Shining in the Darkness

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Shining in the Darkness

Developer(s)	Sonic Co. & Climax Co.
Publisher(s)	Sega
Release date(s)	29 March 1991 / 1991 November, 1991
Genre(s)	Role-Playing Game
Mode(s)	Single player
Platform(s)	Sega Mega Drive
Media	8 megabit cartridge

Shining in the Darkness (Shining and the Darkness in Japan) is a 1991 RPG game for the Mega Drive/Genesis video game console. It was one of the first RPGs released for the system, and began the Shining RPG series that would span four Sega video game consoles as well as the Game Boy Advance, made by Nintendo, and Sony's PlayStation 2.

Shining in the Darkness was a "dungeon-crawler" RPG, putting the player in control of the main character as he and two friends explored a 3-dimensionally rendered dungeon in search of the "Arms of Light." The villain of the game, Dark Sol (called Mephisto in the Japanese version), is the son of the villain of the same name in the Shining Force game which appeared in 1992.

Shining in the Darkness is a fairly typical fantasy video game, set in the kingdom of Thornwood. The king's daughter and the father of the main character have vanished, while the evil sorcerer Dark Sol has appeared to threaten the kingdom. The main character is charged to find the Arms of Light, rescue the princess and his father, and stop Dark Sol.

Many people have argued over its inclusion in the "Shining" series, in the same way that they argue about Shining Soul and Shining Wisdom. While the story is directly connected, it shares little else with the rest of the series. Style wise it is very similar though. Much of the animation and music is reminiscent of Shining Force: The Legacy of Great Intent.

A spiritual sequel for it was released on the Sega Saturn several years later. Shining the Holy Ark is also a first person dungeon crawler, and is quite reminiscent of Shining in the Darkness. Often Shining in the Darkness is thought of as one of the weaker "Shining" games due to its small story, and heavily labyrinthian based gameplay. It adds some pieces to the overall "Shining" story, but not much. It has a feel of many of the older RPG's that made their debuts in the 80's and therefore it can feel rather old.

In the handheld entry to the Shining series, Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict, it is revealed that the main villain of this game, Dark Sol, is the son of one of the three Devil Kings, also named Darksol (note the alternative spelling) and his second-in-command, the sorceress Mishaela. The child was whisked away shortly after the final defeat of his diabolic father by Oddeye, chief Greater Devil of Zeon, another Devil King, to be raised as a human. In this game it is revealed that Dark Sol was taken in by a human mage named Xern, but what turned him to the Darkness is unknown. This seems to support the inclusion of this game in the Shining series, and places its entry in the timeline sometime following the events of Shining Force II.