Darkest Dungeon is a type of adventure game wherein you invest and manage a troop of characters, give them equipment, and make sure they stay sane as they traverse the deepest depths. It gives a refreshing take on the genre as you manage stress levels along with equipment and skills.
Darkest Dungeon Will Let You Die, and Die Some More
Start Darkest Dungeon and it will open up with players waking up from a nightmare. There is much to say from the opening alone. There is a lush, foreboding music that goes along with the dark, visual style and the brilliant voice acting. It may be just a series of cartoon stills, but it can make the hair on your back stand on one end out of fear and pure amazement.
As for its plot, it will involve sending a group of adventurers into a dungeon located underneath an old mansion. The previous owner of said property unleashed all hell underground just to satiate their desires of the flesh. Gameplay, at its core, is a turn-based RPG. Players will explore the depths of Darkest Dungeon (PC, Mac, Linux) in search of treasure. But of course, everything is not that easy as the path to riches are guarded by a collection of grotesque villains.
True to its RPG roots, the characters, or rather the adventurers, are class-based. They have their own different types of attacks and skills. Players are also encouraged to mix and match them with different combinations. This is vital to make sure that they come back alive, and in one piece.
Choice of characters and their formation pose the first challenges. Players will need to bring the right combination to explore each dungeon. For instance, should you go into a dungeon without bringing a healer, then you will be cut down in no time flat. Also, should you run out of torches during your travels below dungeons, each monster you come across will immediately gain an attack bonus.
Perhaps the most unique feature in this game is the management of Stress levels. As your adventurers will dive deeper into the mansion, the nightmarish environment and the monsters that lie within will take a toll towards their sanity. Stress is measured by means of a gauge. Once it fills, the character will then do away with their common thoughts and things can take a complete 180-degree turn from that point.
While Darkest Dungeon won’t be appealing to every type of gamer, it is still worth a try. It is brought to life with a great combination of fantastic voice acting, excellently dark graphics, and a unique style of surviving a dungeon.