Placement in the party determines which abilities are usable, while enemy placement affects which enemies you can hit with certain attacks. Dungeons are explored on a 2D plane, and your party of up to four heroes is arranged in a line. It asks: What if those dungeon crawls weren't about getting better loot or higher levels, but about fighting for your very survival and sanity? I could not sit and play Darkest Dungeon for long stretchesĬombat in Darkest Dungeon blends traditional, turn-based role-playing game mechanics with some original quirks. It takes the fantasy role-playing game mold that's developed from the power fantasy of Dungeons & Dragons, and digs for something deeper and more sinister.

But it's also key to the thesis of Darkest Dungeon. This sounds bad and frustrating, and sometimes it is.

Inevitably I hit a terrible string of bad luck and worse strategic decisions, lost heart in my campaign, and had to step away and build up my spirit again. At my best, I could last three or four hours. There's a reason for that unlike with most review games, I simply could not force myself to sit and play Darkest Dungeon for long stretches. You may notice that this review is arriving a month after the game's official, 'full' release out of early access. I don't know that any game has ever left me feeling so utterly defeated as Darkest Dungeon.

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