Darkest Dungeon

1. joebomb10

   Feb 3, 2015

   10

   Darkest Dungeon is at it’s heart more than just a rogue-like RPG. It’s a tale, a story, an epic if you will. Becoming attached to yourDarkest Dungeon is at it’s heart more than just a rogue-like RPG. It’s a tale, a story, an epic if you will. Becoming attached to your characters cannot be helped and only makes those final blows much more painful to witness. You cannot go wrong with Darkest Dungeon.
   
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   Gameplay: Darkest Dungeon gameplay is slow and methodical, but that does not make it stale. Oh no, the gameplay is as staunch as the droves of monsters you’ll slay. To rush your decisions will lead your party to suffer both mentally and physically. It’s unforgiving, and you’ll probably throw a few cusses at the screen but it’s part of the experience. This is a turned-based strategy gem, and you’ll see that the moment you step into the abyss.
   
   Mechanics: Controls are simple, actions are responsive. It’s a very well designed UI with enough depth to achieve what you want without feeling overwhelmed by navigation. You can literally play the entire game with just a mouse, unless you wish to name your characters after family members (not recommended).
   
   Graphics: Amazing enough to warrant the purchase of an art book. It’s orginal, somber, but warm enough to set it apart from other dreary titles. It takes you back, draws you in, and provides more than enough character and emotion while remaining true to the art direction. Nothing seems out of place, and at the same time everything feels otherworldly.
   
   Story: A solid foundation for a rogue-like game, and more than enough narration and backstory to keep you invested. The story is not the focus, but will provide you with everything you need to understand the world and characters.
   
   Replayability: Very high. There’s tons of upgrades (both town and character) and lots of trinkets to be found, if you stay alive long enough to make use of them. On top of that, there are currently three distinct areas with different enemies and randomized dungeons.
   
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   Recommended: Yes, very.
   Rating: Currently 9.5/10 (rounded up) - This is not a game you want to miss
   
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   Darkest Dungeon is the most original and deadly combination of genres to date. No area of the game is left unpolished, which says a lot for an Early Access title. I will continue to enjoy this game for an endless amount of time as it offers both an immense amount of replayability, depth, and challenge.… Expand

   • 37 of 77 users found this helpful
2. Matseb2611

   Jan 22, 2016

   10

   Darkest Dungeon lets you assemble a roster of dungeon adventurers and send them into dungeons in order to defeat pestilent creatures that haveDarkest Dungeon lets you assemble a roster of dungeon adventurers and send them into dungeons in order to defeat pestilent creatures that have plagued the land in order to fully restore a hamlet back to its former glory. The game is not so much a pure dungeon crawler, but more of a dungeon crawl management simulator (for lack of a better word). You do not only navigate the heroes through a dungeon. You also take full responsibility for their wellbeing. As heroes go through dungeons, they accumulate stress and could even get diseases, and you have to make sure you bring them back to top shape in between your dungeon runs. You do not just control a single party of heroes. You have to rotate several different heroes around and pick the ones most suitable for the job at hand.
   
   There are 4 areas where you can take your expedition: Ruins, Warrens, Weald, and Cove, and each one has its own dangers and challenges, what means that you need to prepare your team accordingly. The dungeons also come in different lengths (Short, Medium, and Long) and of different difficulty (Apprentice, Veteran, and Champion). As of the final release, the final dungeon has been added too (have not yet had the bravery to try it out).
   
   The combat is really fun and in my opinion has a lot of tactical depth to it. It's not just a simple turn-based battle system, but each position within your party setup is important. Some hero classes prefer frontal positions in the squad (like the melee tanks), others prefer to hang back (like healers or ranged attackers).
   
   The game has been balanced around loads during Early Access, and though some aspects of it might feel unfair still, overall the gameplay feels pretty solid and requires a lot of strategising and adjusting to the situation when bad things start to happen. The game can be pretty punishing towards those who do not take caution. And even if you do everything right, things can still go wrong at times, and part of the gameplay is also having to deal with that. The game encourages tip-top preparation and contingency planning. That means that the game is easily not for everyone, but those who do enjoy that sort of thing will be up for a real treat.
   
   Art, music, and voice acting are also superb. Easily a cherry on an already delicious cake.
   
   I would highly recommend this game to anyone who likes a good challenge and doesn't mind it when a game occasionally throws them some curve balls. I can't remember the last time a game has kept me interested for 70 hours and counting.… Expand

