In Progress Report we turn the magnifying glass on Early Access games. As such they’re going to be unrefined. This is not a review; it’s a measure of change. It’s a checklist for the developers and an insight into what you can expect. Should you buy now, wait or run the other way? This week: I pray in despair as I venture into Darkest Dungeon.



‘God have mercy’ is probably the most thought phrase when I’m playing Darkest Dungeon. I think it every time I click the button to send four new fools into the whispering dark of the ruins. I know they shall not come out unscathed. Or unchanged. Such is the price to pay when you’re fighting against an incomprehensible evil like this one. It’s not as though I have much choice. They knew what they signed up for. You set your eyes on the reward and ignore what it cost you to get it.

Darkest Dungeon is full of things like that. Its atmosphere is heavy, depressing at times, and the constant threat of failure looms over everything you do. There’s a constant, Lovecraftian sense that something we cannot understand is pulling the stings. Your dwindling cash supplies, the growing madness of your troupe and the flickering torchlight all adds up to create a sense of doom. It’s a fatal balancing act of factors. Slip on one count and you’ll end up on a downward slope. You’ve got to trust in your adventurers, even as they lose trust in you.

These adventurers form the bulk of Darkest Dungeon. There are a huge variety of classes from my beloved highwayman to the leper. As in, an actual leper. He’s really quite good. They all have their own positive and negative traits too, which affect gameplay and combat. One might be a crack shot, the other might be afraid of the dark. Wrong game, pal. The main part of Darkest Dungeon is sending four of them into some forgotten realm with a handful of torches and a prayer or two. You progress from room to room, exploring or seeking out enemies. Meanwhile your torch gradually burns itself out. The torch is a great mechanic, adding atmosphere as well as changing gameplay. Enemies are more likely to be surprised when your torch is burning brightly, for example, while the opposite is true if it’s dim.

And you best hope you don’t get surprised because that rearranges the order of your squad. The combat system is turn-based and is centred a lot around positioning. A long-ranged class would be best at the back, for example, and won’t be able to use their gun at the front. Different skills can only be used in certain places, so you have to think about where you want to put your guys. It adds a nice strategy element to fights. It’s not just a case of wailing on someone until they fall to pieces, there are skills that can push and pull them around, which can neatly hobble someone. It means the fighting isn’t just based on the bigger numbers, you can think your way through things a bit more.

You’ve also got to make sure your folks don’t go mental. Stress is a mechanic that hangs over the whole thing. They’ll get stressed if the light runs out, if they set off a trap or through many different attacks. If someone hits you with a critical hit, you’re understandably going to be pretty stressed. I’d be too if I’d just had my teeth knocked out by a giant’s whip. Stress accumulates over time and if it gets too high then your folks will be tested. If you’re lucky, they’ll come through, boosted by their victory over adversity. The much more likely outcome is that they’ll fall into despair, which hinders their skills and stresses out their friends. It’s a wonderful mechanic because of how health almost takes a back seat to it. I’m more worried about them breaking than dying.

Which is why the tavern is such a god-send. I know if I just fought my way through the Warrens, with all its squealing pig monstrosities, I’d need a stiff drink and a half. You can send your guys in there, as well as the abbey to pray or flagellate or whatever does it for you, to relieve their stress. Alongside that there are places to cure diseases, buy trinkets or recruit new poor bastards. This forms your hub, where you plot the next damned voyage. It serves to give you everything you need and it is enjoyable going into each building and seeing how they differ.

Where Darkest Dungeon really elevates itself, however, is in the general atmosphere and tone of the game, which is wonderfully consistent throughout. The biggest boon is the narrator, who is quite possibly my favourite part of the game. Partly because of his voice, which is heart-meltingly glorious. He narrates your actions in a cautionary, and sometimes downright cynical, tone. There’s little hope in the voice, which sums up the rest of the game quite well. It really does feel like you’re throwing guys to their deaths in the vain hope of success. The music helps as well, particularly as it changes with light level becoming more panicked as the shadows grow, adding further touches to the atmosphere.

