Darkest Dungeon®

makes you rethink of the way you played turn-based games before, its great. narrator goes so hard it's crazy

Darkest Dungeons made me feel the creeping madness from every twisted voice line or sound effect, crawling into my ear like the squishing of bloated maggots or the anguished squeems of those depraved of hope.

The mood setting for this game is just phenomenal and feels, despite its 2D art style and lack of character animation, like the characters are still writhing through it all, clasping through the roads of damnation.

The gameplay for the game feels solid and has its ups and downs in regards to the sanity system but feels fair and balanced. My biggest problem, however, is that it doesn't explain anything about how the game stats work and interact with each other, leaving you to figure it out yourself.

The classes for the game are all decent, but some of them, like the Leper, just aren't as strong as the others, which makes them feel not worth it, and considering you have to level up the character, it's just a waste of effort, which in a game this old should have been balanced out—though it's mostly minor since all the characters are at least usable to some extent, but still.

Overall, the music for the game is good and atmospheric, great to use as a backdrop for something like a D&D campaign, as it fades into the background of the gameplay nicely to give that little extra bit to pull you further into the game.

This game isn't easy and isn't for everyone, but if you're up for a challenge, it's a joy to behold as you get attached to your delvers, only for them to shrivel to the floor from a heart attack. I'd recommend it.

The best game I've ever played. It's tough and unforgiving at every step. The story, characters, and overall game design are simply perfect. The gothic artwork adds a dark, immersive atmosphere. The RNG will constantly make you cry, hitting you for over 30 damage and ignoring your dodge chance entirely.
"Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer"

One of the best games you will ever play. The creators should be very proud of themselves.

I love turn-based RPG and Roguelike + lite but I just can't have fun with this game. There's nothing wrong with the combat or roguelite aspects, it's the gameplay that I have problems with. Endless grind for very little progress, constant micromanaging, RNG for RNG's sake.

Just a crazy good game. Probably my favourite game of all time. Although, admittedly, it's definitely not for everyone. But it's definitely worth giving a shot to see if you like it.

Finally played after my friends got into it. Downloaded mods just for some visual flavor, got sucked in for more hours because of it. Great game, do recommend.

Great game good imagery not much else to stay it is just a good game with a great party mechanics.

Ребята не покупайте и не запускайте эту игру. Теперь у меня зависимость. Целый день всё о чём я могу думать это то как приду домой после работы/шараги и завалюсь играть в дд. Я жду когда она мне надоест, но я наиграл в неё уже больше 30 часов и это число продолжает расти

Incredibly grindy. Starts off fun, but quickly devolves to repetitive "Crawl dungeon, level up, crawl dungeon..."

Can't recommend this to the average person. There are so many UI design flaws and lack of UI feedback and just generally feels awkward to use. Losing my campfire wood because I accidentally click on it in my inventory is not acceptable. For a game where one decision can make or break a quest, having to fight the UI will be your biggest monster.

Edit: You can't reopen a container once you close it. Really? REALLY? Losing a secret room stash to this was disgusting. This game isn't hard because it's good game design, its hard because its coded like a flash game with shitty resource controls. Trash.

Devastation and utter joy wrapped in one game. It sucks when the enemy hits you hard, but when you make a comeback... damn does it feel GOOD!

Darkest Dungeon is by every aspect an experience tailored for me, and easily fits in my top 15 favourite game ever played. That being said, I can see why it wouldn't be the case for everyone else. I tend to keep my reviews from brief to slightly detailed on this platform, but Darkest Dungeon is such a unique journey that truly resonated with me. I think it's probably for the best to lay out the full picture; especially if you've just got yourself the game, or are wondering if it would be wise buying it during a sale. So allow me to set the stage, in a structured way, to show you what truly is awaiting you in this wretched land.

"You remember our venerable house, opulent and imperial..."

The Good

Presentation
One of the strongest point of Darkest Dungeon from the very start, and a reason why it personally stuck so much with me, is how original and defined in presentation & concept it truly is. The game is set in the Gothic era, but it also inspires itself a lot from Lovecraftian Horror and it fully takes advantage of it. From the first cinematic, the game engulfs you in mystery, and does it with very few words. To be honest, I sometime let it fully play when booting up the game after a long time, or when I feel like fully immersing myself in my ancestor's delirium.

The visuals, like the title suggests, are very dim and unsaturated. The atmosphere is dark and unwelcoming, even the neighbouring Hamlet that's now decrepit is devoid-ed of any colours. Grotesque black strokes of ink shape the outlines of everything: The UIs, the menus, the texts' typeface, the buildings, the various collectable objects and more so of every characters. That being said, that plays it to its favour as it fully ties in to the story and how atrocious the situation is: it sets the stage and raises the stake on how depressing the world truly has gone into.

