Dark Ages is a historically-based civilization-building game that features an innovative action selection mechanic. As long as your action markers stay on the board, you may be able to gain secondary bonus actions whenever you or another player repeat the action.

While Dark Ages features objectives usually found in 4X games — encouraging you to explore nearby regions, expand your territory, exploit the resources, and exterminate your opponents — it does so featuring several Euro-centric mechanisms. Collect resources from lands under your control, using them to construct your cities and fortifications. Some building types will provide several ways for you to gain important in-game advantages, while others enhance your military strength or simply score you victory points. As you expand your territory, you will lay claim to noble titles, obtain new technologies, and train your military units. Each region and leader offer asymmetrical options with their unique abilities.

Dark Ages is actually two different games: Western Europe (subtitled Heritage of Charlemagne) and Central Europe (subtitled Holy Roman Empire). While both versions contain identical gameplay, each focuses its attention on a specific region of Europe during the Dark Ages (Western and Central, respectively). As a result, the game board maps will differ between the two versions, as do the lands in which players vie for control over along with the flavor of the inhabitants and leaders of those lands. However, by combining both versions, you can expand the map into an epic battle for superiority for five or more players!

Each game box contains finely sculpted miniatures of cities, fortresses, farms, and other buildings. The different types of troops — infantry, bowmen, and cavalry — are also represented by unique miniatures.

The solo mode for Dark Ages is designed by Dávid Turczi.