It’s also rather well put together for an early access game. I only had one major bug, where it had a tendency to crash on the first loading screen after selecting your save file. This seems less frequent in later updates though. The loading times are also a touch on the longer side but again, this is early access so that can be ironed out when the content is done. There are, however, some things that do require consideration. A small first point, you can gain trinkets throughout the game. Usually they give a bonus, with a considerable detriment, so I haven’t been using many. Unfortunately, the game never tells you that you can sell them. I’ve dragged those things into the face of the trinket seller to no avail. Apparently you need to shift-click. Nice if you’d told me that.

There’s also something of a balance issue going on, which is to be expected when a game relies so heavily on randomisation. The negative traits and illnesses are my main sticking point. A lot are totally random, even if the run went perfectly, and it seems a bit geared towards the negative traits, rather than the positive. They are a nice idea, don’t get me wrong, and I love how it changes not only stats but how they act, but at times it feels like we’re being punished for something that isn’t our fault. The cost, both in gold and losing your guys for a week, is heavy given how frequently, and unfairly at times, traits are developed.

Perhaps if they weren’t entirely out of action it might be better. Have them still available but handicapped, through blood loss perhaps, so they’re there if you really need them but you’ll still want to take other people. It’d be especially fitting in the illnesses department. Seeing as we have a Plague Doctor, I assume most diseases are cured by cutting a slit in someone and watching what happens. Now, it would remiss of me to talk about problems without mentioning two that the community is in uproars about: corpses and heart attacks. Corpses are left behind when people die, in case you didn’t know. What they do is sit there and maintain the order of your enemy, so the enemy will only change positions once you’ve destroyed the corpse.

People have complained that this makes it too hard but I rather like it. It adds to that position aspect that I mentioned earlier. Heart attacks, on the other hand, I do not like. When someone’s stress bar fills twice, they just die. That feels like an unsatisfying end for something as cool as this. Have the second fill push their broken mind to its extreme. If they’re abusive or paranoid, have them attack their allies. Have the hopeless attempt suicide, pushing them into death’s door (where a single hit has the chance to finish them off). It would add a lot to a scene if we were suddenly trying to save our people from themselves. Given how the rest of the game is determined to get under our heroes’ skin, that would seem to fit.

I would also like for them to add more objectives to runs in future, as at the moment we only have explore 90% of rooms, win 100% of room battles or crack the skull (or whatever is the Eldritch equivalent) of a boss. Searching for a specific item or enemy might be nice, so we can poke round in the cracks a bit more. Regardless, Darkest Dungeon is remarkably well put together for an early access title. There’s very little here that is not working, it all fits together so nicely that I just want them to feed me more of it.

It’s also a game that feels like I’ve sunk many more hours into it than I have. A lot of that is the atmosphere. It’s dark and heavy but you just want to know more. To probe it’s depths to see what will come out next. It’s a constant game of worries as I know that at any moment my guys may break or bleed to death. When you’re thrown right into the deep end, facing such unfathomable fury, you grow close to your guys. I’ve still got my Highwayman from the start of the game. I will not lose Dismas. The call of the dungeon grows louder. It’s time for another party to descend. God have mercy. God have mercy on us all.



Things that are working:

-Combat system is spot on

-Torch mechanic is great

-Atmosphere, particularly the narrator, is brilliant

-Lots of classes and traits to go around

-Stress system is brilliantly implemented

-Very few bugs to report



Things that are not working:

-The heart attacks

-Balance issue in regards to traits (though may well be personal)

-Corpses are contentious, though meet with my approval



Suggestions for the future:

-Perhaps have the heroes available for use when being cured of traits and diseases, though handicapped?

-Change the end result for stress into something unique to however they break?

-Add a few more objectives to runs?



Darkest Dungeon

Developer: Red Hook Studios

Early Access Date: 3rd February 2015

Play it on: Windows, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita

