I've played this MUD for literally half of my life and even though I've played a couple of other MUDs a lot over the years I always seem to come back to Dark Skies.

It's difficult to pinpoint exactly what it is that always draws me back because I tend to look for MUDs with colourful design and very well described rooms and areas. Being a seasoned RPMUD builder myself I'm surprised the stock areas still haven't annoyed me after so many years.

Now that's all the criticism I can muster up when reviewing this PK based masterpiece of a Godwars style mud. The vast selection of well balanced classes, some easygoing and some difficult to master, always has me working on an alt perfecting an experimental gear setup. When it comes to the actual combat vs players, I've stopped seeing the opponent's class and rather focus on learning the player's habits and reactions. The balance between classes is a never ending project and the staff is quick to test, verify, and address issues raised by players. Some dystopia players might recognize a couple of the classes but I assure you that they're quite different while still familiar on Dark Skies.

There are no one-trick-ponies on Dark Skies although some of the easier classes to master can let you offer some competitive brawling within 30 minutes of creating your character.

The shrunken but loyal playerbase is the most helpful bunch and there's even an entire kingdom for characters who permanently abandon their character's ability to fight players in exchange for better tools for fighting mobs and in turn helping struggling players get back in the action.

The head coder, Akurei has stuck with the mud for even longer than I, and still does amazing amounts of work behind the scenes for our pleasure. Dark Skies offers a very democratic way of getting changes implemented with the 'Petition board'. Any player can start a petition and the other players vote and share their thoughts. If the petition gets enough backers, Akurei dives headfirst into the shell and makes it happen.

Feels like I can go on praising this MUD forever, holler if you want me to continue logged in.

Until we meet. --Redfang

An almost total class-recode of Dystopia Class list is as follows:

Angel Modified

Demon modified

Drow Modified Clerics/Warriors/MAges

Lich Modified Golems

Assassins Modified Monk class, separate class combos for North/South

Samurai Combo Based class, modified

ShapeShifter Original Dystopia based with few mods

Tanar'ri

Undead Knight Original Dystopia based with minor mods

Werewolf Original Dystopia slight mods

Zombie Original code

Kekkaishi Original code{Anime based}

Sorceror Original code{Find your own spells!}

Ninja mixed-stock super combo based class

Spider droid Complete re-write (Find the right systems!)

Avenger Original Star Ocean based combo oriented class> /-see below

Ave. Gunner Shoot them outside of the room!

Ave. Swordman Kicks/punchs/swordstrikes

Ave. Brawler

Phoenix Fiery birds with room and mid-round powers

Vampires Redone somewhat to use different powers with forms

Shinobi Anime-based, Every one is the same but different

Holy Shadow Fire Water Wind Earth Taijutsu

Dragons Gold/Emerald/Topaz/Chaos/Sapphire/Ruby/Diamond Each with breath attacks with special affects

Help Class guide Shows difficulty of the different classes! Help Nifty is your friend if you join us!

Getquest/Casino for qps!

Easy to learn, hard to master!