Darkest of Days

Darkest of Days Official Box Art Release Date: September 8, 2009 Developer: 8monkey Labs Publisher: Phantom EFX Valcon Games (Xbox 360) Platforms: Microsoft Windows Xbox 360 Mac OS X Genre: First-Person Shooter

Darkest of Days is a single-player first-person shooter that tells the story of Alexander Morris, a soldier fighting during Custer's Last Stand at Little Bighorn, who is suddenly dragged through time to become a post-22nd century agent for the corporation Kronotek, a corporation who strives to preserve and protect history and whose founder has disappeared leading to various disturbances in time causing various historical figures to be put into danger. Morris as well as fellow agent Dexter go through various time periods to ensure these figures survive, all the while battling a mysterious group called the Opposition. Since the game's main selling point is time travel, Morris goes to a myriad of historical locations, including the Battle of Antietam during the American Civil War, the Battle of Tannenberg during the First World War, a WWII-era POW camp, and Pompeii during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. All these locations come with a group of period weapons to use, though Morris is usually given a weapon from the 22nd century to "even the odds"; information about these fictional weapons can be found here.

The following weapons appear in the video game Darkest of Days:

Overview

Each of the three time periods has its own weapons. These can be improved through an upgrade system. In the missions, there are NPCs with blue auras which must not be killed. The more of these NPCs you leave alive or render harmless for the battle, the more upgrade points you get. These points can then be spent on weapons upgrades: accuracy, "clip" sizes, rate of fire, and reload speed. However, nothing changes in the appearance of the weapons.

In addition to this, there is a quick reload mechanic; when the player character reloads, a HUD circle appears in the center of the screen. Now there are three options; either letting the animation run through normally or clicking the fire button again in a highlighted green area inside the circle line, which speeds up the reloading process. However, if clicking outside of it, the weapon will jam and the player character will have to make it work again, which takes time. The weapon is then locked for a few seconds.

Handguns

Colt 1861 Navy

The first weapon that Morris gets is the "Colt Revolver", a Colt 1861 Navy, first used at the Little Bighorn prologue mission and later during the Antietam Campaign. It is the primary weapon for Confederate and Union officers, as well as cavalry troops on both sides used them.

While not packing the punch of the Civil War rifles, it is much faster to reload, achieved by having Morris break the Colt open on an invisible hinge to swap cylinders, a reload technique most certainly not possible on this revolver. After fully upgrading the Colt revolver, it can hold a total of 18 cartridges inside the six-round cylinder.

Colt 1861 Navy - .36 caliber

The in-game model of the Colt 1861.

Morris stands over the battle, Colt 1861 in hand.

Aiming down the sights.

Cocking the hammer after firing.

Shortly after, Morris accidentally breaks his 1861 and promptly swaps cylinders before someone notices. This practice did take place (although not as often as is commonly believed), except for the fact that, of course, the Colt revolvers had a solid frame.

Finishing the reload.

While thrown to the ground by an arrow, Morris takes a look at his sidearm.

The right side is seen.

General George Armstrong Custer dual-wielding two Colt 1861 revolvers makes his last stand at Little Bighorn. In reality, carried either his favored pair of Webley Bulldog revolvers or a Webley RIC at Little Bighorn.

Luger LP 08

The main German sidearm for the World War I and World War II segments is the Luger LP 08, referred to simply as the "Luger", with a slightly shorter modeled barrel. The magazine capacity is 22 rounds; for this gun, the 32-round detachable Trommelmagazin 08 drum magazine would make sense but is not present in the game.

LP 08 - 9x19mm Parabellum

The in-game model of the Luger LP 08. Note the shortened barrel and the Heinrich Krieghoff Waffenfabrik marking.

After clearing a German camp of Russian soldiers during the aftermath of the Battle of Tannenberg, Morris, determined to fix some history, holds a Luger.

Striking fear into the distance.

The toggle action magically moves upwards at the start of reloading..

Pushing in a new magazine. The toggle lock somehow immediately goes back into the battery when Morris fully inserts the magazine.

During an unlucky reload, Morris pulls the magazine out briefly and back in again.

A Luger carried by German officer in the First World War. His uniform is in a complete mess; it has a WWII Waffen-SS Reichsadler emblem with a sleeve insignia of an SS-Sturmmann (acting corporal), not to mention his shoulder insignia matches a major. In addition to this, there are magazine pouches for an MP 40 on the belt.

