Darkest Dungeon

Darkest Dungeon for PC, PS4 and etc. is a turn-based, cRPG game, in a dark fantasy setting. It was developed by Red Hook studio. The action takes place in a grim fantasy world, with its technological level similar to that of the Middle Ages. The campaign mostly takes place in the ruins of an abandoned fortress and the enormous dungeons underneath it. The stronghold has been overrun by the forces of darkness due to the foolishness of the castle’s last owner, during your adventures you will uncover the history of his house and the truth about the filth which its members have brought upon this world.

In Darkest Dungeon, released for PC, PS4 and etc., you will spend most of your time exploring the endless corridors of the ruins, however, the quests themselves are constructed differently to those you would find in your ordinary RPG. The key to success in Darkest Dungeon is not the equipment of your adventurers but their emotional state. The members of your team are not stout-hearted heroes and the horrors you will encounter during your journeys will have a great influence on how they feel and behave, forcing great stress on them and sometimes changing their character. Everyone who you will hire to take part in your quests will have his own set of personality traits and will react to some encounters differently than the others (e.g. stumbling upon a corpse would cause some distress for the Highwayman but could at the same time strengthen the Crusader’s resolve). If you are to achieve success in Darkest Dungeon you have to monitor the stress levels of your adventurers, because otherwise they will succumb to depression and descend into madness.

The combat in Darkest Dungeon features a turn based system. The formation and placement of your heroes is the key and you have to think carefully about your every move, if one of your team dies his death is permanent and you will never have a chance of getting him back. The developers combined the old school depth of combat strategy with some newer features which allow you to counter your opponents and combo attacks. Monsters aren’t the only danger you will face on your road, traps could also prove dangerous just like internal conflicts within your party and darkness, the torches you carry burn out over time and spending too much time in darkness inflicts more stress on the members of your quest.

To keep your adventurers in a good mental condition you can relief their stress at a nearby town, where they can e.g. drink their sorrows away or get into a bar fight to help them forget about the horrors of the dungeons. The riches you gather can be used to renovate the town, which opens new parts of it, allowing you more options of stress relief and upgrading your heroes. The game also allows you to camp in dungeons themselves, making it possible to mend some of the damage your party suffered without abandoning the mission.