---INTRO---
"This sprawling estate, a Mecca of madness and morbidity. Your work begins"

With the sequel coming up, I have been re-playing Darkest Dungeon. This is a Lovecraftian, turn-based, side scrolling, hub based, roguelike, survival rpg (what a mouthful). It was released 2017-2018 across various consoles and is developed by Red Hook Studios and published by Merge Games. As I am currently playing the steam version this is where I will place my review and let me get this out of the way...I love this game. It's brutal and unforgiving at times which only serve to highlight the moments of success and triumph. It's ambiance draws you in and heaps on you the oppressive atmosphere of the game while pushing you forward through ruined landscapes and deadly battles with horrors that are sometimes incomprehensible, and sometimes all too mundane. It constantly makes you evaluate risk v. reward and occasionally lulls you into a false sense of security only to shatter that security with an ambush and several unfortunately well placed crits. Some say the game is all RNG but that is absolutely not true. Strategy, preparation, prediction, and evaluation of your circumstances are key here. However, RNG is still a factor here as no matter how OP you feel you are, it can always creep up and cause misfortunate. And misfortune must be taken in stride because if you are bold you will lose people, you will have units go mad, you will fail. But that's ok, because loss just means more work and all is not lost. And remember, if a unit dies "More arrive, foolishly seeking fortune and glory in this domain of the damned". So, let's head into the specifics and details found within...the Darkest Dungeon.



---GAMEPLAY---
"Welcome home, such as it is. This squalid hamlet, these corrupted lands, they are yours now, and you are bound to them."

The game begins with 2 units, Reynauld and Dismas, a Crusader and Highwayman respectfully (think Paladin and Rogue) who serve as your first two units. You begin with combat. Each character has multiple skills, of which typically only 4 can be equipped at a time (there are a few exceptions) that they can use. Combat has a max of 4 enemies and 4 heroes at a time (though sometimes more enemies pop up, sometimes many more, in a single fight, it'll never be more that 4 at the same time) and both heroes and enemies are placed in a line. Position is important as some skills can only be used from certain positions, and can only effect heroes or enemies within certain positions. A heroes can move positions but that takes a turn and some can only move 1 space or so. In combat you have a lot of typical things, damage, crits, dodge, healing. You also have familiar status effects and debuffs. Enemies and heroes have various resistances and you can view percentages to decide if you think it's worth trying to stun that eldritch monster, or to confirm that yes, your bleed effect will indeed be ineffective on that Skeleton with 200% bleed resist. Another mechanic is stress. Stress builds various ways in and out of combat and can also be reduces various ways. If it reaches 100, they break and either suffer an affliction such as paranoia or Masochism, or less likely a virtue such as vigorous or stalwart. Once through the tutorial of the game, you end up at the Hamlet. This hamlet is your home base (and literally your ancestral home). From here you have various upgrades, stress reduction for highly stressed or afflicted heroes, new heroes that want to join, shops, all that good stuff. Various aspects can be upgraded offering more trinkets for sale or more/better champions joining. And from here, you select your next dungeon. There are dungeons of various levels in various places and listed rewards. Available dungeons are random, however they will typically reflect hero levels you have and will have a boss dungeon if the path to a boss is cleared in that area. Dungeons are usually randomly generated by blocks you side scroll through selecting your next location. All the time the Darkest Dungeon, a max level Dungeon, looms in the top right corner. You go there right away, you WILL lose. You can technically go there anytime, but avoid until you're ready. A week passes every dungeon, and after so many weeks new events can trigger. In the dungeons you use gold to bring along supplies required, torches for light, food, shovels, holy water bandages. Various things that will be of use. They take up inventory space and can prevent you from carrying as much treasure home as you'd like for more money. Treasure or supplies? Just another choice the game constantly forces you to make.

Critique? It sometimes gets a little grind heavy. Not too bad, but enough I notice. And it's especially frustrating when you're only high level healer dies (did I mention this game has permadeath, don't think I did) and you have to grind up a new one. Still, it never feels a complete waste of time and often can take time for you to remove afflictions or negative quirks effecting your high level heroes while you sort out your new healer in the baby dungeons. And still gets you supplies to upgrade your hamlet which is your constant base of operations and home. Now one may wonder what you're doing here at this hamlet...well glad you asked.



---STORY---
"My obsession caused this great foulness, and it is shameful that I must rely upon you to set it right"

A quick summary of the plot I've heard around holds true "Local man ruins everything!" and a line from the narrator may ring in your head over and over and you uncover more of the plot. "In time, you will know the tragic extent of my failings..." He could not be more correct. Let's explain.

"Ruin has come to our family" You receive a letter from your Ancestor explaining an unfathomable evil has enveloped your ancestral estate and is spreading. An evil released by...him. His avarice, cruelty, and debauchery led him to finally excavating this horror. Upon unleashing this cosmic entity on the world he realizes the horrors he's caused not just in that moment, but in his life leading to it. He has given you his estate and asked you to clean up his mess while he busies himself with taking his own life. The ancestor acts as the narrator as well, narrating the events as you go through the game. The story unfolds as you learn more and more about the atrocities your ancestor caused and realize he was a monster as great as anything you've encountered.

There are also stories unfolding about the damaged and often either tragic or cruel creatures that find themselves flocking to your hamlet as heroes to fight this darkness. All in search of something.. meaning, riches, glory, maybe even death. A man of the law who found the deepest depravity in the system he upheld.. a bandit who's viciousness went too far for even his compromised conscious to take.. a woman shackled and enslaved by her own beauty who had to sacrifice much to finally be free who yet still isn't free of the nightmares.. a disgraced woman of the cloth.. a mutated monstrosity cast out of society.. An entertainer who snapped violently under the laughter as he played the fool.. A doctor who's curiosities went beyond the medical and beyond the sane. They all have a story. They are all broken. After all, what sane person would come here?

