So as a big turn based strategy game and Lovecraft fan you can imagine my excitement when I first came across this game.

So Darkest dungeon is basically a Gothic turn based RPG game published by Red Hook studios released on multiple platforms in early 2016. You find out that you have inherited an enormous estate from your relative who while exploring and excavating dungeons unearths portals to dark dimensions releasing a plethora of horrific creatures. Your job is to recruit heroes and rid the estate of the unleashed horrors. However they are not your only enemy. Your party of adventurers also has to watch out for dying of hunger, diseases, stress and you have to keep them from going insane, which can honestly turn you insane (and I don’t mean ingame). It can be very hard from the start. Your heroes keep dying, you keep losing resources getting annoyed.

It also has a complex battle system which combines traditional elements with a fresh unique quirks and a huge variety of adventures all with their unique skills both in and out of fights. One of the keys of getting better at the game is knowing which adventurers to pair together and even knowing where to place them before each fight, something that your enemies can exploit startling and confusing your party before each fight. And you will have to get used to losing a lot of your adventurers. Like a lot, so don’t get attached to any of them. It also has beautiful visuals. I absolutely loved the art style of the game. The narrator did a fantastic job and his eerie voice keeps you company trough the game. You can see that a lot of effort was put in the game and I really appreciate it.

A very interesting aspect of the game is how adventurers can evolve (or devolve). Even if you have multiple characters of the same class the adventures will have a different effect on them. Some will get more stressed from certain things while others will not be able to resist their urges and will steal the loot for themselves. A key part of the game is to pay attention to the stress. It can make or brake your heroes. If you are not careful some of the adventurers can have a heart attack and die mid dungeon run or even worse turn on you in the middle of a fight and start attacking your other adventurers. Remember to lower their stress when you return from dungeons by taking them drinking or in brothels.

It’s a very stressful and hard game. You will get headaches and be annoyed throughout the entirety of the game. And you will be playing it for a long time. It takes a lot of grinding before you understand how to actually survive and move forward. But for some odd reason that’s the best part of the game. I absolutely loved playing this no matter how annoyed I got and even though it is not a game that everyone will enjoy I highly recommend it.

I have not finished the game to give it a final score but for now it’s at least a 9/10.