 28%
- An Evening Stroll Beat Survival on Easy difficulty 28%
- Night Slayer II Kill 50,000 Nightmares 27%
- A Drawn-Out Night Complete Mission 4 of the Campaign 25%
- Dark Addiction II Collect 100 Dark Essence 24%
- Courageous Stand Beat Survival on Normal difficulty 24%
- People''s Hero Complete Mission 5 of the Campaign 21%
- Pre-emptive Strike Destroy a Dark Crystal early in a game of Survival 21%
- Gaolbreak Complete Mission 6 of the Campaign 20%
- Night Slayer III Kill 100,000 Nightmares 17%
- Dark Addiction III Collect 150 Dark Essence 17%
- Last Hurrah Complete Mission 7 of the Campaign 17%
- A Small Loan Collect 1,500,000 Gold 14%
- The Dark Road Complete Mission 8 of the Campaign 14%
- From the Dark V Remove Horrified on 2,000 units 13%
- Armed Defiance Beat Survival on Veteran difficulty 13%
- Garden of Crowns Complete Mission 9 of the Campaign 11%
- Vanquisher of the Veil I Survive with a score multiplier of 250,000 or higher 11%
- Warden of the Dawn II Survive 15 Death Nights 10%
- New Dawn Complete Mission 10 of the Campaign 9.1%
- Night Slayer IV Kill 250,000 Nightmares 8.0%
- Rage Against the Night Beat Survival on Horrific difficulty 6.2%
- Vanquisher of the Veil II Survive with a score multiplier of 500,000 or higher 5.6%
- Knight of the Order Beat Survival using Edwin on Veteran or higher 5.6%
- Dark Addiction IV Collect 500 Dark Essence 4.9%
- Warden of the Dawn III Survive 30 Death Nights 4.5%
- Fight in the Shade Beat Survival using Cyrus on Veteran or higher 4.0%
- Here Comes the Money Collect 4,500,000 Gold 3.8%
- Hail to the Queen Beat Survival using Aelis on Veteran or higher 3.3%
- A Round For All Beat Survival using Merek on Veteran or higher 3.3%
- Vanquisher of the Veil III Survive with a score multiplier of 1,000,000 or higher 2.5%
- From the Dark VI Remove Horrified on 10,000 units 2.4%
- Warden of the Dawn IV Survive 50 Death Nights 2.4%
- Corpse Grasp Beat Survival using Vizargo on Veteran or higher 2.4%
- Daughter of Gloom Beat Survival using Aurelia on Veteran or higher 2.2%
- What Does This Do... Beat Survival with a Hardship on Veteran or higher 2.0%
- Night Slayer V Kill 1,000,000 Nightmares 1.8%
- Nightmare King Beat Survival on Nightmare difficulty 1.8%
- Warden of the Dawn V Survive 100 Death Nights 1.1%
- Lash Out Destroy all Dark Crystals early in a game of Survival 0.9%
- Vanquisher of the Veil IV Survive with a score multiplier of 2,000,000 or higher 0.9%
- Give Me More! Beat Survival with the maximum number of Hardships 0.7%
- Night Slayer VI Kill 3,000,000 Nightmares 0.5%
- Vanquisher of the Veil V Survive with a score multiplier of 4,000,000 or higher 0.5%
- Warden of the Dawn VI Survive 250 Death Nights 0.4%
- Warden of the Dawn VII Survive 500 Death Nights 0.4%
- Vanquisher of the Veil VI Survive with a score multiplier of 6,000,000 or higher 0.4%
- Ruler of Erodar Complete all Achievements 0.2%
- Night Slayer VII Kill 15,000,000 Nightmares 0.2%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-18.