Mauser C96

The Mauser C96 appears during the World War I segments of the game. Similar to the Colt 1861 in the Civil War segments, the C96 is a faster firing and reloading counterpart to the slower bolt-action rifles in the World War I segments. It is shown as a standard Imperial Russian Army handgun, when in fact (contrary to the common appearance of the C96 in later Soviet films) was not as common compared to cheaper and more readily available Browning-designed pistols such as the FN Model 1900 and M1911, not to mention the ubiquitous Nagant M1895. It has an anachronistic post-war short barrel from the 1920 rework C96s. It also fires fully-automatically, a feature only present on the post-war Mauser M712 Schnellfeuer and not the regular C96 depicted. Morris also reloads by jamming the stripper clip into the rear sight instead of the clip guide on the ejection port; he also loads a full ten rounds regardless of how many remain in the magazine.

The rate of fire increases noticeably when it reaches the final, third stage of upgrading; like the Schnellfeuer variant. Despite the fact that there were 20-round fixed box magazines on experimental models available for early variants, the upgraded in-game model will retain the 10-round standard magazine.

Mauser C96 - 7.63x25mm Mauser

Mauser C96 "1920 Rework" - 7.63x25mm Mauser

The in-game model of the C96.

Drawing a "Mauser C96".

Morris, determined to get a hang of this new-fangled technology...

...checks the sights.

And within a couple of minutes, learns how to fire the C96.

While he has gotten the grasp of how to fire it, he starts to reload the pistol by first pushing the slide back...

...and follows up by placing the 10-round stripper clip...

...with 7.63x25mm rounds he thumps into the rear sight.

Having loaded the full stripper clip while ignoring the remaining eight rounds, Morris grips the empty clip to get rid of it.

Morris struggles with a jammed stripper clip.

Giving the rounds two fist bumps.

Inspecting the right...

...and the left side of the gun.

An Imperial Russian officer fires his Mauser. Like his German counterpart, his uniform combines elements of WWI and WWII uniforms. He has been awarded with a Order of the Patriotic War medal, which was only first awarded in May 1942. Another out-of-time medal the officer wears is the Order of the Red Star, first awarded in 1930.

Rifles

Henry Model 1860

The Henry 1860 appears during the Antietam missions and the Little Bighorn segment, used by cavalry troops and some infantrymen. The former also use them one-handed and then fire semi-automatically from the horseback. It is always seen with its leaf sight raised and is inaccurately loaded from a side gate, like the Winchester Model 1866 "Yellow Boy", rather than from the front of the magazine tube. It will get a 30-round tube magazine after upgrading.

Henry Model 1860 brass-frame - .44 Rimfire

Winchester 1866 "Yellow Boy" Rifle - .44 RF, for comparison

The in-game model of the Henry Rifle.

Flipping up the leaf sight while drawing the Henry rifle.

Morris and his Henry stare at awe at the forest ahead.

Aiming down the sights.

Cycling the lever.

Later on, Morris decides to reload his rifle in the middle of a firefight. Note the inaccurate side gate. The game keeps track of how many rounds are fired, Morris will load individual rounds into the tube magazine depending on the fired ones.

Charging the rifle after reloading.

While the rifle jams, Morris jiggles the lever several times to fix this issue.

Morgan James Rifle

The Morgan James Rifle, a percussion target rifle designed for competition shooting and hunting, is used during the Antietam missions, wrapped in burlap sacking to camouflage it. The rifle in the game is mirrored and almost twice as short as in real life, presumably to facilitate reusing the Springfield's animations (and committing the same percussion cap error). Since it is a single-shot rifled musket, the magazine capacity will not increase but can already fire a physically impossible 18 shots per minute without upgrades. The fire rate can be bumped to an even more improbable 30 shots per minute.

Morgan James Rifle - .40 caliber ball

The in-game model of the Morgan James Rifle.

Holding the "Morgan James Rifle".

Using the scope.

Firing the rifle; note the hammer on the nipple.

Taking the ramrod...

...and using it to plug into the barrel.

Stowing away of the ramrod.

Having no luck in reload, the ramrod gets stuck which Morris solves with the use of one punch.

Brandishing the rifle during a melee attack.

