"Every piece is unified": Dark Messiah of Might and Magic returns with co-op, an Adventure mode, a level generator and New Game+ in the 64-bit Community Edition

Of mods and magic

First announced back in March, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Community Edition is a fan-made mod (for Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, obvs) that spruces up Arkane's 2006 RPG, including upgrading it to a newer version of the Source engine. Details have been scarce since then, but an updated Steam page confirms what other additions the mod – which is being made with the blessing of both Valve and original publishers Ubisoft – is making.

For one, as the Community Edition is rebuilt from the ground up using the contemporary Source SDK, the change in engine allows for both native Linux and Windows 64-bit support. Quality of life features like controller support are also listed, as are achievements, but the shining feature is the addition of co-op multiplayer, which will use Steamworks for P2P connections and hosting. So too will a "renewed" mutliplayer component, based on the original game's PvP mode. The Community Edition also boasts that "Every piece is unified. What you see in Singleplayer is accessible in Multiplayer, and visa-versa!"

Popular Dark Messiah mods that have existed for years have also been folded into the Community Edition, such as a New Game+ mode, a new Adventure Mode structure offering bonus levels and challenges, the addition of sliding as a movement mechanic, new spells, new weapons, new transformations; I mean, it's a mod attempting to gather up twenty years of modding into one rebuilt package, so you can imagine there's a lot here.

The community label extends to ensuring the community itself can contribute as they wish, with modders outside of the team granted tools to create custom elements, maps, and quests, alongside full Steam Workshop integration. While it isn't directly mentioned in the Steam page, the mod's development team wiltOS Technologies previously expressed their intent to build an RTX mod; with that 2023 blog post also mentioning a co-op mode, which is now being added, an RTX addition might still be on the cards. Either way, the Community Edition's release is currently set for 2026, which doesn't give it a lot of time for final, ray-traced accoutrements, but we'll see.