Centuries ago, a battle was fought between the light and the Evil Demon. After their defeat, the warriors of the dark - the Drag'Atar - were banished to the dark lands and a giant rift was created to keep them out of the light lands. After years of exile, the rift is closing, allowing the Drag'Atar to enter the light and engulf the world in darkness.
Yeah, I know what you're thinking. This is the same cliche story we've heard in just about every action/adventure/RPG ever made. But hey - if it works, go with it. After all, this is only the backdrop for your character's tale.
It all starts when your character is imprisoned because of a misunderstanding with the local tax collectors. After a daring escape through the castle sewers, you are offered a full pardon if you can discover who is attacking the castle and why. As you search out answers, you will rescue different characters who will join your quest. After saving them, you can select to play as them before any mission.
For the most part, Enclave plays like your standard action/adventure game. You travel from area to area, accomplishing various tasks for people - such as helping a merchant get his wares from his burning warehouse. While it's nothing terribly new or original, it is still a fun hack and slash game.
Enclave is a good example of why certain things are done in RPGs and why some are not. For example, the game offers eight different characters to play as (4 light, 4 dark). Where most games have you choose one class to play as, Enclave allows you to play as any character at any time. While it may not sound like a bad idea, it doesn't exactly help the game either. Part of the fun of playing one class the entire game is to experience the same situations with different skills. Obviously crashing through a barricade as a heavily armored knight is going to be a different experience than if you were a thief or mage. Since you can switch before each level, the game quickly turns into a game of seeing which class works on which level, and robs you of the chance to figure out how to solve problems with your chosen character's unique skills. Not only does this kill the replay value and fun of the game, it also makes managing your inventory that much harder. Of course, it would have also helped if the inventory screen were a little easier to manage. Instead of doing what most games do, and providing a separate screen for both your items and the store's items, Enclave throws everything into one window making selecting items a pain.
I also saw a missed opportunity in how Enclave handles the light and dark campaigns. After completing the light campaigns, the game unlocks to dark ones to allow you to finish the story. I couldn't help but wonder how much better, and interesting, it would have been if you could play either of them from the start, or even if the things were taken one step further and players were allowed to choose their path depending on their actions.
