Darkest
Dungeon:
Darkest Dungeon is about the heroes, but its also about where the eponymous location. Dungeon's are comprised of four main characteristics; style, length, difficulty, mission, and. First one picks the style; Ruins, Cove, Weald, and Warrens. The style determines the different obstacles and monster one encounters. Length ranges from short, medium, or large (except for one of the 4 levels of the Darkest Dungeon which is exhausting). The difficulty of each dungeon is either easy, medium, difficult, or darkest (reserved for the Darkest Dungeon). Each dungeon is assigned one of five different mission types. After choosing heroes, equipping them, and picking a dungeon, the protagonist purchases supplies. The shop keeper sells a number of tinctures, ointments, and articles worth purchasing, but the most important are torches, supplies, and shovels.
In a dungeon light is not a commodity,
it is a necessity. Light is measured from 0 to 100. More light
confers bonuses to the heroes, while darkness aids the horrors
within. Light decreases rapidly as the party moves about the
dungeon, and some enemy attacks diminish it too. The player only
receives one advantage from the darkness: chest contain more
treasure. Because it increases the likelihood of survival, players
will prefer to explore the majority of a dungeon in the light. When
the darkness encroaches, activate a torch, which adds 25 to the
squad's light. The amount added does not change depending on the
remaining light, so one should use a torch every time the light falls
below 75. At first a player might be unwilling to backtrack, fearing
to waste light, but light fades incredibly slowly when retracing
one's steps. There are almost no downsides to backtracking, except
that sometimes (rarely, really), monsters appear in a cleared
corridor.
Light is necessary to witness the
horrors ahead, but provisions are a prerequisite to voiding one's
stomach at the sight. Even surrounded by deadly Eldritch dangers the
necessities of life can't be ignored. Semi-randomly hunger strikes,
and friends must break their fast. The desire to eat can not be
predicted. With proper provisions the gang can continue unhindered,
but if food is scarce each member suffers 20% health damage and
incurs 20 stress. Food is needed for more than random cravings. On
medium and long dungeons the party carries firewood for camping.
Camping restores the light to 100, and allows characters to use their
camping skills. The most critical skill prevents nighttime ambush (a
terrifying experience in which the heroes are awoken in complete
darkness and under attack). Only five classes prevent night time
attacks (Vestal, Crusader, Highwayman, Occultist, and Houndmaster),
so each mission should include one of them. In addition to firewood,
camping requires a morsel of food, otherwise the heroes suffer the
penalty for starvation.
Less necessary than the prior two is
the shovel. Shovels clear debris blocking the path. Heroes can
clear obstacles by hand, but they suffer minor health damage, serious
stress, and a loss of light.
Determining the appropriate amount of
each supply to bring depends on one's willingness risk death to save
a few gold pieces. Unused items purchased for exploring are sold
back at a loss, but imagine trying to determine whether the red glow
ahead is a brilliant ruby or the horrid eye of a Shambler without
torch light, and thinking that 75 gold wasn't worth it. Without the
proper preparation the party will stumble about with no light, no
food, and no method of clear debris. After 110 dungeons I determined
a reasonable amount of each item creating minimal waste, and minimal
danger.
| Dungeon Length | Torches | Provisions | Shovels |
| Short | 8 | 12 | 2 |
| Medium | 12 | 18 | 3 |
| Long | 16 | 24 | 4 |
One should also bring one key, and a
few bandages and antivenom.
Upon entering a
dungeon, a map appears in the lower right corner. Except in the
Darkest Dungeon, the map displays every room and connective
passageway. But it doesn't show what they contain. Curios, Battles,
Secret Rooms, and Traps are scattered in the corridors and rooms.
The two most common quests require exploring 90% of rooms, or
defeating all room battles. Most quests necessitate a complete
survey of the dungeon. Except for Boss missions linear dungeons are
preferable, because they require no backtracking (though, as
explained above, the penalties are minimal), but if one has the
proper equipment (or against a Boss) an open dungeon is advantageous.
Some heroes and items confer a scouting bonus. Every time the party
enters a new room, Darkest Dungeon
rolls a scouting check. Success reveals curios, battles, secret,
rooms, and traps in nearby corridors and rooms. This knowledge
allows the player to avoid unnecessary fights. In Boss missions,
locating the Boss quickly and avoiding all other encounters is
paramount to reserve one's strength. A frustrating feature relating
to dungeons are the exploration quests. The description requires the
player to visit 90% of the rooms, but don't specify the exact number.
