Darkspore

Darkspore is an upcoming video game based partially on the 2008 video game Spore. It is described as "a fast-paced, sci-fi Action-RPG in which the player battles across alien worlds to save the galaxy from the mutated forces of Darkspore."[5] The game is set to be released on April 26, 2011, for Windows.Plot

The Crogenitors were a race of unrivalled scientists and had built a large galactic empire. They had mastered mutation and used their knowledge to create an army of genetic heroes, that became known as "Living Weapons". But the discovery by Crogenitor Xylan of the E-DNA, an experimental amino acid that bonds to DNA, changed everything: it was used to weaponize life itself, and it was capable of achieving millennia of evolution in hours. However, the E-DNA was unstable and all of the subjects who came in contact with it were transformed into a genetic nightmare and connected with a hive mind known as "The Darkspore". The E-DNA rapidly turned into a virus that spread all over the galaxy, killing everything in sight. The end result was war. All genetic heroes were slaughtered, almost all Crogenitors were killed, and the Crogenitor empire dissipated star by star. Six surviving Crogenitors were put in cryogenic pods. Xylan was thrown into exile and E-DNA usage was outlawed. Five of them were sent to planets with surviving genotypes, and tasked with constructing new Living Weapons untouched by Darkspore. The final surviving Crogenitor was left asleep indefinitely, awaiting the moment when the HELIX network had stabilized the E-DNA. After 1000 years the HELIX succeeded. The 7th Crogenitor was awakened and began to gather the new Living Weapons, strengthening them with the stabilized E-DNA.
Starting with only a few brave heroes, the Crogenitor Insurgency, as it became known, grew to the size of a small army. The Insurgency raided all Darkspore strongholds, discovering more comrades along the way. They grew ever closer to their ultimate goal of purging the Darkspore from the galaxy...[6]
[edit]Characters

The heroes or "Living Weapons" are divided in five genetic types: Plasma , Quantum, Bio, Cyber, and Necro. Plasma genesis deals with fire and electricity, Quantum genesis deals with time-space and matter ability, Bio genesis deals with plants, animals, poisons and life-force, Cyber genesis use bullets and energy beams, Necro genesis deals with death, darkness, fear, souls, and twisting reality. A subdivision of the heroes divided them in Sentinel, Ravager and Tempest heroes. Sentinels are bulky beings with high defense and melee powers but are very slow, Ravagers have balanced stats and high speed, Tempests are heroes with ranged attacks and support abilities. Although there are only 25 basic heroes, the player will be able to create 3 other "genetic variants" of each hero raising the number of total heroes to 100. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants exist, each of them with a unique ability different for each genetic types. The Darkspore enemies also follow the genetic division, but have different ranks.
Zrin - Zrin was a lowly criminal and was kept in a prison on Cryos until the Darkspore mutated his guards, leaving Zrin to slowly die. When he was at the end, Crogenitor Ptyron appeared before him and painfully transformed him, gaining the power of Plasmagenesis. His left hand and minor circulatory system became engulfed in a biological plasma, enabling him to manipulate magma, lava, fire and electricplasma, and incinerate almost any obstacle. He also gained incredible endurance and tough skin. The Darkspore offered Zrin Power, Fun and Revenge, and he would have gladly taken this offer if he would retain his brain, with the title of "The Sun Fist", as a Plasma Sentinel. His left hand is constantly aflame while the right hand is crossed by electric sparks, and he wears two gauntlets with short blades.[7]
Vex - Vex worked as a mechanic in Zelem Nexus teleporter system, not knowing that a Crogenitor scientist named Zelem was actually observing how the radiation from the reactors would work on the engineers. While he was trying to activate a teleportal, Vex accidentally naturally teleported into the enclave of Zelem. Scared by the horrified appearance of Zelem, Vex began teleporting casually throughout the laboratory destroying nearly everything and unwillingly making his powers stronger stronger on each shift becoming a Quantum Ravager. When the Darkspore attack he uses this ability to fight them gaining the title "the Chrono Shifter". He uses two swords set on his forearms.[8]