While we are talking graphics, the next logical thing would be to address the monster and enemy design. To make fairly brief, they are nothing short of amazing and well thought-out. Many monsters have standard ghastly look as you begin : classic skeletons, to wild dogs and madmen. As you progress the game and ramp up in mission difficulties however, they get even more ghoulish. Bosses are the true stars in design though, and should be as they are centre-piece to the story and they all have a unique grotesque, Lovecraftian design to show it.

As for the music and overall sound design, the tone is gloomy, sometime unnervingly silent while traversing the many dungeons' halls, other time thrilling when engaging in combat. My favourite piece however, is the "The Hamlet", the track that plays when visiting the main hub - the Hamlet. I think that Stuart Chatwood, the composer, really did something special there. This track is very intriguing to me as it tethers between drops of hopeful and depressive tones. I think they've really nailed in creating a soothing yet unsettling atmosphere.

The jewel of sound design though, inevitably goes to the narration of the game, performed by talented and late Wayne June (May he rest in peace), that is present throughout every player choice, every discovery and at every return to the Hamlet, after previous expeditions. Something about the cadence of the words and his deep gravelling voice just tie in perfectly with the writing, and it hitches the right spot in my psyche. I sometimes catch myself quoting him out loud during the day, or when playing other games. His overall performance like his character's nightmares was otherworldly and he is sorely missed.

The more challenging

"And now the true test... hold fast, or expire?."

The gameplay loop on the surface is simple :

Recruit heroes, gather them in an handcrafted party tailored to certain needs via each individual skills (Heroes that benefit from debuffs, status effects, against certain enemy type, etc), and level up their Resolve by exploring procedurely generated dungeons and vanquishing the evil and sometime bosses roaming within them. Gather, in a restrained inventory, loot throughout the expeditions such as gold to buy the various services the town offers like skill and arsenal upgrades, or other valuable trinkets and heirloom to upgrade town buildings; thus improving the efficiency of said services. Rinse and repeat until your roster is strong enough to face the Darkest Dungeon.

The real gripe with a lot of players, especially the new ones is the learning curve and overall investment of time required to fully enjoy the game. Heroes that end up dying is a very punishing experience during the expeditions as it drastically lowers the chances of successful runs, and it can also set you back a lot in the beginning when resources are finite. A roster that does not perish instantly though can slowly succumb to stress, which adds in a ton of unwanted parameters, and can be the difference between victory and defeat. The real challenge then is to carefully avoid stressing your party during expeditions as it can lead to members skipping their turn, stressing other heroes or worse, succumbing to heart attacks. I've had my fair share of failed excursions from a single recruit that managed to raise panic in the entire party, leading to a full team wipe. Though this is hard at first, you definitely can and should learn from failure, i.e. what stresses your recruits and how to stop it. This accumulated experience makes each run smoother and all the more satisfying when victorious.

Some will say that a game should be fully enjoyable from the get go, and I do respect this opinion, which is why I understand if these same people end up putting the game down for a while, if not forever. Truth be told, I had a previous 60 hour run that sat idle for a good year when I came back to the game. Darkest Dungeon is a very complicated game to get into, even at standard difficulty. A good tip is to leave the wiki opened and gather as much information / strategies as possible. This will smooth out the experience.

My recommendations :
- Upgrade gears and skills first, as they improve your heroes' base stats, and make them deadlier and harder to hit in more difficult dungeons.
- DO NOT activate the Crimson Court and Colour of Madness DLCs as they increase the game difficulty drastically in the beginning, since they implement various, deadlier monsters that can spawn in standard regions.
- Start with the standard vanilla experience with maybe new hero class unlocked, and activate Districts and other DLCs as you progress and gain confidence.
- Take your time, open the Wiki, seek resources
- Most of all: have fun and be patient, be mindful, be prepared

TL;DR:

This game is a masterclass on how to make a game frustrating.

Like sure sure dark atmosphere, stress and affliction and management is cool.

culprit of trashness.
Accuracy rating - DMG range.
You have a plan. Ok i can do this atk and for Mark and buff and then the next character does this the next does that.
Oops you missed, everything is halted for next round.
Or
You wanna kill a character and you roll 1 damage or somesh.


These things feel so bad. Like literal waste of time bad.


I can't mod the game yet cause I'm on steam deck on vacation. But first thing I'd do, is change accuracy and damage on upgrades or level ups.

So I can at least try and focus on one hero patch him up in town and level them up.

