Darkest Dungeon Reviews
Even while wading through some minor issues, Darkest Dungeon is enthralling. Even if I crave sunshine and rainbows after spending too much time in this world, it sticks in the back of my mind and I idly think about what team I'll put together to try to mount my next dungeon crawl. It's a dark and gloomy game, but the overall blend of combat, exploration, and town management adds up to a fantastic gameplay loop that sucks away time as you try to outwit the deadly creatures and obstructions all around the darkest dungeon.
Another indie hit that has managed the transition very well to the Nintendo Switch. A good turn-based RPG that is not as easy to get into in the start but grows on you with time.
What surprised me was how much this simulation of the irascible human spirit reminded me of some of my favorite moments playing RPGs around the table with friends.
A gripping, unforgiving, complex dungeon crawler that translates lovecraftian themes excellently into its world. There are few indies out there that do everything as well as Darkest Dungeon. From art style to gameplay, from sound design and narrator, which is truly exceptional, and the writing Darkest Dungeon oozes quality.
The interface and difficulty are intimidating at first but Darkest Dungeon provides a deep foreboding atmosphere complemented by the intense challenge that will test even the most seasoned gamer.
Darkest Dungeon manages to make turn-based combat terrifying for entirely different reasons.
An estate in ruins, eldritch horrors, and eagerly suicidal heroes. Darkest Dungeon know its audience, and they’re the best kind of masochists.
Greed is a dangerous thing in strategy games and dungeon crawlers and Darkest Dungeon plays on it well. It's always dangling a carrot in front of you, encouraging you to go further despite the fact that further may mean your demise. If you're a fan of strategy games and classic horror settings then Darkest Dungeon is a no brainer.
Darkest Dungeon is characterised by unique style and tough gameplay. It demands deep understanding of game mechanics to succeed, but also allows for slow and methodical gameplay while discovering them on our own. 2D sprite-based graphic is executed perfectly along with simple animations to create an awesome game.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Tough and unforgiving, yet keeps you coming back.
Darkest Dungeon is a beautifully atmospheric side-on animated hack and slash, dungeon crawler that lets you assemble a party of four stalwart heroes. You begin your journey in a Hamlet that you can eventually restore and build-up to accommodate new buildings and new features to allow you to survive that much longer. Here you'll recruit your heroes from a roster in the Stage Coach, which initially starts out pretty thin with only a few members and low-rank heroes to choose from.
What I love about Darkest Dungeon is that it knows it’s difficult and it knows it’s going to challenge you. My biggest concern is that by the nature of what it sets out to be, it will put a lot of people off before they even play as it does require the player to put effort into it to understand all of the nuances and general aspects that simply isn’t there in most other games.
Darkest Dungeon is just short of being an absolute masterpiece, but is still an amazing game. Red Hook Studios meticulously crafted a memorable experience that is fun to play in short bursts or get lost in for hours.
In the end it’s the difficulty and unpredictability at the core of the game that will either make it incredibly appealing to you or rightfully scare you away. There’s no glory without challenge and sacrifice and when you manage even small victories in Darkest Dungeon they can feel terrific. Sadly, even when you carefully manage your resources and try to keep your accumulated rotation of characters in good shape you’ll need to accept that any happy thoughts and feelings are often fleeting. One particularly bad mission can cripple even your AAA team if enough manages to go wrong and while you can pay to remedy afflictions the cost will make you think it over very carefully. It’s both thrilling and depressing and captures the essence of what makes roguelikes so interesting all at once. If you’re a fan of this style of play it is an easy recommendation but if you’ve not dipped your toe in the pool yet this may be a bit deeper an end to jump into than most so you’ve been warned.
Darkest Dungeon delivers an intense and challenging experience while keeping the player invested 100% of the time, with some impressive visuals, fun combat and hours of entertainment. Just make sure to pray to RNGesus!
I was completely enthralled with this game. It makes the most of its assets to create a dynamic RPG with characters whose personalities are changed by the journeys they embark on. The writing is deliciously dark and detailed, and the journal entries embellish this factor of the game perfectly. The art style is very detailed, and while the animations are simple, the camera zooming in dramatically at key moments makes it feel much more epic than it would otherwise. Darkest Dungeon will provide you with as many as 80 hours of gameplay thanks to how it cleverly employs procedurally generated content, permadeath and not forcing you to start the whole game over when your team dies. It is a stressful game and not for the faint of heart, but it features an easier mode for beginners. I found this to be one of the strongest indie games which I have played on my Switch, and it's score will reflect that. I'm giving it a 9.5/10. This game is fantastic and is worth playing for anyone willing to attempt to explore the darkest dungeon.
Red Hook Studios' Darkest Dungeon wins on all fronts by offering a challenging and addictive gameplay. Everything is underlined by a great gothic style art direction and soundtrack, original mechanics and fun blend of rogue-like, turn-based and RPG games.
Darkest Dungeon is a wonderfully dark, depressing, and harrowing journey into an incredibly hostile world, and uses stress as a gameplay mechanic in ways I want to see used more often.
Darkest Dungeon on PC is a fantastic game, and its Vita and PS4 versions carry on the tradition. Their interface is slightly clunky, but a few imperfections can't keep the classic gameplay down.
I can't say enough nice things about Darkest Dungeon. Its presentation is brilliant, its systems are smart and well-constructed, and it does a lot to subvert what we should expect from the average dungeon crawler. For a game built around slowly grinding up multiple parties of adventurers, it's remarkable how fresh it can feel even after more than 50 hours. It's only January, but Darkest Dungeon is already one of my favorite games of the year.