Short review: Darkest Dungeon

[rasputinParticipant 52]

Recently purchased Darkest Dungeon which is an early access game that has been talked up by the gaming community.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/262060/

It is a party based roguelike game with turn based mechanics similar to what you would find in a jrpg.  The maps you explore (and I assume the enemy groups) are random as well as the mission objectives.

The unique mechanic is that your party members have a “stress” meter in addition to their health meter, and if they get too stressed out they start to exhibit psychological problems, like becoming a masochist that won’t let you heal them, or becoming abusive which increases the stress of the rest of the party.

To relieve your stress you have to assign your units to activities in town like gambling or praying.  These activities can potentially add other psychological quirks.  However units assigned to stress relief can’t adventure that week so you need to develop a deeper roster to keep ransacking the dungeons.

The progression structure is similar to Rogue Legacy where you spend your lewt to upgrade either your toons or the facilities in town.

The game is oldschool “hardcore” mode in that there is no reloading saves, if you lose a guy he is lost forever, if you make a mistake upgrading you have to live with it.  It may require a couple of restarts to find your groove.

The graphics are gorgeously detailed hand drawn gothic/steampunk style sprites and while there is no animation the camera work of the combat makes the fighting visceral and compelling.

One standout aspect of the game is the sound design, from the emotive narrator to the attacks to the miscellaneous effects.  Everything works together to immerse you in the grim and dirty world the game is creating.

The game is unfinished and there appear to be some balance issues but overall I would still recommend it and I don’t regret spending $20 full retail on its current state.

Rasputin

[FrankyParticipant 2338]

Ah, darkest dungeon was really enjoyable.They changed the stun system so you can’t stun lock opponents forever now.If any of you want to play it here’s  some of the stuff that interacts with certain objects:

1)shovel-rubble;locked cabinet;grave(only in weald area)

2)holly water-pagan altar;ashes;shrines;

when used on confessional booth results in -50 stress for character using it;

when used on effigy gives a good quirk to character using it;

3)key-locked chests;locked cabinets

4)medicinal herbs-when used on animal carcases and meat wagons gives food;alchemy tables;iron maidens;

5)bandages- mummified corpse;spiderwebs;knife boards;

6)torches –

when used on alchemy tables gives +100% light

when used on piles of scrolls remove a negative quirk!

7)antivenom-when used on old tree gives you loot and s~~~

 

[cicer0Participant 46]

rasputin wrote:

The unique mechanic is that your party members have a “stress” meter in addition to their health meter, and if they get too stressed out they start to exhibit psychological problems, like becoming a masochist that won’t let you heal them, or becoming abusive which increases the stress of the rest of the party.

Sounds like my last marriage.

[Author]

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