Sage - Sage, a scientist who initially warned the Crogenitors about the power of E-DNA, was forced to watch as his home world, Verdanth, was destroyed by the unstable substance. Re-engineering his bio-technology as a weapon, Sage gained healing powers and control over flora and fauna. He has vowed to free his planet from the Darkspore. He is a Bio Tempest, and appears similar to a mix between a centaur and a tree. He is now known as "The Life Forester" and his weapon is an energy cannon fixed in place of his right hand.[9]
Goliath - Goliath is a Cyber Sentinel from the planet Infinity, and a master of the technomartial order. Once forced to flee for his life as a fugitive, he found the powerful Protonic Sword, and was able to wipe out his chasers, and now defends all innocent fugitives and exiles in his battle against the mutants as "The Energy Guardian".[10]
Arakna - An esteemed and feared member of the Nocturni Legion, Arakna is known as "the Soul Collector" for her ability to harness the neuro-intellectual energy that holds identities and secrets of her fallen opponents. Feeding her thousands of young in her egg sack, she fights on to fulfill her duty in the Legion. She is a Necro Ravager similar to a spider and her weapon is a neuro based gun set on her abdomen.[11]
Meditron - An explorer from Infinity and an ex-medic, Meditron returned from a long trip to find his home infested by the Darkspore. He fled for safety and went into hiding in a crevasse called Iktotom's Skull, where he discovered an old refuge of Crogenitor Suzu and using that technology to repurpose his healing nanobots to harm and control his enemies and to assist his allies. He then encountered the Insurgency and joined them as the "Repair-Bot". He is a Cyber Tempest with six legs and use a shoot-nanobots cannon in place of his right hand.[12]
Blitz - Blitz, "The Storm Striker", armed with a pair of claw gauntlets and possessing control over electroplasma, he has traveled across the frozen lands of Cryos after the shattering of its old civilization because of the ice age, losing almost all of his siblings to start a new life in the equatorial area of the planet. There he become a leader and began to organize a new society creating bands of warriors, hunters and those who had something to contribute to society. He is ever willing to fight against anyone who threatens this newfound peace, and is determined to defeat the Darkspore. He is a Plasma Ravager.[13]
Jinx - Jinx was one of the Many Nocturni gifted with Necrogenetic powers, these were "Gifted" by the Crogenitor Ingto when he destroyed the web of life between the Bioforms and the Necroform spirits of Nocturna. These powers were far from a blessing, as many of the "Chosen" Nocturni died in their infancy,with only the Strongest surving;,Jinx was the Strongest of these.Why Jinx joined the Nocturni Legion, the military force that conquered her people, was a mystery,Some beleived she was a Traitor,Some beleived that she was working as a Spy and some thought that she had been brainwashed by one of the Nocturni Eternals. But eventually she broke with the Legion when she rose to the rank of commander and vowed to destroy its leadership. Jinx, and followers loyal to her, turned on their fellow commanders in a devastating betrayal. Employing powers she'd kept hidden from the Legion, Jinx hurled dark matter devastators—darma—like necrotic grenades at her former Legion-mates. Taking her finest warriors with her back to their ancestral hives, Jinx sought to liberate her enslaved people. She might have succeeded, had the Darkspore invasion not forced her to change her target from worldly to interplanetary as "The Dark Reaper". She is a Necro Tempest similar to a mosquito with four large wings and two arms and fights with a dreadful staff to channel her powers.[14]
Magnos - Possessing the natural (and mutated) ability to manipulate mass and gravity to be able to absorb radiation and cosmic rays, Magnos became the strongest wrestler of his clan defeating all of opponents in the rings of Zelem's Nexus until the Darkspore attack. He then formed a team with his mightiest opponents (the few who he let survive) to oppose the Darkspore, even being able to rip apart a Darkspore Dreadnought with their armored hands. After, he joined the Insurgency with the title of "The Binary Star Sentinel". He is a Quantum Sentinel who fight only with his physical strength and his clawed hands.[15]
Tork - Tork, also known as "The Fungal King", is a Bio Tempest from the planet Verdanth. He uses a pump-mask on his face to pump spores through a pack on his back that will put enemies to sleep. Before the Darkspore invaded, he was a scoundrel and outcast who took whatever he could from anyone until he could overpower. Crogenitor Astra, disgusted by his behavior, kidnapped him and used him as a test subject for a decade to teach him a lesson. After a decade, Astra allowed him to escape and save the rest of Astra's test subjects. He is equipped with a pair of gas cannons set on his forearms.
Titan - Titan, called "The Impenetrable", is a quadrapedal Cyber Sentinel. He has shoulder-mounted machine-guns and large feet powerful enough to cause small earthquakes with a single stomp. One of the last of his kind, Titan was an engineer on the super-polluted Infinity. Building soaring towers and vast bridges, delighting in the power of his mind to connect and create, Titan dreamed of ressurecting the ancient factory-cities to make his world alive again. But working alone for decades took its toll on Titan's body, until the day he fell to his death... Only to be ressurected by Crogenitor Suzu. For Titan, it seemed like a nightmare transformed into a dream. He remembered plummeting horribly, his body battered against steel and rock before crashing into a toxic tailings pond. And then blackness, and agony...and finally, a symphony of electrical sensation. His body surged with the energy and power of his rebuilt, Cybernetically infused body. Reborn for forces he did not understand, Titan emerged from Suzu's enclave to continue his vast project of rebuilding his word. But the Darkspore descended to incinerate those dreams. Repurposing whatever Reparibots he could find into his own personal legion, Titan shifted from ressurector to destroyer, specializing in querilla raids that taunted his enemies. Defended by his personally-designed energy sheild and conflicting consultative blasts at will against ensnared enemies, Titan vowed to wipe out the Darkspore on his world, so he could live long enough to put down the weapons of chaos for his beloved tools of order.
Andromeda - Andromeda is a Quantum Tempest. She is very humanoid in appearance, albeit sporting wing-like appendages, tentacle-like hair, four-jointed legs, and a tail. She carries around a staff and is known as "The Gravatic Warmaster". Before the Darkspore invaded, she was an elite engineer on Zelem's Nexus. She became a hero when she used her experience to avoid the collision between her floating home island Mishina and a dozen of other islands, and since that she was Zelem's favorite apprentice, calling her "his child" until he mysteriously disappeared during the Darkspore attack. She uses a staff to channel her powers.
Wraith - Wraith is a Necro Sentinel know as "the Spectre of Vengeance". He resembles a werewolf with an avian skull for a mask. He carries around a large axe as a weapon and can turn transparent to elude attacks . Before the Darkspore invaded, he was an necro guardian, one of the energy wielder beings that kept the life and the necrotic energies stable on Nocturna, something that became increasingly difficult as Crogenitor Ingto had ravaged the membrane that separates the two worlds, until the Nocturni Legion conquered his clan and forced him into the hiding in one of the nearby mines. There Crogenitor Ingto forcefully granted him the necro genesis. Wraith then fled, obliterating all who stood in his way.
SRS-42 - SRS-42 certainly deserves the titles of Living Weapon and "the Missile Commander ". He is a Cyber Tempest that resembles a walking army tank. He can fire missiles that hone in on enemies and cause area damage. After having been nearly killed by a deadly neurotoxin that was accidentally released into the factory he worked at on Infinity, he was resurrected by Crogenitor Suzu as a Cyborg. His special abilities allow him to work at a distance or charge in for short periods of time with invulnerability. Being stationary for 5 seconds increases the damage SRS-42 can do to the Darkspore. He is bipedal, has no arms and is considerably less agile than Titan.
Krel - Krel is a Plasma Ravager that resembles a demonic canine-like beast. He is known as "The Living Firestorm". Seeing how desperate Krel was to protect his children on Cryos, Crogenitor Ptyron granted him the power of fire and electroplasma. Unfortunately, all of Krel's children were killed by the Darkspore, and Krel is now the last of his kind. He is the only Living Weapon that don't belong to a sapient species. He use his teeth and claws as a weapon together with plasma breath and a tri-plasma cannon set on his shoulders.
Viper - Viper is a Bio Ravager known as "The Toxic Ravager". Originally a primitive weapon maker from Verdanth, his skin was made poisonous by Crogenitor Astra. He resembles a cross between a cactus and a cricket with four arms and his weapons are a pair of wrist mounted blades that draw poison from his skin.
Maldri - Maldri is known as "The Quantum Raider" and is a very special hero. He is an extremely powerful Quantum Ravager and is very difficult to acquire in game. However, those who pre-order Darkspore will automatically unlock his gamma variant on day one. While raiding Zelem's abandoned enclave on the Nexus, he accidentally activated a laser device that gave him his Quantum powers. He use the scythe blades set instead of his hands and his legs to attack.
