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Key · 05-01-2016, 05:22 PM

Darkest Dungeon

I've been anxiously waiting for this month to be able to talk about this game, because not only is it a fantastic release in the indie game world, it's by far one of the best indie games i've ever played. I remember a while back I heard about this game from another member here, and I was eager to pick it up, but for some reason it just fell on the backburner. Recently I decided to pick it up because I saw Northernlion playing it, and I was instantly impressed with the game and everything it had to offer.

So i'll try to give you a good idea of what to expect from this game, because although the game looks fantastic and plays fantastic, there is a lot to it mechanics wise that can be difficult to understand through words. Basically, if you imagine a side scrolling dark souls, you pretty much hit the nail on the head. Yes, Darkest Dungeon plays as a side scroller, but it's also a dungeon crawler, you have a party system, you can get loot, you kill enemies in a basic turn based RPG style, and you can level up your party with every dungeon you complete.

The dungeon system works in a way that compliments the game really well. Once you submerge yourself into a not so difficult, or a super difficult dungeon, you have to complete a certain percentage of the dungeon in order to classify it as "complete", but it doesn't only stop there. You can't just get into the dungeon and fight your way through because there are other aspects you have to be aware of environmentally and party wise. This game uses a "stress level" that your party can get effected by. Say your going into a battle and you have a character in your party that isn't doing so well and has a high stress level. There is a chance that the character in question will either start losing their mind, or they'll become more confident in their abilities to allow them to either inflict more damage on an enemy, or decide to stand back and end up missing a lot of their attacks. On top of that, the more the character misses their shots or makes them, it effects the stress level even more until they reach insanity. The only way to fix this is to either complete the dungeon or escape the dungeon, by surrender. However, the surrender choice is not a good strategy because again, that adds to the stress level of your characters due to them feeling bad about not being able to finish the dungeon you submerged them in in the first place. What I like about this mechanic is it really adds a lot of individuality to each of your characters and it makes you want to help them out as much as you possibly can, but when you're unable to do so, you just watch as they go insane and eventually that ends up being their downfall. And believe me, when you lose a character that you have been upgrading and working on for a long time, it's really difficult to get yourself back in the game because you have to choose a character to replace said character but with no upgrades and it's basically like starting the game over again. The nice thing is, you can have a lot of party members in your party, even though you only use four at a time when you go into a dungeon. So you could do the tactic of sending down your least favorite characters to complete a dungeon, sacrifice their stress level in order to get enough gold to upgrade a character that you would like to use in the future. I've started to do this on a few of my characters, and although it's a rough strategy to use, it can be rewarding.

You've also got a sort of a hub world on top of choosing your party and going into dungeons, what this allows you to do is like I mentioned earlier, upgrading your character, sending them to a bar or the church to reduce their stress level (which takes time), and sell some of the loot or artifacts that you have found in your dungeon crawling. You do get trinkets that you can add to your character, and if you're like me and all you want is the gold, some of them can sell for a pretty penny. I did realize however that it may not have been a good idea to sell all the trinkets I got when I started, because as the dungeons get harder and harder, you start to realize that having trinkets on your characters can give you that extra boost that you need.

Photo example of the hub world

Now, let's talk about the difficulty. Given the type of game that this is, you'd probably not expect the game to be too terribly difficult, it being a dungeon crawler, you're probably thinking that all you need to do is complete dungeons and collect loot. But it stretches far beyond that as I mentioned before. I would class this game (and many others have done so as well) as difficult or close to the difficult of Dark Souls. Yes, it can be that difficult and frustrating and some times you'll find yourself just getting so pissed off that you just exit the game and come back later. The fact that it has the difficulty curve on it however is what makes it more enjoyable, for me. I don't mind it when a game is easy or easy to get into, but I also really enjoy the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction of beating a part in a game that is known to be super difficult. That being said, if this game was easier, and not as difficult, I don't think it'd be as good of an experience as it currently is. Darkest Dungeon really sets the bar pretty high for what other developers that are interested in this genre should look to achieve, because it's done a fantastic job at taking some well known mechanics and turning it into something original and fun. In shorter words, if you're interested in a side scrolling Dark Souls, pick this one up.

Now onto the story. So i'm not the biggest fan of listening to the story or following a story especially when the game is a dungeon crawler, because all I really want to do is fight monsters and collect loot, so I can't say much about the story in general, however I do enjoy the consistent dialogue from a sort of commentator that speaks while you play the game. He talks about your characters and how they are doing and he enlightens you when you do well. It's a very interesting aspect to add into a game like this, because you wouldn't think that extra dialogue from a voice over the game would add a positive atmosphere, but it really does. It basically works as if you're playing a book. I know that sounds weird and boring, but it's tough to explain it any other way. It does its job well though and again, it adds to the dark gothic atmosphere of the game, which brings me to my next point...

Graphics! Alright, so the graphics for this game are absolutely amazing. Excusing the fact that this game is already dark and has that gothic / medieval feel to it, the graphics compliment the game so well that you often forget that it's a side scroller, because not only is it a side scroller, its a 3D side scroller. You can see the depth of the characters and the enemies and the dungeon designs are so well done and done with such depth that you really forget that your playing from side to side, which is really nice because some side scrollers can get really boring if you don't have something captivating to look at as your exploring through a dungeon. So they really hit the nail on the head perfectly with the route they took graphics wise, and I hope other developers take note.

So, if I haven't gotten you interested in this game yet, well that's your loss. This is a fantastic release and one that I will probably continue to put hours of gameplay into, mostly because apparently the story mode is extremely long and the game only gets harder. Certainly an enjoyable experience though.