Mauser Gewehr 1898

The Mauser Gewehr 1898 is seen in the hands of German troops in both the WWI and WWII time periods with and without Seitengewehr 98/05 bayonets. It comes in two versions: a standard infantry version with iron sights, which appears only in the WWI levels, and a sniper version fitted with an ZF41 scope (anachronistic for the WWI levels, and inaccurate in general for the Gewehr 1898 as it was made for the Kar98k), which appears in the WWI levels alongside the infantry version, and is the only German rifle to appear in the WWII levels, while used by German militia and rear-line units during World War II, the standard infantry rifle during the Second World War was the Kar98k. Like the Morgan-James, the rifle also feels too short, almost reminiscent of the Mauser Standard Modell.

With the final improvement of the Gewehr 98, the rifle will receive a 16-round magazine capacity. In reality, there were wartime Gewehrs had additional Grabenmagazin trench magazines that could hold up to 20 rounds, although no such device is present on the in-game rifle.

Mauser Gewehr 1898 - 7.92x57mm Mauser

Mauser Standard Modell - 7.92×57mm Mauser. This is an early version with a straight bolt handle.

The in-game model of the Gewehr 1898 rifle. Note the additional wood in front of the muzzle and the late WWI grasping groove.

Morris holds a rifle, having procured his own Gewehr 98 while in the Deutsches Heer. Note the odd downturned bolt handle.

Using the Lange Visier rear sight.

Pulling the bolt back and opening the chamber.

About to place a new 5-round stripper clip. He will load a full five rounds regardless of how many remain in the magazine.

Taking away the empty clip.

Slamming the bolt handle back into position.

Morris sights up a German's crotch and Gewehr 98. The rifle has no sling swivels and parade hook. Also, the front band is not modeled after the real H-style one.

Karabiner 98k with Zeiss ZF41 1.5x scope and hooded front sight - 7.92x57mm Mauser

The in-game model of the scoped Gewehr 1898.

Having climbed into the Zeppelin beast, Morris adds yet another anachronistic weapon to his arsenal.

Morris holds a scoped Gewehr 98 during his escape.

Using the ZF41 scope.

Morris provokes a jam on his rifle.

Mosin Nagant Hybrid

A hybrid Mosin Nagant Rifle appears during the WWI missions, simply referred to as the "Nagant" (although Nagant owns only some ideas for the magazine, and this separate name itself is most associated with the Nagant 1895 revolver). This is essentially modeled after the Dragoon variant with elements of the later mid-war M91/30, which differ slightly from the original model from this period. The in-game variant has a hex receiver and a Konovalov rear sight of the earlier M91 but has the anachronistic post-1930 protective ring mounted on the front sight. It also features a notch in the stock at the middle barrel band for the integral attached side-folding bayonet of the M44 Carbine.

The Mosin Nagant is the first modern rifle Morris gets his hands on during the training mission and has by and large the same animation as the Gewehr 98. However, the upgrades differ slightly, the five-round single-stack internal box magazine can be upgraded to feed 20 rounds in total.

Mosin Nagant Model 1891 Dragoon - 7.62x54mmR

Mosin Nagant M91/30 - 7.62x54mmR

The in-game model of the Mosin Nagant. The bayonet notch is visible right beneath the rear sight.

Morris, having grabbed a Mosin for himself, prepares for a Russian attack and does not wonder why there were already such massive trenches during the Battle of Tannenberg, which was primarily fought on open fields, rolling hills, forests, and marshland.

Looking through the post-1930 hooded front side.

Cycling the straight bolt handle.

Opening the chamber via pulling the bolt back.

Getting a five-round stripper clip.

After separating the rounds from the clip, Morris removes it.

Finishing the reload by slapping the bolt handle.

Struggling with the bolt during an unlucky reload.

Examing the right side of the rifle. Note the Konovalov rear sight.

While Dexter talks to Morris, Morris stares at his Mosin and wonders how the bayonet is supposed to work. Note that the rifle is fitted with a sword bayonet (that appears to be a German M98/05) instead of the correct spike bayonet. While there was a rare M1905 Modrakh sword bayonet for the Mosin, and German-captured Mosins were equipped with mounts for the M98/05, this is not the case either way.

A Mosin Nagant placed on the upgrading table.