Cause right now, I have a dude leveled survived multiple dungeons.
Just as useless as a fresh recruit.

Like you can't interact with the map proper, cause your focus is directed at surviving basic ass maps and still dying, constantly rotating heroes whilst trying apprentice level maps.

Already bought it back in Beta. Cool concept! Artstyle is great and the voice Actor is legendary.

The newest update has some type of data collection on it. I do not think a game like this needs to collect our data until this gets explained in detail why this is needed I will uninstall the game, Please stay informed about these kind of things and have a nice day.

An incredibly frustrating game that for better or for worse is very addictive.

Lovecraftian dungeon crawler with turn based combat that has incredible art and atmosphere good music wonderful enemy variety intense fights deep and engaging strategy great character variety, looting, upgrades and more. Very difficult but rewards you for learning the game.

I struggled at first and wasn't sure I was getting it but after a while it really became compelling and engrossing. Liking it more and more as I continue playing it.

this game is pretty fun to play and give great atmosphere, and mod make the game 100 times better

A game that I have a love-hate relationship with but is the most enjoyable game I've played.

One of the best games of all time. You will hate all that exists, and you feel ecstasy you've never felt before.
You will feel irrationally close to your roster, which is very unhealthy.
You will feel true loss when the Deathblow hits.
You will gain back your faith in a greater power when you survive a DoT on Death's Door.
Play it. DO IT. Give in to thou temptations!

This game is fairly outdated from a graphics perspective. But it's just oozing style. And the narration is probably the best thing any video game has ever had. It's a brutally addictive game. Don't look to hope. You'll find no quarter here. This game will feed your inner masochist. Embrace it. Mortality clarified in a single blow!

Very conflicted.
Great game marred by over reliance and brutality of the Random Number Generator.
Gets boring fast as completely unfair when it decides misses for you continuously and criticals for the opponents - wasting your time. Obviously, your mileage with vary to whether you've worked out its wasting your time.

Will be glad when games stop wasting their potential on crap RNG.

Real shame, looks great, other mechanics great, let down by a nown and boring flaw.

Don't get me wrong, the game is great, the visuals, theme, the sound, the feeling, almost everything about this game is amazing.
Sadly I cannot recommend this game because of a single point, the GRIND.
It is horrific, boring, repetitive and absolutely annoying.
I really wanted to love this game, but after 20 hours, I can say it isn't for me. This amount of grind is DISGUSTING. This could've been a 9/10 without this much damn grinding.

I'm usually not someone who complains about RNG, but there are just so many variables to manage in this game that I find it hard to really plan for anything. Even on easy mode, the grind is insane. The art is very nice, but dungeons are also made with just a handful of assets. The zones feel different from each other, but each run feels exactly the same. There isn't really a story to hook you either. I feel like there are much better tough as nails, emergent storytelling, RPGs out there.

"madness consumes the mind!"
plunge yourself into the dark horror that is darkest dungeon. feel the anger! feel the fear! feel the madness! buy it for 25 bucks! hate it! love it! give it your all in the depths that is the darkest dungeon!

Finally tried this game after coming on sale for cheap. It's definitely tough and i recommend not looking at guides until you beat the game at least once.

Fun, unforgiving, brutal, gritty, good game overall I like. A lot to learn and a lot of things outside your control that can really fuck things up. Not for everyone and you might not want to replay after the first playthrough like I did

After 35 hours of quality fun it get way too repetitive and boringly easy. At around the first 10 hours my heroes died because I wasn't prepared. Now after another 20 hours I have the whole roster fully upgraded (weapons, armors, skills) and i don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have no inspiration to move forward. Most of the buildings in town don't worth upgrading anymore because i don't need them at all. Nothing new is coming up. If this 30-40 hours of fun worth the price tag for you then go ahead and have quality fun with it. But there are other games that i could sink 1000+ hours into without getting bored for almost the same price tag.

One of the best grinding games I've played. I played it a lot on the iPad and missed it recently so purchased on Steam and started playing it again. There's new content and I'm excited about trying out the new expansions :)

very fun lovely combat system that is fair and unforgiveing would recomend

Darkest Dungeon: The Game That Gave My Anxiety Anxiety
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5 — would get emotionally wrecked again)

Let me start by saying Darkest Dungeon isn’t a game — it’s a full-blown mental health simulator wrapped in a love letter to H.P. Lovecraft and sealed with a blood-soaked wax stamp. Imagine if Edgar Allan Poe, your middle school emo phase, and a sea of tentacles had a baby. That’s Darkest Dungeon.

