Age of Darkness is a game that's all about staving off a seemingly-endless tide of monsters. Battling supernatural creatures can do a number on someone's mind, and in-game, this is reflected as the Emboldened and Horrified effects.
Much like in other RTS games with RPG elements, there are a variety of things that can affect units in Age of Darkness, but Emboldened and Horrified are arguably the most important. These are two of the game's staple mechanics, and players will want to know how they work if they want to push back the darkness.
Age of Darkness: Tips and Tricks
If you're struggling to get your first win in Age of Darkness' survival mode, here are a few useful tips to help you on your attempts.
Emboldened and Horrified Mechanic in Age of Darkness
As your units fight and defeat Nightmares, they'll eventually start glowing. This means that they are Emboldened. While this effect is active, an Emboldened unit receives bonus health and damage, as well as additional buffs based on their faction. The Order's units receive more health, while the Rebellion's units receive more damage. Every unit has an Embolden meter right below their health bars — once this is filled, they'll receive the buff.
Fighting and defeating enemies is the main way to Embolden units. This can be accelerated by some heroes like Edwin, who has an aura that increases Embolden gains by 10%. There's also a Blessing that makes units gain 25% Boldness Points every day.
Horrified
The Horrified status is the opposite of Emboldened — it reduces the damage, movement speed, and health regeneration speed of affected targets. Units can become Horrified if they take damage from certain enemy attacks or if they wade through The Veil during Death Nights. Emboldened units cannot be Horrified.
Normally, players will want to avoid being Horrified at all costs. However, if you're playing as the Volatists faction, this status effect will actually work to your advantage. Volatist units cannot become Emboldened. Instead, they gain bonus stats when they're Horrified. This is a key tenet of the faction's playstyle, and players will want to make use of this unique faction trait whenever they're playing as the Volatists.
How to Remove Horrified Status
In order to cleanse units of the Horrified effect, place them near a large source of light like a Fire Sconce, Fire Tower, and the Keep. These light sources will also heal any units within their range, provided they aren't in combat.
Horrified units become far less effective, which is why you should use Fire Sconces and Fire Towers as regular parts of your base defenses. Have at least one of these near your gates, and keep them from getting destroyed during a siege.
Age of Darkness: Final Stand
- Released
- January 15, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