Springfield Model 1861

The Springfield 1861 rifled musket appears during the Antietam missions, mounted with a bayonet and simply referred to as the "Springfield Musket". Morris also fails to place a percussion cap on the nipple when reloading. The in-game Springfield has a fire rate of 12 rounds per minute which can be increased to 24. Like the Morgan James Rifle, upgrading the magazine capacity has no effect on the Springfield musket.

Springfield Model 1861 - .58 caliber Minié Ball

Morris and his Springfield stare off into the distance.

Fearing the cornfield may conspire against him, he aims his Springfield.

Having struck fear into the cornfield, he starts to reload his rifle by taking the ramrod.

Stomping in the absent Minié ball.

Cocking back the hammer.

Morris finds a little peace during the slaughter and takes a look at his Springfield.

Taking a closer view of the percussion mechanism with its ornate metal plate.

In the heat of the defense of the Dunker church, Morris accidently jams the ramrod into the barrel...

...which is again solved by punching the musket.

A Union soldier with a Springfield musket.

Submachine Guns

MP 34

The Steyr MP 34 is the only submachine gun in the game and appears during the World War II segment "The Thin Red Dot" in the hands of German troops, inaccurately depicted as a closed-bolt weapon. Strangely, instead of using its actual stick magazine, the in-game MP 34 uses a Trommelmagazin 08 (a 32-round drum magazine for the MP 18 and P 08) inserted upside-down. It also somehow holds 50 rounds in a magazine which can be improved to 80. While used by German forces during the war, it was not as common as the MP 40.

Steyr-Solothurn S1-100/MP 34 - 9x23mm Steyr

Morris holds his new-found MP 34.

He then inspects a fence while aiming down the sights...

Not seeing anything interesting, Morris pulls the bolt back as makes sense for an open-bolt weapon before the reloading process.

Loading in a new Trommelmagazin into his MP 34; like the Luger's toggle-action, the bolt then slams forward when the magazine is inserted.

Morris looks at Dexter's acquired MP 34.

Grenades and Explosives

Aerial Bomb

While Morris is onboard a German Zeppelin in the mission "Stairway to Petrovich", he is able to throw aerial bombs which could be British 16-pound high-explosive bombs. The player character can carry ten bombs at the same time.

Morris looks at a crate which stores three scoped Gewehr 98s and five bombs.

Hybrid Hand Grenade

A fictional hybrid hand grenade can be found and used in missions set in World War I and World War II. Appearing simply as the "Grenade", it looks like a Model 24 Stielhandgranate with the head replaced with a Mills Bomb. It may have been done to make something similar to the Model 13/15 Kugelhandgranate.

To make things historically correct, the Model 13 Kugelhandgranate for the Germans and the RG-12 or RG-14 hand grenade for the Russians would be accurate choices for the WWI missions.

No. 36M Mk. I "Mills Bomb"

Stielhandgranate Modell 24

Stielhandgranate Modell 13/15 with Poppenberg'sche System

Morris looks at weird franken-grenades lying in a crate.

Another view of the grenades.

Having enough of looking at them, Morris tosses one of the grenades.

Mounted Weapons

76.2 mm Gornaya Pushka Obr. 1909

Russian soldiers are seen using 76.2mm M1909 Putilov-Schneider mountain guns in the first Tannenberg mission "Germans on the Run". However, it appears to be a hybrid variant of the M1909 and the Model 1910 counter-assault gun. The latter is seen mounted in Garford-Putilov armored cars.

Gornaya Pushka Obr. 1909 Putilov-Schneider - 76.2x191mmR

A Putilov-Schneider mountain gun stationed on a hill defended by the Imperial Russian Army.

Watching the crew reloading the mountain gun.

Unlike the following German Mörser, the breech gate is not static...

...and has an opening animation.

An amount of 76.2mm shells.

The mounted M1910 counter-assault gun of a disabled armored car.

10-Pounder Parrott Rifle

In the Civil War missions, various 10-pounder Parrott Rifles can be seen used by both Union and Confederate troops. A Parrott gun is used by Morris in the training mission and takes control of them during some Civil War missions.

A 10 lb. Parrott Rifle used in an American Civil War reenactment

A Union gun crew operate a cannon at the Battle of Antietam.

Another cannon is fired at a Confederate position.

An abandoned cannon during the mission "Battle for Holy Ground".

Morris prepares to unleash some Civil War era fury. Note the stepped barrel at the rear.

A Confederate artillery battery commences volley fire with their cannons.