05-01-2016, 05:22 PM	#346 (permalink)
Key . Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 13,153	Darkest Dungeon I've been anxiously waiting for this month to be able to talk about this game, because not only is it a fantastic release in the indie game world, it's by far one of the best indie games i've ever played. I remember a while back I heard about this game from another member here, and I was eager to pick it up, but for some reason it just fell on the backburner. Recently I decided to pick it up because I saw Northernlion playing it, and I was instantly impressed with the game and everything it had to offer. So i'll try to give you a good idea of what to expect from this game, because although the game looks fantastic and plays fantastic, there is a lot to it mechanics wise that can be difficult to understand through words. Basically, if you imagine a side scrolling dark souls, you pretty much hit the nail on the head. Yes, Darkest Dungeon plays as a side scroller, but it's also a dungeon crawler, you have a party system, you can get loot, you kill enemies in a basic turn based RPG style, and you can level up your party with every dungeon you complete. The dungeon system works in a way that compliments the game really well. Once you submerge yourself into a not so difficult, or a super difficult dungeon, you have to complete a certain percentage of the dungeon in order to classify it as "complete", but it doesn't only stop there. You can't just get into the dungeon and fight your way through because there are other aspects you have to be aware of environmentally and party wise. This game uses a "stress level" that your party can get effected by. Say your going into a battle and you have a character in your party that isn't doing so well and has a high stress level. There is a chance that the character in question will either start losing their mind, or they'll become more confident in their abilities to allow them to either inflict more damage on an enemy, or decide to stand back and end up missing a lot of their attacks. On top of that, the more the character misses their shots or makes them, it effects the stress level even more until they reach insanity. The only way to fix this is to either complete the dungeon or escape the dungeon, by surrender. However, the surrender choice is not a good strategy because again, that adds to the stress level of your characters due to them feeling bad about not being able to finish the dungeon you submerged them in in the first place. What I like about this mechanic is it really adds a lot of individuality to each of your characters and it makes you want to help them out as much as you possibly can, but when you're unable to do so, you just watch as they go insane and eventually that ends up being their downfall. And believe me, when you lose a character that you have been upgrading and working on for a long time, it's really difficult to get yourself back in the game because you have to choose a character to replace said character but with no upgrades and it's basically like starting the game over again. The nice thing is, you can have a lot of party members in your party, even though you only use four at a time when you go into a dungeon. So you could do the tactic of sending down your least favorite characters to complete a dungeon, sacrifice their stress level in order to get enough gold to upgrade a character that you would like to use in the future. I've started to do this on a few of my characters, and although it's a rough strategy to use, it can be rewarding. You've also got a sort of a hub world on top of choosing your party and going into dungeons, what this allows you to do is like I mentioned earlier, upgrading your character, sending them to a bar or the church to reduce their stress level (which takes time), and sell some of the loot or artifacts that you have found in your dungeon crawling. You do get trinkets that you can add to your character, and if you're like me and all you want is the gold, some of them can sell for a pretty penny. I did realize however that it may not have been a good idea to sell all the trinkets I got when I started, because as the dungeons get harder and harder, you start to realize that having trinkets on your characters can give you that extra boost that you need. Photo example of the hub world Now, let's talk about the difficulty. Given the type of game that this is, you'd probably not expect the game to be too terribly difficult, it being a dungeon crawler, you're probably thinking that all you need to do is complete dungeons and collect loot. But it stretches far beyond that as I mentioned before. I would class this game (and many others have done so as well) as difficult or close to the difficult of Dark Souls. Yes, it can be that difficult and frustrating and some times you'll find yourself just getting so pissed off that you just exit the game and come back later. The fact that it has the difficulty curve on it however is what makes it more enjoyable, for me. I don't mind it when a game is easy or easy to get into, but I also really enjoy the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction of beating a part in a game that is known to be super difficult. That being said, if this game was easier, and not as difficult, I don't think it'd be as good of an experience as it currently is. Darkest Dungeon really sets the bar pretty high for what other developers that are interested in this genre should look to achieve, because it's done a fantastic job at taking some well known mechanics and turning it into something original and fun. In shorter words, if you're interested in a side scrolling Dark Souls, pick this one up. Now onto the story. So i'm not the biggest fan of listening to the story or following a story especially when the game is a dungeon crawler, because all I really want to do is fight monsters and collect loot, so I can't say much about the story in general, however I do enjoy the consistent dialogue from a sort of commentator that speaks while you play the game. He talks about your characters and how they are doing and he enlightens you when you do well. It's a very interesting aspect to add into a game like this, because you wouldn't think that extra dialogue from a voice over the game would add a positive atmosphere, but it really does. It basically works as if you're playing a book. I know that sounds weird and boring, but it's tough to explain it any other way. It does its job well though and again, it adds to the dark gothic atmosphere of the game, which brings me to my next point... Graphics! Alright, so the graphics for this game are absolutely amazing. Excusing the fact that this game is already dark and has that gothic / medieval feel to it, the graphics compliment the game so well that you often forget that it's a side scroller, because not only is it a side scroller, its a 3D side scroller. You can see the depth of the characters and the enemies and the dungeon designs are so well done and done with such depth that you really forget that your playing from side to side, which is really nice because some side scrollers can get really boring if you don't have something captivating to look at as your exploring through a dungeon. So they really hit the nail on the head perfectly with the route they took graphics wise, and I hope other developers take note. So, if I haven't gotten you interested in this game yet, well that's your loss. This is a fantastic release and one that I will probably continue to put hours of gameplay into, mostly because apparently the story mode is extremely long and the game only gets harder. Certainly an enjoyable experience though.