Darkest Dungeon for PC Reviewed

Developer: Red Hook Studios
Publisher: Red Hook Studios
Genre: rogue-like, 2D dungeon crawler, RPG, survival horror
Released: January 19, 2016
Genre: Rogue-Like RPG
Platform: PC, Mac OS X, Steam OS+ Linux, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, XBox One, Apple App store, Nintendo Switch (PC version reviewed)

You are the caretaker of an estate left to you by your ancestor, who awakened a festering abomination and it’s up to you to hire heroes to defeat the monsters in the darkest dungeon. It is a game where your playable characters die permanently, but you can always recruit more. It’s a very difficult game because of the permanent death aspect, but it’s so fun to play.

Darkest Dungeon is an interesting game because most role-playing video games don’t have perma-death as a game mechanic. The interesting element of stress because of going on quests is something no other role-playing game has ever done before.

Having your characters gain or lose stress during quests makes it even harder to progress. I really enjoyed it because it makes the game more interesting and challenging.

Stress is such a fascinating game mechanic and it constantly keeps the player on their toes because you never know what will happen in a dungeon run. You can be winning a fight and it will end horribly because of the fighter’s stress that has negative results can doom your entire team if they all have negative stress because they can literally die of a heart attack!

Darkest Dungeon hard, and it’s because of there are so many different ways your quest can fail, but it’s so much fun because it can be very addicting. It’s so much fun and I love it.

It is a very addictive game that you want to keep playing so your players can level up and go to the Darkest Dungeon.

This game is difficult and will make you rage quit, and sometimes you’ll have to start over because you don’t have enough money to continue, but I find the game to be so much fun that I don’t mind starting over.

It can get frustrating if you run out of money or if you don’t prepare for your quests by bringing enough supplies. And even if you over prepare, you can still be party-wiped by bad luck during an encounter.

And you will rage quit over full party wipes; I’ve done it a lot. It’s going to happen!

A lot of negative reviews are mainly complaints about how the game can be very unfair, but the opening screen warns the player that this game is about making the best of a bad situation, not about being the boring invincible hero.

I love the music in this game. It fits the mood and the atmosphere of the game perfectly and Stuart Chatwood is an excellent composer. The music is just fantastic and I’m so happy that it is also available for download if I want to listen to the music separately!

Wayne June voices the Anscestor who is the narrator during the game and he does an outstanding job. He usually reads audiobooks so he’s not very well known in the gaming community but I hope he gets more voice acting jobs because he was fantastic as the Ancestor.

He carries the entire game when it comes to voice acting because he is the only voice you hear throughout the entire game, but the writing is so good that you’ll enjoy listening to him while you play.

The writing for the game is also fantastic and something I really enjoy due to the excellent voice acting by Wayne June.

There’s a lot to take in with this game, managing party members stress and supplies, it can be very daunting, but there are a lot of guides on YouTube that you can watch that gives newcomers a crash course in the game.

The fact that there’s so much to manage in this game can make it very daunting.

Once you get the hang of everything the game is so much fun, but the learning curve is very steep so YouTube guides are very helpful, especially when you are just getting started.

The DLC is fantastic, the Crimson Court makes the game even more challenging. It also adds the Flagellant healer class as well. He has his own skill set and quirks and he adds interesting elements to the game.

The Crimson Court is also has challenged new levels and bosses and the Crimson Curse that turns your party members into bloodsuckers.

The Shieldbearer DLC adds a new class to your roster and she's a very interesting one to use.

The Color of Madness DLC has been released and promises even more gameplay elements and I'm very excited about it.

Darkest Dungeon is not a game that will appeal to everyone. Some people won’t like perma-death or others will think it’s too difficult.

Of course, the random number generation will irritate a lot of people. It’s part of the game and no matter how much you over-prepare, you’ll probably end up with a party wipe.

Darkest Dungeon is a difficult, challenging game that tests you, challenging you with both difficulty and item management. Do you take risks and reap big rewards or do you play it safe and have everyone survive?

Darkest Dungeon does tend to have the random number generator run over you. You can do everything right and still have a complete party wipe, just because it can still party wipe you anyway.

There is something special about this game, and it’s one of my favorites!

Darkest Dungeon is a fascinating experience and makes dungeon-crawler RPGs interesting and entertaining because the stress mechanic makes it interesting because of the new aspect of stress management, along with inventory management.

The game isn’t something every gamer will enjoy because of the steep learning curve. It is a time-sink to learn but there are a lot of YouTube tutorial videos to watch in order to learn quickly, and not just let's play videos.

The DLCs are a lot of fun and it's one of the only times I will pay full price for DLC because this game is so much fun for me. I usually wait until DLC is discounted before I buy it if I buy it.

The difficulty of the game might be unappealing to some gamers, but this game wasn’t made for every gamer. It can please its target audience but may frustrate newcomers to rogue-like games with random number generators.

All the DLC has been released, The Crimson Court and Color of Madness are available for purchase.

Darkest Dungeon 2 has been announced. It is going to be released in Early Access sometime in 2031.

The story is fantastic. I love the gameplay, it always keeps me on my toes and it’s always challenging.

The music and the voice acting are fantastic. The game is difficult and addicting and keeps me coming back to play it. Not for the faint of heart or easily frustrated, but it’s worth buying!