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Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is a Tactical RPG released on Playstation 2 on August 27, 2003, developed by Nippon Ichi Software and published by Atlus USA. A remake was released on PSP on December 14, 2007 under the name of Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness. The series Disgaea comprises a second opus and a third episode is in development.

After a long sleep of several years, the prince Laharl was awakened by his vassal Etna, and learns that his father, King Krichevskoy, lord of the Netherworld, kicked the bucket. Since the death of the Overlord, all the demons of the Netherworld are fighting for the crown. Laharl, legitimate heir to the throne, then decides to restore order in the kingdom by showing everyone who is the boss. A journey through the netherworld will then start for the young prince to kick some butts. He will be joined by many crazy characters, like his cynical servant Etna, who shows a boundless cruelty against prinnies (sort of slave penguins), the angel trainee Flonne, who extols the power of love and went to the Netherworld in order to assassinate the Overlord, or the Captain Gordon, a very kitsch super hero defender of Earth.

In terms of gameplay, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness takes the codes of classical T-RPGs. During the fights we move our characters through a chessboard map, and we use their attacks and special powers to get rid of the enemies. However, the game has an almost inexhaustible richness. The management of units is much elaborated. You can create many classes of characters, from the warriors to magicians. The monsters fought on battlefields are then available in the menu of creation of characters. You can also "transmigrate" your characters, that will make them return to level 1, but they will be more powerful.

The management of equipment is also interesting. Each item can gain levels. To do this we must enter inside the item (they each have a randomly generated universe, called Item worlds), and climb the floors they contain. The Netherworld has also a Senate, called Dark assembly. It was there that we can try to pass laws releasing news maps, or new items in shops, by bribing senators, or by using violence.

There are many other things to say about the ideas of gameplay like the geo panel system, the capture of monsters, or the master / disciple relationships. With its history and world full of humour, its endearing characters, its colossal life span and its incredibly complex gameplay, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness is one of the best T-RPGs that ever existed.

Disgaea: Hour of Darkness reviews