Great gameplay, too bad everything else is mediocre.
I'll start with the good side of the game - the fights are really fun, all the power attacks are awesome, especially when you chop someones head off! Full body awareness, you can see your entire body, and when you move, attack or take hits the entire screen move making it really cool.
The other side, not very good (but not necessarily bad!) - the story become very obvious after awhile, and there is no surprise after that, no clever twists in the plot, no amazing secrets. Also all those spiky bed frames all around, everywhere. It's a very nice idea and it's cool to kick and impale someone on them, but the developer should have thought about a more clever and realistic way to use those.
The kick at times become too powerful weapon, for instance you see a lich lord standing right next to a cliff, instead of using power attacks, spells, potions and so on, you press three times on the kick button and this powerful creature is gone.
Well, you probably saying now, what a bad game dark messiah is, well that's not true. I disagree with the game spot score and review. I just think they compared this game too much to oblivion. I am a huge oblivion and TES fan, I even played Arena. But this two games are very different. Dark messiah is not an oblivion-wanna-be. And although it got flaws, like all games, those flaws don't make this game bad or not enjoyable, they just make this game less great than it could've been.