Darkest Dungeon [Build 20340] (2016) PC

Darkest Dungeon is a kickstarter project that quickly became one of the indie legends of Steam. A rare example of how to properly resurrect forgotten genres in our time.

Running in the maze

Rogue-like games became popular even on the SNES and Sega Mega Drive – things like Metroid and Castlevania were then considered the pinnacle of game design thought. The ideas of the genre quickly spread to other games, as a result of which rogue-like elements were in most popular games of the late 90s, but the genre itself almost disappeared from the radar. Darkest Dungeon is a triumphant (albeit isolated) return of the genre, sacredly honoring all the basics.

The gameplay is divided into two equivalent parts, which can be conditionally divided into "planning" and "combat". In the first one, we are engaged in an unusual commander's routine: we treat soldiers, raise their morale, improve skills and dress them in new armor. Individual buildings are responsible for all this, where we literally take the characters by the handle. And everything would be OK if it weren't for one feature – every character in Darkest Dungeon is subject to psychological problems from the amount of violence happening around. All this results in various diseases and diagnoses: someone can't stand churches, someone starts getting drunk in pubs and committing adultery in brothels, and someone loves violence against himself in local medieval clinics with their experimental methods. Such phobias of heroes can lead to problems out of the blue: injuries, venereal diseases, lost armor in the casino – all this is the norm for such psychopaths that are in our team.

The second phase is combat. That's what we bring our characters to. Each trip to the dungeon is accompanied by certain rituals. We initially choose the type of dungeon, its complexity and recruit a team of 4 people. The choice in Darkest Dungeon is solid:

1. The geek is an analogue of the local werewolf.
2. The crossbowwoman is a powerful archer of 3-4 positions.
3. A mercenary is a hero with huge damage, but a low life reserve.
4. The Crusader is a local paladin.
5. A marauder is a thief with many poisonous skills.
6. Savage is the most powerful tank.
7. The robber is a tough shooter.
8. A trainer is a character capable of inciting a dog against enemies.
9. The jester is an unusual character who maintains morale in the team.
10. The leper is a very strong hero with a high probability of a miss.
11. The Warrior is another powerful tank.
12. The ocultist is an analogue of the "varior" from the MMORPG.
13. The Plague Doctor is the most stylish character in the game, whose skills are almost directly taken from the real Middle Ages.
14. Vestal is a local "hiller".

Already by the name of the classes, an interesting feature of the game is clear – not all of them are able to get along with each other. So, a crusader will be infuriated by an occultist or a geek, and a buffoon and a leper are unlikely to find a common language. It is also important that positions in the four are strictly scored for each character. Someone plays hard with the 3rd or 4th, someone only serves the first, and someone does not care at all. Therefore, a competent selection of a group for each individual dungeon is the key to success.

But even with proper planning and competent distribution of responsibilities, Darkest Dungeon retains its hardcore. You can be killed literally at every step – and even the party members themselves can contribute to this. An unexpected trap can cause panic within the team, as a result of which one of your heroes can go crazy and he will launch an attack on his own team – the situation is quite normal. Morale drops, infection, a shortage of first aid kits or lighting sources, and ten thousand more emergencies are also common here. Darkest Dungeon generates an infinite number of unique events, in which it is often impossible to survive. This is an outstanding game that att