Operation Darkness

Gameplay consists of a series of tactical battles; between battles, the player may resupply the characters, purchase new items, and select which characters will participate in the following mission. Battles play out in standard tactical role-playing game (RPG) fashion, with turn order based on characters' speed statistics. During a turn, characters can move, attack, use items, pick up items from dead soldiers, and cast spells. The battle system also includes factors like cover and decreased accuracy from movement.

Differing from the great majority of games of this genre, long-range attacks tend to be far more frequent than close-range attacks, and many characters can hit targets with high accuracy from a distance of more than half of the battlefield. Characters killed in battle remain dead permanently unless revived by playable character Herbert East before the end of the stage. Generic soldiers can replace fallen ones.

Operation Darkness follows a squad of British SAS soldiers fighting the Nazis across the European Theater. The story covers much of the real history of the European war, including the battles for North Africa and the liberation of mainland Europe. French resistance fighters, American soldiers, and others appear as non-player characters.

The game diverges significantly from real history in that zombies of deceased Nazi soldiers appear as enemies, and two of the player characters can transform into werewolves. Other fantasy elements include the appearance of supernatural foes, such as vampires and dragons, along with the ability to use magic spells.

Operation Darkness received "generally unfavorable reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. IGN said, "Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong." In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of three sixes and one five for a total of 23 out of 40.