Orion - Also known as "The Lightspeed Tempest", Orion was originally a technician on Zelem's Nexus. One Day Zelem sent out a wave of energy from his enclave that heavily hit the Nexus' power plant's center of a near island. All in the building fled except Orion and he was hit by the energy wake granting Quantum Tempest powers. By instinct Orion used his new-found powers to avoid the collision of two highly populated islands, almost losing is life. When the Darkspore attacked he went into hiding and then joined the Insurgency. He travels with a hover-pack and two of his four hands hold a pair of energy guns.
Lumin - Also called "The Lightning Provoker", Lumin is a Plasma Tempest from Cryos. Lumin was once a hero that lead his warriors against the Darkspore. However, many of his warriors and friends were infected by the Darkspore virus and he was forced to kill them. This brought him to the brink of insanity. After finding him, Crogenitor Ptyron realized that the only hope to heal him was to give him another chance to save his his people. So he give him Plasma lightning-based powers that Lumin channeled across his staff.
Skar - Skar "The Shadow of Death" is a Necro Ravager from Nocturna. He was a member of the Nocturni Legion, but was forced into hiding after the Darkspore invaded the planet. He plans to rule Nocturna one day after the Darkspore are all gone. He is similar to centaur-like spider and his weapon is a pair of small daggers set on his wrists.
Revenant - Revenant is a member of the Nocturni Legion and is known as "Deathraider of the Stars." He was given his cosmic abilities from Crogenitor Ingto. Until the Darkspore invaded, Revenant had never faced defeat before, and now dreams of slaughtering the Corruptor himself. This Necro Tempest has three legs and uses the mystical crystal set on his head to channel his necro powers.
Arborus - Arborus is a Bio Sentinel from Verdanth. He is known as "The Veridian Protector", and was granted the power to summon volcanoes and earthquakes by Crogenitor Astra after hearing of his wish of become strong as the eternal green gods. He is a hulking being, similar to an ogre or a troll mixed with a tree with four arms and a heavy spiked wooden club.
Savage - Savage, "Lord of the Beasts", is a Bio Sentinel from Verdanth. After his parents were killed in a massive earthquake as a child, he ran into the rain forests, where he became more like a beast, especially because he possesses the rare ability to communicate with the animals. One day he was directed by Crogenitor Astra to a field of specifically designed mutagenic fungus, that transformed him, granting him of a enhanced version of his ability and making him similar of his companions. He then became the king of the local wildlife until the Darkspore conquered, where he fought alongside his powerful pet. His weapon is a pair of gauntlets on his forearms with long curved blades.
Char - Char is a Plasma Tempest from Cryos and is known as "The Blazing Inferno". He was originally an assassin who hunted criminals, but not even he could catch everyone; and when he was left to die from the wounds a team of rebels who scarred him with, Crogenitor Ptyron healed him and gave him the ability to pryokenitically attack anything he saw. He has two eyes, a tail, six legs, but no arms.
Seraph-XS - Seraph-XS also called "The Infiltrator", is a Cyber Ravager from the planet Infinity. She was originally the last Combot, the war drones used by the residents of Infinity to combat Darkspore, but was reprogrammed by Crogenitor Suzu to have free will and a personality, who hopes she will be able to one day live a meaningful life, free of Darkspore. She has four legs and two arms with an energy cannon in place of her right hand.
[edit]Non-Hero characters

Zelem - The most brilliant Crogenitor scientist. Along with the other surviving Crogenitors, Zelem created multiple Living Weapons using the Quantum genesis; unlike many of the other Crogenitor scientists, he had few qualms injuring innocent people while seeking to strengthen the resistance to the Darkspore hordes. Unfortunately, all but five of his quantum heroes perish during the first coordinated attack on Zelem's Nexus by the Darkspore, now known as "The Nexus Massacre". When the Darkspore invaded Zelem's Nexus, he tried to flee, but met his demise in the Outer Rings of the Nexus.
Ptyron - Crogenitor Ptyron is the surviving Crogenitor that landed on Cryos and is the largest of them. He seemed to be the most kindhearted of them: instead of seeking powerful beings to turn in Living Weapons, he gives them the power of the Plasma genesis to the ones who touched him.
Astra - Astra landed on Verdanth a long time ago. He appreciates the positive qualities but used even the hard ways for his goals. He created Living Weapons from the Bio genesis.
Suzu - The Crogenitor that landed on Infinity. He, like Ptyron, have a kind personality helping the suffering people of Infinity with his Cyber genesis modifications.
