Archon: The Light and the Dark
Archon: The Light and the Dark is a 1983 strategy/action video game developed by Free Fall Associates and one of the first five games published by Electronic Arts. It is superficially similar to chess, in that it takes place on a board with alternating black and white squares, but instead of fixed rules when landing on another player's piece, an arcade-style fight takes place to determine the victor, and each piece has different combat abilities. The health of the player's piece is enhanced when landing on a square of one's own color.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA, read 5 September 2026.
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- Released
- 1983
- Developer
- Free Fall Associates
- Platforms
- 1 systems
- Critics
- Not scored
- Steam Deck
- Unknown
- Download
- Not stated
The record
| First released | 1 January 1983 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Free Fall Associates |
| Publisher | Electronic Arts |
| Platforms | Nintendo Entertainment System |
| Genres | Fighting |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q91268, seeded 30 August 2026.
How long is Archon: The Light and the Dark? How long to beat it
Total play time for Archon: The Light and the Dark is about 0.6 hours to do everything, and around 0.4 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.
| How you play | Hours | Players logged |
|---|---|---|
| Just the main story: straight through the critical path | 0.4h | 5 |
| Main + the extras: story plus the side content most people do | 0.4h | 1 |
| Completionist: everything: 100% the game | 0.6h | 1 |
Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.
Where Archon: The Light and the Dark sits on the grid
The grid places every game in the catalogue on measured axes rather than on an opinion. This is where Archon: The Light and the Dark lands on each map it has the data for, with the share of the catalogue it beats on each axis.
- Year
- 33ahead of 1% of the catalogue
- Reach
- 30ahead of 72% of the catalogue
Percentiles are against the games that carry a reading on that axis, not the whole catalogue: counting a game with no figure as a zero would flatter everything that has one. How the grid works.
What readers say about Archon: The Light and the Dark
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
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Where Archon: The Light and the Dark appears
The ranked lists and finder pages Archon: The Light and the Dark qualifies for, from its own genre and platform to what it takes to run.
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Common questions about Archon: The Light and the Dark
What platforms is Archon: The Light and the Dark on?
Archon: The Light and the Dark is available on Nintendo Entertainment System. It first released in 1983.
Who made Archon: The Light and the Dark?
Archon: The Light and the Dark was developed by Free Fall Associates and published by Electronic Arts.
How long does it take to beat Archon: The Light and the Dark?
about 0.4 hours for the main story, 0.4 hours with the main extras, 0.6 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.