You start with a happy little group of adventurers, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Fast forward five minutes: one’s paranoid, one’s abusive, one has a gambling addiction, and the last one is hugging the corner whispering “the abyss gazes back.” Classic team-building!

Tentacles? Oh, you bet.
If you don’t like tentacles, first of all: how dare you. Second: this game isn’t for you. There are more slimy appendages here than in a late-night anime forum. By week three in-game, you’ll start questioning if your real-life soup is trying to mind-control you.

Inspired by Lovecraft?
Absolutely. If you’ve read Lovecraft, you’ll recognize the vibes: unexplainable horrors, relentless dread, and vocabulary that makes you say “do I even speak English?” The narrator (voiced by Wayne June — a man whose voice could narrate my grocery list and still make me cry) basically reads excerpts from the Necronomicon while you watch your Crusader have a nervous breakdown because someone looked at him funny.

Mechanics?
Your characters stress out over everything. They’re like Tamagotchis with PTSD. Step on a weird tile? Stress. Teammate coughs? Stress. Something squelches in the dark? Double stress. I’ve seen less drama in reality TV.

And when they die — because they will die — the game just shrugs and tells you to “recruit more meat shields.” Heartwarming.

Final thoughts?
Darkest Dungeon is a beautifully cruel game that teaches you life lessons like:

Never open an ancient tome.

Tentacles are never friendly.

Trust no one. Especially yourself.

And for the love of sanity, bring a jester. You’ll need him more than therapy.

If you’re into atmospheric horror, tactical punishment, and existential dread with a side of calamari, you’ll love this game. Just... don’t get too attached to your party. Or your sanity. Or hope.

This game is really good... It is just so cool with voice and all other things... It brings adventure and dungeon crawling feeling like rare other games... It is also simple and not so easy for advancing in levels... It brings the feeling of 1e Ad&d... there are lots of adventurers to recruit but to level them up and finish adventures is not easy... also there are disadvantages and other quirks developing trough time... Monsters are done very col and comabat, and all is visualy done superb.

Highly recommended for shorter or longer playing... There is also free expansion Black Reliquary which is redone version of this game for free... beside other DLC that brings a lot of new things...

The game is not forgiving. In the beginning, it will be easy to kill enemies on low levels, but you will quickly have to adapt the party composition, sinergy and start to collect gold and trinkets to fix the bad quirks and stress of the characters. On the final levels that are somehow easier than the main campaign (darkest dungeon), the enemies can start focusing on a single hero or a healer which can get annoying.

In a dungeon run, you have limited space so you have to manage the ressources that you bring and the treasure that you collect. You have to watch your health, stress levels, etc.

My main negative point is the difficulty of getting information. Basically, how am I suppose to know that Shrieker returns my lost trinkets (good mecanic). It would be cool, if I could read about the enemy abilities what they can target, etc. At some point I learned that ambushes are a thing. Like there are way too many surprises and gotcha moments without explanation in game. Game gets kinda tedious over time and repetitive. (some elements kinda force you to do multiple money runs or xp grind)

The story is fine, but I wish the ending wasnt that open.

The game mecanics are interesting : there is a decent amount of variations, skills, team compositions. You have to think what you bring to each region. You can change your skills, add trinkets that give buffs and do a bunch of managment like - do I remove the stress from this hero and then I cure his disease during a camping period.

Overall 8/10

Simultaneously one of the most satisfying and soul crushing games there is. Most of the presented difficulty comes from learning - if you aren't willing to adapt to the unique playstyle required then you won't get far, or at least won't be willing to continue past your first major loss. The end game is absolutely nasty and very difficult to prepare for.

+Atmospheric visuals and sound design
+Lots of content and strong DLC
+Old enough and popular enough to have a pretty big mod scene
+The wins feel soooooooo good

+/-Does not play by most modern game rules
+/-Very much a 'mood' dependent game. I've given up multiple times
+/-Little (explicit) explanation for most stats/buffs/debuffs, but there are tooltips for just about everything

-Fun starts to wane during the end game slog, where the losses are legitimately punishing and much harder to recover from
-Having a run destroyed in 1 bad turn never gets easier to stomach
-Don't even bother playing with a controller; if you want to play on the steam deck consider getting a bluetooth mouse

The game goes on massive sales all the time, especially now with the sequel out. Both games play pretty differently and thankfully the release of 2 doesn't automatically make this one outdated. If you don't mind a decidedly brutal difficulty and enjoy discovering all the nuance between various classes and enemies there's no reason to not drop a few bucks for this.

