Darkest Dungeon is a dark side-scrolling role-playing game from the indie studios "Red Hook Studios" in which you control four heroes through increasingly tricky dungeons, improve their skills and smash the heads of ever stronger monsters - great! I feel up to the challenge, as I did in Diablo several years ago.
But the game quickly turns out to be one of the most merciless and therefore most unique role-playing games that I have experienced so far.
What is Darkest Dungeon?
Darkest Dungeon is a challenging gothic roguelike turn-based RPG about the psychological stresses of adventuring.
That's basically it.
You build a team of 4 in a typical fantasy RPG style setting and defeat your enemies using their skills such as melee and range abilities or simple spells.
Everything is build around the fact, that each level, each wave of enemies is becomming stronger and stronger.
Which is actually pretty entertaining.
Also, the artstyle is pretty much unique. Dark and cruel.
Gameplay
Even though the story is... well, it exists. But do not expect more than "OMG! Dead creatures everywhere! Send Help!" yet I don't want to spoil any of the story parts in this review and focus on the gameplay.
I'll start my journey on the "medium" difficulty. Don't want to get too frustrated from the beginning :D
All heroes move simultaneously from left to right through the dark corridors, I only determine their position.
Melees with more halth points and stronger armor in the front, ranges and "cloth-weares" in the back.
On a small map I see that I only have to explore a few rooms and corridors to complete my first quest. Should not be a problem.
Different heros have different abilities. Dimas has a set of ranged attacks which might even hit several enemies at once.
The proper use of skills exploiting the weaknesses of certain enemies is crucial.
The combat is turn based. There is no time limit per turn (except on hardest difficulty or in PvP mode).
Enemies also use their skills, some of them change the position of your heroes which you can cange back of course, but you need to sacrifice a turn for that.
You need to decide if it's worth it to move your character into position rather than dealing damage or cast some healing spells.
City Building in Hamlet?
After each quest (or dungeon) you can choose to continue your journey or return back to the town called "Hamlet"
I am expanding the town of Hamlet through various upgrades.
In general, every building in the city can be expanded as soon you have unlocked it:
The tavern and the Church get additional rooms to relief your enemies from stress (kind of a fatigue indicator).
The blacksmith gains in expertise to better upgrade your heroes' weapons and armor and so on.
Upgrades cast you ressources that you gain through completing dungeons.
This motivates because my heroes benefit from every building, even if the updates are - on their own - only minor.
Some facilities create new gear, while others are used to relieve stress or acquire new skills.
At the beginning, however, the lack of money (and ressources) won't let you do too much.
So my troops are marching from dungeon to dungeon.
There are a total of five randomly generated dungeon types to choose from, I choose beginner ruins.
The goal is to keep questing until my heroes are strong enough for the "Darkest Dungeon"
Before sending my heroes into darkness, I buy them some goodies.
Torches to keep ways bright and their stress level low (they might gat insane if too stresses), shovels to get rid of piles of dirt (literaly), bandages to stop bleeding effects, food, keys... oh come on... do I really need all this stuff?!
I mean, does this guy look trustworthy?
Its getting darker, stress is increasing faster, good that I got some torches...
... and never leave Hamlet without bringing a shovel. Weirdly, the shovel is a single use object. Obviously some bad quality shovel...
Should have brought some more torches...
As my team reaches the final room the light level is rather badm monsters got stronger, heroes got weaker...
Altard, the plague doctor is doing his plague doctor things and Boleyn the healer is doing her best to keep everyone alive.
The combination of dealing direct damage, damage over time and applying debuffs (or buffs to your own heroes) give the game more depth than you migh expect.
Even though the stress level is high, both mine and the heroes' I successfully completed the quest being awarded with gold, items and glory!
After a long journey it is time to get my heroes to rest.
Some develop rather negative quirks over time. This can be "cured" in the tavern or church but takes some time making the hero not available for the next journey.
It is always worth to keep an eye on the stats of your heroes. Upgrade them where possible and cure them where needed.
How About the PvP
The PvP part takes place in the so called "Butcher's Circus"
The single and multiplayer part are completely independent from each other.
Gear or hero level will not be affected in neither direction.
The combat is the same as in the single player campaign with the difference that you have a time limit for your turn.
A basic rank system determines your rank as you try to climb up the ladder for glory and... more custom banners I guess...
Since the single player already takes quite some time to reach the "Darkest Dungeon", which I am still far away from, I did not really participate in the PvP part.
There is a village to be rescued!
The game is something unique. That's for sure. Both, in artstyle and game mechanics.
Yet, it has it flaws. As a rogue-like there is a lot of grind to go through in order to be able to manage the increasing difficulty of level.
Your heroes will die and you will have to level them up (again).
But if you can overcome this, the game rewards you with a victory over the evil spreading all over the world!
The game is currently on sale for ~3,50€ in the basic version or ~9,50€ in the "Ancestral Edition" icluding all DLCs on the Steam Store.
But be quick, the sale ends in about 30 hours.