   • 2 of 9 users found this helpful
4. Rogyapa

   Apr 1, 2016

   9

   From the journal of Dismas the Highwayman, week 11: "Into the mouth of madness we march. Our food rations and torches are running low. TheFrom the journal of Dismas the Highwayman, week 11: "Into the mouth of madness we march. Our food rations and torches are running low. The gurgling of our stomachs is only offset by the oppressive darkness surrounding us. Every step is another step towards either death or hard fought victory. The Crusader has become abusive towards the rest of us and the Vestal has started stealing from the loot piles. The Crusader is beginning to wear on my patience and puts all of us on edge with his incessant insults and ridiculing. I fear will we not even reach the wisened Hag at this rate. The Bounty Hunter has managed to keep his wits about him so far, though. We trudge from room to room battling all foes that appear in front of us. I have been poisoned by those damnable spitting spiders and we have no antivenom left. I manage to overcome the poison's effects by the time we reach the entrance to the Hag's room. We enter the room and the Hag immediately throws the Crusader in her stewpot. She then proceeds to bludgeon me with a meat tenderizer. I contemplate letting the Crusader die, but he is too valuable against tough and unholy foes.The hag throws frogs and eyeballs at the Vestal and calls it "seasoning the food". The Vestal is terribly unhappy about being pummeled by eyballs and dead frogs and finally cracks. She sobs, calling out to her god, begging him to save her from death. The Bounty Hunter marks the hag for death while I take aim and shoot her in the face. The Vestal tries to knock the stew pot over to save the Crusader and is eventually successful. The Crusader suffers some burns from the boiling stew but is otherwise intact. The Hag keeps bludgeoning us with that bloody tenderizing hammer. The Vestal is barely surviving and only because the Crusader keeps healing her. The Bounty hunter hacks at her with his axe dealing critical damage. I blast the hag in the face once more and the Crusader charges forward ramming his blade into her bloated body. She screams her death knell and we are showered in blood and riches. We make our way back to town laden with treasure and horror-filled minds.We were lucky to survive those infernal ruins. I spend the next week drinking to decompress while the Crusader buys hookers and the Vestal prays in the cathedral. The Bounty Hunter gets banned from both the brothel (for having...curious tastes) and the bar so we let him gamble to blow off steam. After the Vestal finishes her praying we send her to the sanitarium to be cured of her kleptomania. It's quite hard to steal loot when you're strapped to a bed, isn't it Vestal?"
   
   TLDR: Turn-based roguelike dungeon crawler with sanity, personality quirks, diseases, permadeath and other factors making it a pretty robust game. It's very polished with no apparent bugs other than some grammatical errors.… Expand

   • 3 of 7 users found this helpful
5. setuis

   May 30, 2016

   8

   The premise of darkest dungeon is great the flaws however.
   
   1. When walking to a door why can't you go through it if your characters areThe premise of darkest dungeon is great the flaws however.
   
   1. When walking to a door why can't you go through it if your characters are directly on top of it.
   2. Regarding your supplies why do they get sold automatically after each mission?.
   3. Having no real to lose stress means you often just lose due to heart attacks which makes game unbalanced (strees should recover over time e.g 5-10 stress per room also party should be allowed to seprate so that 1 person can scout ahead at an increased stress rate so your party doesn't get surprise attacked and streesed out.… Expand

   • 2 of 4 users found this helpful
6. Koruchekov

   Jul 20, 2020

   7

   This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Довольно красочная игра, однако очень уж однообразная и монотонная.… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
7. praisethesun11

   Jan 27, 2016

   5

   TLDR Pros and Cons will follow.
   I really really really wanted to absolutely love this game. It was exactly what I was looking for and in manyTLDR Pros and Cons will follow.
   I really really really wanted to absolutely love this game. It was exactly what I was looking for and in many ways it's the perfect pick up and play game. You can hop in and do 1 or 2 dungeons and be done in 30 minutes or less, or you can really grind out some new adventures and log 4+ hour runs. The game autosaves constantly (major props to all games that do this) and forces you to live with your decisions. It encourages you to experiment with the wide variety of classes and skills that you have access to in order to come up with the perfect teams (yes, plural) that suit your vision. However, that's where creativity and player choice ends. Very quickly you realize that no matter how much thought you put into your team, the battle will be decided by RNG. I'm generally a huge fan of RNG. Praise be unto RNGesus! But in this case your perfect strategy can be completely ruined by bad luck. If I go into much detail it will just sound like complaining, but understand that this game is NOT fair. All of the mechanics of the game are stacked against you, and quick thinking and careful planning means nothing. As an XCOM, Dark Souls, and Fire Emblem veteran I expect to be challenged, but this game is cruel, in a bad way. Sometimes a Veteran-level dungeon is a breeze because everything swings your way, and sometimes an Apprentice-level dungeon is a sadistic nightmare in its first battle. To be quite honest, I think this game is exactly what the developers wanted to make and with a few tweeks it could be amazing, but at this time, for this review, it's not quite there.
   
   Pros:
   +Fantastic art direction, animation, and music that really sets the mood
   +The mood. Its dark, eerie, and perfect for dungeon crawling.
   +Diverse group of classes and enemies
   +Permadeath with no option to turn it off
   +Stress mechanic (also a negative)
   +The inability to grind lower-tier dungeons
   
   Cons:
   -Far too reliant on RNG (game-breaking)
   -No story
   -Very few areas
   -Uninteresting loot and level-up mechanics
   -Stress mechanic (also a positive)
   -Bugs abound (lost save files, crashes to desktop)*
   
   *playing on high-end PC… Expand

   • 11 of 15 users found this helpful
8. chialeos

   Sep 12, 2021

   0

   this game cured all of my friends longing depression

   • 0 of 1 users found this helpful

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