It actually took me several attempts to complete this game, but ya, I enjoyed the stress inducing systems, the risk vs reward systems. I would say the dlcs offer a little diversion from the "main" quest line, offering a few bits of new loot, characters and enemies to face. What I would say though is that the dlcs always seemed a lil expensive for what they were, though they go on sale fairly frequently. I prolly should warn you that this game was no cakewalk for me, I played on the difficulty below "darkest" or hardest and found the game challenging and stressful at times (as it should be.)

Strangely, though I didn't watch any walk-throughs for this game I found that most of the bosses reasonably fair. What you need to be aware of is that there are times where the RNG feels to be actively fighting against you, certain runs will just fail regardless of the tactics you use or employ. Maybe the RNG got better over the updates but there are times when you aren't getting more than a few fights into a dungeon before it goes horribly horribly wrong. I confess I pushed myself to complete this coz I purchased the Black Relinquary. I hear that Darkest Dungeon 2 doesn't have the same love as the first one, but the first game was good as far as I was concerned. You never know, in 5 or so years I might get the second one.

After all those years since the game has been released, it still lacks a propper introduction and the UI on the deck is poorly made in my opinion.

The learning curve was just too high for me, the rewards in the beginning of the game not satisfying enough to stick to it.

Great game overall. Outstanding modding community. Every new mod collection feels like a completely different experience. If you plan on playing this game, do yourself a favor and get some overhall mods after your first run.

long story short it is true what they say about over confidence

R.i.p level 5 Reynold

Darkest Dungeon with all the additions is a much less repetitive game than its basic version, at least if the player looks forward to only complete the major objectives of the game. The minor objectives, like building the Mill or the Red Hook, can drag the game way, way too long than it is enjoyable to play it for, and it does ruin the experience of a normally very unique, constantly thrilling and challenging experience. As someone who grew up with turn-based RPGs, Darkest Dungeon showed me the potential that the combat system still has, for a designer who is willing to risk and do some experiments.

Great game the strategy and planning required might be a turn off for some players but in my opinion a great game if you love strategy, dark horror and medieval theme

>occultist's heal can heal from 0-15
>use it 20-30 times, never 0, always at least 1
>1 still disappointing but eh
>get to boss fight
>occultist on death's door
>literally just need 1 hp
>heal for 0
>die immediately after

Beautiful, dark gothic artwork, really satisfying gameplay and learning curve, and certainly a pretty strong lesson in patience. Totally recommended.

Also the Ancestor is literally the least dramatic dude during consecutive night shifts.

I think ive been putting this review off because I like this game so much and have been unsure that i could do it justice. If you want a game that will coddle you and hold your hand and tell you everything is going to be ok this isnt the game for you. If you think you can perfectly plan and strategize a game and have it go perfectly and anything else is akin to being robbed this game isnt for you.

if you want the thrill of not knowing what exactly is around the next corner and if you are prepared to face it this may be the game for you. If you are ok with not knowing everything and learning by trial and error and even then being vulnerable to failure this game may be for you. If you can roll with the punches and are willing to learn when to hold and when to fold this game may be for you.

This game is a REAL challenge. People may like to cry "RNG! RNG!" at the game when they lose and write a crappy review over it but truly believe it is a good game. A great game even. Because it captures what so many other games are missing. i cant put my finger on it but you can put hundreds of hours into this game and still walk into a dungeon feeling unsure. You can be doing fantastic and the game throws a curveball and half your party is dead. RNG doesn't make this game "unfair". Its gambling. The anticipation of not knowing is a high all on it's own and it feels crappy when you lose but when you win you feel relieved and a wave of dopamine washes over you.

If you TRULY love RNG in all her ways i highly recommend

Where do i begin?

Steep learning curve.
Punishing mechanics.
Curios that screw you over until you learn what should be touched and what shouldn't. (I know there's a wiki but I highly recommend staying off it.)
RNG that swings from heavily in your favour to fuck you in the same fight.
And my personal favourite, Bone Courtiers.

10/10 would indulge in this level of masochism again.

Started the game, everyone died after thet tutorial, then this happened again and again
10/10

If you enjoy logistics based games, dramatic narration, and difficult RPG combat, you'll enjoy Darkest Dungeon.

Phenomenal value for the price of this game! As someone who works long hours, it can be difficult to find time to dedicate to long play sessions. This does a great job of 'scratching that itch' while also giving me an experience I can enjoy for many hours on a weekend binge :)

Challenging, yet fun, game play with a unique design and art style. Game play loop starts to get boring after you've tried different comps, on top of not enough loot variation to justify the need to continually grind dungeons. If it's on sale its definitely worth picking up to kill some time, but other than that its take it or leave it.

Honestly, it's a good game overall.

However, the grind is really bad. It's not an enjoyable grind either. Thumbs down.