If there are 14 rooms, does the player need to visit 12, 13, or 12.6
rooms? If there are 19, is it 17, 18, or 17.1? The inexactness
remains incredibly frustrating even after completing the game.
Creeping down corridors, one is certain
to encounter curios. Everyday, bizarre, or hideous objects, they
litter the dungeons for the greedy, unwary, or obsessive traveler.
Crates, alters, effigies, chests, and carcasses greet the traveler.
Each type of curio is consistent in what it delivers. Chests can
contain treasure or traps, crates are either empty or full of
valuables, and carcasses can inspire or corrupt.
Despite all the
other attractions one eventually ends in a desperate encounter. The
Darkest Dungeon
is built around wearing players down with each battle. While any
individual battle can be deadly, the accumulation of stress and small
loses of health threaten the entire campaign and forces the player
end each battle with as minimal damage as possible. Either the
player must destroy the enemy so quickly the party can't suffer any
damage, or the team must be capable of healing its hurts. While the
former is possible, the latter is the more successful option, and so
every team entering the dungeon should contain either a Vestal or an
Occultist (the two core healing classes).
A battle occurs when
the party meets monsters in the corridor or a room (the location has
no effect on how the battle functions). Darkest
Dungeon uses the characters' speed to
determine the turn order (though it isn't a flat use, because
sometimes a slower hero attack before a faster one, and some heroes
prefer a slower speed, like Vestals). On a hero's turn the player
picks as skill to use, and watches it work. Most skills deal
immediate damage with a chance to inflict critical damage. Some
skills impose damage over time, either through bleed or blight. When
a DoT skill hits it marks the afflicted with an icon, indicating the
damage, and for how many turns it will continue to occur. Other
skills stun their target. A stunned monster (or hero) skips its next
action. Stuns are valuable because they disrupt a monster that is
guarding another monster. Stuns can also be abused on a single
remaining monster, to give the team time to heal any wounds (however
it is very dangerous to stall a battle for too long, as additional
monsters will appear to reinforce their allies). While Darkest
Dungeon contains a massive variety of
effects, the other two most common skills buff allies, or debuff
enemies. And of all the debuffs, the most useful is the skill to
mark a target. Marked targets take more damage, especially against
certain attacks.
An fascinating
feature of Darkest Dungeon
is its willingness to divulge so much information to the player
during a battle. Resistances, speed, dodge, armor, and skills are
all displayed for the player. With no timer, Darkest
Dungeon encourages careful planning,
and tries to shift any blame for failure onto the player. But no,
no, no! I screamed at this game. Screamed! Transparency! Ha! How
dare you make me miss three attacks in a row when each has a
seventy-five percent chance of success. Frack seventy-five percent!
But it didn't stop there. Frack eighty percent! Frack missing two
area of effect attacks against three enemies with a seventy-five
percent chance of connecting! Frack missing three forced move
attacks against an enemy with only a 25% move resist! If the game
wants to be tough, fine. But don't cheat. If an enemy is difficult
to hit say so, if an enemy can't be moved, give them a 500% move
resist, but don't cheat!
Eventually one must consider the
necessity of retreat (especially after they missed so many 75% chance
attacks). Retreating from a dungeon is easy. It can be done
immediately at any point except when in a battle. Escaping a battle
is more difficult. There is a non-defined chance of escape.
Pressing the escape button either results in skipping the hero's
turn, or successfully retreating. Retreating from a battle isn't a
choice to make lightly, because it means the campaign is over.
Retreating for battle incurs a serious stress penalty, and any
attempt to continue would have to go through the monsters that forced
the retreat.
Retreat normally occurs when a hero has
died (thought sometimes the player is foresighted to abandon the
quest prematurely). Death isn't as certain as one would expect. It
doesn't arrive swiftly when a hero is reduced to zero health.
Instead the character suffers a debuff. The next hit could kill the
hero, but every time a hero is attacked (when on zero health), there
is only about a fifty percent chance they die. As soon as a hero is
restored to at least 1 health, the debuff is lessened, and they are
temporarily safe from death again.
In the end, the final result is death,
madness, or temporary reprieve are the only possible results.
Next week, an
obituary for the Darkest Dungeon.
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