21 cm Mörser 16

During the World War I missions, Morris can run into some scaled-down German Krupp 21 cm Mörser 16 Howitzers. One of them must be used in the mission "Been Here Before" to eliminate Russian defense positions. Their appearance during the Battle of Tannenberg is anachronistic, as they would not be introduced until two years later. The earlier short-barreled Mörser 10 would be more historically accurate.

Langer 21 cm Mörser Model 16, displayed at the Finnish Artillery Museum in Hämeenlinna - 210mm

Morris looks at an unusable the Mörser 16, disappointed at the fact he can't use it himself.

Viewing another Mörser.

After Dexter tasks Morris to get on the only usable Mörser, he takes a look at the breech. The icon is the same used for the "MA-22 Rocket Launcher".

As with many games, nothing stops Morris from singlehandedly operating a howitzer that takes at least six men to operate effectively.

Several 21 cm shells next to the howitzers.

Hotchkiss Mk. I

Two Hotchkiss Mk.I machine guns are mounted on the Mark IV tank. The machine gun shares the same sound effects as the Maxim gun.

Hotchkiss Mark I - .303 British

Maxim Gun

The standard machine gun seen during the World War I and World War II segments appears to be a hybrid Maxim, consisting of an MG08's sledge mount and an out-of-time Maxim M1910/30's barrel jacket with the post-1941 top hatch on the cooling jacket. It is widely used by German and Russian troops through the Tannenberg mission.

The Maxim guns mounted on the watchtower and Zeppelin railings are not equipped with sledge mounts and have no sound effects. In the mission "Trestle Goes Boom", Dexter calls it a "Maxim", however, the game refers to it "Maschinengewehr".

Maxim MG 08 - 7.92x57mm Mauser

Maxim M1910/30 - 7.62x54mmR

The weird franken-Maxim in-game.

Morris decides to see if it actually works...

...and presses the trigger. The Maxim will overheat after six seconds of continuous shooting. Rather disappointing for a machine gun famed for being able to sustain high rates of fire for hours, as long as the water supply lasted.

A Russian soldier operates a Maxim to repel a German attack.

Two Maxims mounted on a Garford-Putilov Armored Car.

Mortar

An unknown mortar is seen through the World War I missions. One of them is used in the WWII mission "The Thin Red Dot" to fire a signal flare.

QF 6-pounder 6 cwt Hotchkiss

The main armament of the Mark IV tanks are QF 6-pounder 6 cwt Hotchkiss guns.

QF 6 cwt Hotchkiss - 57x306mmR

Other

Garford-Putilov Armored Car

Russian Garford-Putilov armored cars are seen during the missions "Stairway to Petrovich" and "Been Here Before", used by the Imperial German Army. With a lead of just one year, this vehicle is nevertheless an anachronism. In addition to this, the Imperial Russian Army first used armored cars one month later. German forces did capture several Garford-Putilovs between 1916 and 1918 and were deployed by the paramilitary Freikorps during the unrest of 1918–1919.

A disabled Garford-Putilov in the mission "Been Here Before". The game only featured an intact model for the vehicles; either it has sunk a little into the ground or a flame is on top to simulate destruction.

LZ 20 Airship

Dexter, Morris, and their KronoteK colleagues Collins and Gibson manage to capture a German rigid airship in the mission "Stairway to Petrovich" which resembles the Zeppelin LZ 20. The LZ 20 participated in the Battle of Tannenberg and was also shot down from the sky as in the game; but by Russian anti-aircraft fire and not by German mortars. In reality, the airship was still carrying out reconnaissance missions at the end of August 1914, dropping small bombs on Russian troops. On August 28, 1914, during the battle, LZ 20/Z V carried out an air raid on the Mlawa railroad station. The enemy's defensive fire perforated the ship's gas cells to such an extent that the Zeppelin had to make an emergency landing in enemy territory due to the large loss of lifting gas. However, the date depicted in the game is August 30.

Morris takes two looks at the airship.

Mark IV tank

Several British Mark IV tanks in German service are seen throughout the WWI Tannenberg missions. Since this specific battle took place between August 26 and 30, 1914, the appearance of the Mark IV tank is clearly anachronistic. The first deployment of tanks was on September 15, 1916, during the Battle of the Somme against the Imperial German Army. However, the Mark I was used there and not the Mark IV as in the game, which was not produced until May 1917.