Darkest Dungeon

Darkest Dungeon is one my favorite games that I always find myself returning to. The Aesthetic of the game is so immersive, with darkened, muted colors in an eldritch hellscape that your intrepid adventurers delve into. The gothic horror seeps into every facet of the game, making the player have an actual sense of growing dread. This is coupled of course with gameplay that, while may be offsetting for some, draws me in like no other.

The premise of the story is this; you are the heir to a squalid manor on a hill. Your ancestor (which has one of the best voice actors I’ve heard in a long time in Wayne June) spent much of the family fortune indulging in pleasures and decadence. Eventually, he grew tired of the same kind of pleasure, and began to start getting involved in occult activities. Eventually he unearthed an unspeakable horror deep underneath the manor, which began infecting the countryside. It’s up to you and intrepid adventurers that you hire and manage in order to uncover the secrets of your ancestor’s, and ultimately save the land.

The gameplay is divisive to some, but so involving for me. You control a party of 4 adventurers that head into the countryside outside of the town that resides at the base of the manor. You enter a labyrinth for each area you go to, attempting to reach the quest that your assigned for the area. It is turn based combat against opposing monsters that randomly appear along the labyrinth. The positioning of your party members is a core part of the gameplay, along with learning the patterns and spells of the opponents. Very often you will get ambushed and are unprepared for the fight. This can lead to the controversial stress system. Your party members accumulates stress throughout the adventure, coming across Lovecraftian horrors, and learning about truths better left unsolved. It functions as a separate life bar under each character. If the bar fills up, your character dies. Oh, and if your character falls, they’re gone for good. Permanent death is a looming issue that lies about you throughout the whole game. One wrong move and you can lose your best unit. And I personally love that

One of the more successful titles to come from Steam’s Early Access Program, in which developers open beta versions of games for consumers to purchase and provide bug testing, balance feedback, and general criticism. Early Access tends to have a bad reputation, as some games never seem to make it out of beta, or become abandoned, leaving with purchasers with an incomplete experience. Darkest Dungeon managed to make it out of Early Access with a rather positive outlook from it. Red Hook Studios made sure to listen on consumer feedback, and eventually made changes to the game that turned it from an interesting title, to a truly great one in my opinion.

The game is certainly not for everyone. Many of my friends have spoke about how they enjoyed the game up until a period of bad luck occurred, causing him to lose experienced party members, and didn’t enjoy the perma-death aspect of it. I personally enjoy the deep combat, and the fact that you have to learn the patterns and play a mixture of safe and bold at times to succeed. The possibility of loss hanging overheard at one wrong move is something that I really enjoy, and hopefully you will too in this incredibly deep game.