Ingto - Like Zelem , Ingto had no problems to perform dangerous experiments on the people of Nocturna and on the planet itself. He had ripped to instability the membrane that separates the living world to the world of dead on Nocturna.
The Corruptor - A mysterious rogue Crogenitor scientist that had been mutated into the most powerful Darkspore of all. He was the one who spread the E-DNA virus between the Crogenitor planets and sought to conquer all the galaxy.
The Player - The player is the last of the surviving Crogenitors to awaken. He has remained dormant in a cryogenic capsule aboard of one of the last Crogenitor ships for 1000 years, until he was awoken by the A.I. HELIX, that informed him of his task to create the Insurgency.
HELIX - The A.I. network of the Crogenitor fleet, HELIX was tasked to awaken the Crogenitors and purify the E-DNA, a task that succeded after 1000 years of elaboration. So it awoke the last of the surviving Crogenitors. It speaks with a soft feminine voice.
Xylan - Crogenitor Xylan is the one who discovered E-DNA. After Verdanth fell under seige, Xylan was thrown into exile and tried to transfect himself with E-DNA, and became The Corruptor, leader of the Darkspore. After the Crogenitors fled Verdanth, Xylan revealed him to be The Corruptor to all the other Crogenitors, and E-DNA experimentation was then outlawed. After this, Xylan fled to planet Cryos, where he turned Crogenitors into the Destructors, the game's bosses.
[edit]Abilities

Each hero possesses one basic attack, used by left-clicking; one unique ability, used by pressing 1; one variant ability, used by pressing 2; a passive ability that is always active; and a squad ability, used by pressing 3,4, or 5. The squad and passive abilities can be used by all members of the squad and can combine in sequences. Each ability, except the passive, has a cooldown time.
[edit]Planets

Zelem's Nexus – Home of Quantumgenesis. Once a peaceful planet called Nakto, it was destroyed during a Crogenitor Zelem experiment. Zelem tried to keep his home world together by creating an artificial gravity-field, but even then the planet was nothing more than a series of floating isles that continuously collided. After their takeover the Darkspore were able to perfect the gravity ring. It currently serves as the main base for the Darkspore. The fearless Crogenitor Zelem resided on this planet.[16]
Nocturna - Home of Necrogenesis. It has three moons and is constantly detached by the sunlight so it is also called the planet of eternal night. Nocturna was the second planet to fall victim to the Darkspore Seige after a barrage of Mutation Agents bombarded the planet. It is the home world of the Nocturni Legion, a fighting force led by the Nocturni Ethernals that have conquered many peoples and worlds. The main features of this planet are rivers of liquid plasma, gigantic crystalline formations, and large moving plants. Plasma storms are seen inside the mountains of the planet, and the plants and creatures native to Nocturna are usually bioluminescent. The cruel Crogenitor Ingto resides on this planet.
Verdanth - Home of Biogenesis. Verdanth was once a bright and beautiful lush world full of rainforests of jungles, but after the Darkspore invaded, the civilizations quickly turned into nothing but ruins, and the wildlife became a dreadfull danger because was mutated by the power of E-DNA. The verdanthi are both spiritual and highly scienze advanced society, and once a generation few of them born with the ability to compreed the animal language. The mysterious Crogenitor Astra resides on this planet.
Infinity - Home of Cybergenesis. Infinity is a heavily-polluted planet covered in poisoned oceans and factories. Many of the inhabitants have either fled or perished, and the ones who remain compete for the whatever resources still remain. Most of the surviving inhabintants are cyborgs, who do not require food or water, and were able to survive the shortages of supplies. With very little defenses, the Darkspore easily conquered this planet and enslaved all the remaining natives. The kindhearted Crogenitor Suzu resides on this planet.
Cryos – Home of Plasmagenesis, Cryos is a planet currently in a state of extreme ice age that had destroyed almost all of the local species and its population. Trying to heat the planet, the Crogenitor placed in its center a "white hole", a nearly infinite source of heat. However this only worsened the situation as now the planet is ripped with rivers of molten plasma but it still frozen. Harboring a unique variety of geological features, Cryos contains ancient Crogenitor technology that the Darkspore hadn't manage to discover yet. The passionate Crogenitor Ptyron resided on this planet.[17]
Scaldron – Scaldron is a ruined desert planet. Unlike most planets, Scaldron contains Darkspore enemies from all five genesis types, making it an extremely challenging area. Not much else is known about it at this point.