The story here is not a happy one. It is a story of the darkness not only in the deepest reaches of the universe, but also within the shadowed corners of the heart of man. However, in this warped and twisted story, you find brilliant highlights. Small seeds of hope that shine all the brighter for the decay strewn around them.

The story is told much in the style popularized by Dark Souls. That is to say, to not really tell it. Beyond a few cutscenes the story unfolds mostly through loading screens, item descriptions, journal pages strewn about, and through the Ancestors narration. Your involvement in the story in up to you, but if you're into Lovecraftian nightmares and themes of depravity and moments of light...then I highly recommend getting involved in it. It's a good one.
Only critique I can give is simply I wish there was more of it.



---AMBIANCE (Graphics and Sound)---
"There is method in the wild corruption here. It bears a form both wretched and malevolent"

I've mentioned the Narrator before. Well, he's a big part of the ambiance here. The narrator is words left by the Ancestor, and they are both constant and exceedingly well written. His voice is deep and dark like the themes of the game and pop up in reaction to most things you are doing. They offer bits of story sometimes, mood setting, and even framework for your fights. It's well executed and enjoyable, though there is more adding to the ambiance. Light levels slowly dropping, the artistic and dark animation style of the whole game, the foreboding and occasionally creeping soundtrack. The visceral sound effects as well. Beyond the narrator itself nothing is really stand out on it's own, the graphics quality is well done but not exceptionally visually stunning, the sound track sets tone well but is simple, ect. But where they shine isn't alone, it's in their execution. Everything works together perfectly to add to the feel the game is shooting for and gives that frayed and desperate sensation as you push on with a party who is injured and going mad. The sprites aren't complex, but they give you the feel of these tortured souls and allow you to connect with them. It all works together exceptionally well while remaining subtle. The focus here isn't the graphics or soundtrack, it's the experience and it works.

Critique time- The Narrator's dialogue is interesting and smoothly delivered... the first dozen times you hear a line. You will eventually find yourself mockingly repeating the line with him the 100th time you've heard "Remind yourself that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer" yeah dude...I get it.



---THE DEPTHS OF THE DUNGEON (Depth and Addictiveness)---
"Leave nothing unchecked, there is much to be found in forgotten places."

So, this game has a lot of little stuff going on but very little of it is actually new. None of the mechanics really feel fresh in their own right. Again though, like I said in a previous section, the strength here comes in execution. The mechanics are simple, but the game forces you to fully utilize and understand most of them to thrive, and gives you a ton of methods to approach situations through these mechanics and ways to use them that you might not initially think of. It all does it's best to keep you from getting into a single method. You have a favorite party and combat strategy? Maybe your characters end up with a quirk that prevents that strategy, maybe they die, maybe you go to a section where that strategy doesn't work anymore, maybe the rng just causes a vital part to fail and you have to adapt. That word is key, adapt. And that's where the depth comes in beyond the simple size of the game. So many small mechanics, so many strategies and different enemy types. Even the bosses all use uniquely mechanics that switch up how you fight them. You have to adapt to every situation, and make choices whether to proceed or run away in shame. And there are always collectables and trinkets to find, units to master, and dungeons to die in. And you'll want to try them out. That's why I combined depth and addictiveness because the addictiveness is from the depth. You'll want to keep trying out different party compositions, different strategies, keep unlocking more and getting more trinkets and...Oh my...is it 5am already? Oh no...

Critique...Not really here. Only complaint I have here is this game has prevented me from getting enough sleep for the next day far too many times.


---DIFFICULTY---
"The sin is not in being outmatched, but in failing to recognize it."

This part is important and may be a stopping point for a lot of people, but let me state this. Darkest Dungeon is as hard as you want it to be. Play cautiously, run when things are going bad, load up on supplies? You'll have little trouble reaching the end. It'll take awhile, but you'll get there. You will loose someone almost certainly. You'll make mistakes. You might even end up with a party wipe followed by an immediate auto-save. No reloading to undo mistakes here. It's all ok though, you have new people pouring in, you can get those unique trinkets back, and you can build up a team just as good or even better than the one you lost and take on that boss again. You will be kicked down, if you take a lot of risk it'll happen a lot, but you will gain for your risk and you'll always be able to get back up. To learn from your mistakes, and to prepare. The kicks down won't always feel fair but it's not about what happens to you, but how you adapt. SO the enemy just chained crits and outright murdered your healer..such is life..what are you gonna do about it?

Critique, the rng can be a little screwy sometimes and occasionally the percentages chances they show you feel meaningless, which can be frustrating and feel unfair. This can absolutely be a deal breaker for some and I'll admit I've raged before. But again, the focus is on how you handle these moments and if you keep that in mind you'll be fine.



---THE END---
"Most will end up here, covered in the poisoned earth, awaiting merciful oblivion"

This game is brutal, merciless, daunting, and morbid. And it's a blast. You feel at a disadvantage most of the time and even when you feel in control it can cut you back down at a moments notice. But you push through, you master, you adapt, and you conquer and the joy in doing so is without measure. It's well tuned and fair in overall design even when it doesn't always feel so in the moment. This game in engrossing and absorbing and you can get lost in it for days, figuratively and literally. It's difficulty and sudden turns can be off putting for many, but if you keep the right perspective you'll be fine. This games embodies the quote "It's not whether you fall but how you pick yourself back up again that matters" and the experience is fantastic if you keep that in mind. I recommend this game highly if you're the type who doesn't mind set backs and frustrations in favor of the overall experience and challenge. If that's not your kinda game, understandable, but if it is...I hope to see you in the twisted halls..of the Darkest Dungeon.