[edit]Character Editor

See also: Spore Creature Creator
The character editor in Darkspore has been described as an enhanced version of the one found in Spore. There will be thousands of parts to collect, enabling the customization of several aspects of the characters, including body parts, armor, weapons, facial features and coloration.[18]
[edit]Alternate Reality Game

HelpEDNA was a Darkspore ARG that went online in mid 2010. It plays out as a puzzle text adventure which gives clues on the Darkspore game, and is set before the events of the game.
HelpEDNA is a puzzle text adventure, in which you play as a contact that has begun receiving messages from an unknown character. Players must register for the site with a user name and password, and log in before joining the game. Players were at first required to ask questions of the character, which would be answered, before receiving puzzles, one of which revealed the time and location of Darkspore's reveal at the PAX game conference. After many challenging mathematical puzzles were solved by the players, the site was updated, disabling the ability to ask questions or solve new puzzles, instead requiring players to work out genetic calculations, charging them with the task of creating the E-DNA genome for the abilities of the game's heroes. Players had to process 10 000 genes in order to complete all of them. After the completion of Meditron, Magnos, Blitz, Arakna, and Jinx, the website's genetic conversion system went unresponsive for several days, before it reactivated with updated text and two newly completed heroes, Goliath, and Tork. Tork had not yet been revealed on the main Darkspore website at the time. The website soon also featured two short in-game videos of Tork. After Tork's revealing, a new hero, Titan, was revealed, also with two short videos of the hero. Following that, another video was shown that featured an unknown hero. Eventually, on 15 October 2010, the number of genes to be processed reached 55, and stopped. Anyone logging into the site from now on will the usual partially corrupted text before it suddenly gives way to a stream of corrupted text data with a message from the Darkspore, stating that they have conquered yet again. The game is over, but still has an epilogue page containing a message from Maxis, and links to all of the pictures and videos from the website.
Plot
Establishing a connection with an unknown source, a contact begins receiving data and messages from a mysterious person who claims to have been isolated in space for more than two million years, and is in danger of being tracked down by another malignant source. After receiving some garbled information, the contact is prompted to ask questions of the person. The person is soon revealed to in fact be a social computer AI known as the HELIX, in a galaxy almost completely conquered by the Darkspore, a strain of aggressive, swarming mutants. Because of these mutants' attempts to track it down, the HELIX was forced to disconnect from the mass network that connected it to all other computer AIs. After completing several puzzles, receiving new information, and processing corrupted text feeds activated by entering select keywords into the HELIX's localized network, the contact is charged with the task of purifying 10, 000 eDNA genes before they mutate into Darkspore strains. The resulting genes were to form the basis for the abilities of the powerful heroes selected to fight the Darkspore. The contact gets to work, assisting the HELIX with processing ten thousand genes. After processing Meditron, Magnos, Blitz, Arakna and Jinx, a virus suddenly causes the HELIX to go into security shutdown mode, rendering the contact unable to finish processing the genomes. But soon the HELIX reactivates, plagued with data corruption but bearing the sequences for two heroes, Goliath and Tork. The contact soon resumes work on the genes, completing the sequences for a hero known as Titan as well as an unknown hero. As the contact processes the final genes, with the gene count down to 55, the contact logs onto the network only to have the message degrade into a stream of unintelligible, corrupted data. The Darkspore's computer virus had finally cracked the HELIX's link to the contact. Nine cold, chilling words stand out: "WE HAVE YOU - One life, one purpose - Darkspore expands". The mutants had conquered again...
The website now eventually displays the message:
"WE HAVE YOU
one life, one purpose
DARKSPORE EXPANDS"
while the background is filled with white corrupted coding that scrolls down continuously.
It was then revealed on the Darkspore forum that the ARG was designed by some of the Maxis team members to give away small bits of information regarding the game, announce new heroes and plot details, and advertise the game.
[edit]Digital Rights Management (DRM)

Darkspore will require a persistent internet connection, an EA account and serial registration in order to play the game.[19]
[edit]Beta

As of Wednesday 13th April 2011 the Darkspore Open BETA test opened for business. Unlike the previous BETA sessions, no beta key is required for download, and it is completely free. Players can unlock up to 15 heroes (or 18 via a glitch) and can play up to the game's level 3-4. All existing accounts from the previous sessions have been wiped, and will be wiped once more before the game's launch. [20]