Modern Game Weekly - Darkest Dungeon

Welcome to Modern Game Weekly, this series will be focussed on more recent releases and is based around the 0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games series, with information on what the game is, the gameplay, story, critical reception and availability of the game. The story section will not be the entire games story, just a small section to give you an idea of the plot, spoilers will be kept to a minimum where possible.

The games chosen for this series are at random from my own ratings database, the database currently contains the majority of console releases from 2016 to January 2018, with the first group of 2015 releases just added as well as the January 2018 releases, with each game rated and ranked. Each game has their own rating broken down into five different sections.

The first is the numbered ratings, this uses a scale of 0 to 100 with a total of 10 of these ratings. One of the things that a part of this rating are critic review scores, these scores come from all console platforms the game is released on.

So for example Okami HD, which was recently released on PS4 and Xbox One, as well as previously being released on the PS3, all three of these releases factor in on the games overall rating. As a result shoddy ports of a game will seriously hurt the games overall score.

The reviews section takes a total of 12 reviews for the game if that number are available, both the six best review scores as well as the six lowest scoring reviews for the game, this covers reviews for console releases only. Information here will not be full reviews but snippets that stand out from the reviews.

The Availability section works exactly the same with a look at how available the game is assuming they are not digital only releases, with retailers Gamedude, eStarland and Amazon.com, while Retrogames may feature as older games are added to my database, the site currently only covers games up to the Xbox 360 and PS3 era.

Darkest Dungeon is a fantasy themed, turn based side scrolling RPG with roguelike and strategic elements thrown in as well. The game was developed and published by independent studio Red Hook Studios, and first releases on Windows and Mac on the 4^th of February 2015 as an Early access game.

Since it’s initial release back in early 2015 and since leaving early access, the game has releases on the PS Vita, PS4 and iPad. The game also received a new release as recent as January 18^th 2018 for the Nintendo Switch, an Xbox release is also rumoured. 

The game has been both a critical and commercial success, the critical side of things we will get into later on, but commercially the game according to Steam Spy has 1.7 million owners of the game, with console and iPad sales to add into that number as well.

Notable people who worked on this title, Chris Bourassa who worked as the Creative Director for the game, previously worked on the Midnight Club series as a programmer back in 2008/09. He also worked alongside fellow Darkest Dungeon team members Tyler Sigman, Keir Miron and Kelvin McDowell on the 2011 release HOARD.

Pierre Tardif who worked as a Programmer on Darkest Dungeon, a role he also filled in the 2005 release Rayman Hoodlum’s Revenge. In 2013 Tardif worked as a Rendering Software Engineer on Dead Rising 3 as well as the 2014 Apocalypse Edition.

Brooks Gordon who worked as an artist on the game was involved in several of the NHL games of the early 2000s, working as an Animator, Art Tech Lead and Technical Art Lead. In 2004 he worked as a technical artist on NBA Live 2005.

Stuart Chatwood who worked as Darkest Dungeons music composer, his earliest credit on the site I use is for Road Rash 3D from 1998, where he is credited with his band The Tea Party. From 2003 up until 2008 Chatwood worked on the Prince of Persia series composing the music for at least six Prince of Persia titles. 

 

Darkest Dungeon is a role-playing game in which the player manages a roster of heroes was they explore the dungeons and catacombs beneath the player character owned manor, fighting the various creatures that inhabit the dungeons.

The player has the ability to use the various facilities on offer at a nearby town before they enter the dungeons, as well as dismiss and hire heroes, the player is also able to send heroes to do various tasks that will either heal them, gain a new combat or camping skill, reduce their stress level or remove any afflictions that are currently effecting them. Shops are also available for you to buy and sell equipment and supplies to kit out your heroes, loot gained from the dungeons can also be improved to add more benefits or options to the player.

The player can recruit up to twenty five heroes for their roster, these heroes are taken from a total of 15 classes, with each of the classes having their own stats and skills that can be upgraded over time. The roguelike element of the game comes into play when exploring the dungeons, if a hero dies while exploring they are lost for good

The game is made up of a total of four dungeons with a fifth and final dungeon making up the end game, this final dungeon is called the Darkest Dungeon and is the location of the final boss of the game. The other four dungeons are The Ruins, this contains ancient tombs of the players ancestors, which is not riddled with Skeletons and mad cultists as well as quite a few necromancers for good measure.

The Weald is an overgrown forest that surrounds the hamlet, this once picturesque forest is now home to bandits, mad dogs and cannibals. The is a dark and murky cave that lies beneath the cliff that the players manor sits upon, more bandits, as well as fishmen, sirens and the ghosts of a pirate crew await out heros.

The final dungeon for the player and their fellow heroes to explore are the Warrens, these are the sewers for the manor, these are filled with offal and swarmed by pig-men and other mutated and misshapen flesh forms, these abominations are the product of your ancestors attempts at harnessing the power of nechromancy.

When setting out into one of the dungeons the player chooses four of there heroes to take on their expedition into the dungeon, access to most of the dungeons requires the player to complete several previous dungeons as well as collecting specific types of look, with later dungeons becoming more difficult, each of the dungeons is procedurally generated.

As the player and their party of heroes progress through the dungeon which is presented as rooms interconnected by hallways, the player sees this traversal in a 2D side scrolling view, with interesting objects as well as combat encounters during this traversal time.

When the player enters one of the dungeons rooms they may be forced into combat, once the combat has been completed assuming the player has been successful, this room becomes a safe room for the player to heal their party as well the use of other remedies.

Combat is a turn based system, each character will have a health bar, when this bar is depleted the character will go into a status called Death’s Door, every time a hero goes into this state the stress bars for all of your party will increase, various classes are able to heal during combat, outside of combat, food Is the only thing that can heel a hero, a hero’s base hp can also be increased with Armour.

The Stress Bar slowly increases as your party traverses the dungeon, many factors help to increase the stress of your heroes, simply entering the dungeon will increase a hero’s stress level if they are net leveled high enough or don’t have enough resolve.

Other factors that effect a characters stress, the amount of light your adventurers have access to during any stressful event, waking backwards through a corridor and getting hit by a trap, failure to satiate a hungry party will also increase stress levels.

Removing obstacles without the aid of a shovel will also increase stress as will certain negative quirks that will increase the amount of stress a hero will accrue in certain situations, many trinkets also have this drawback. Stress does not diminish once you have exited the dungeon and returned to the hamlet, this stress level is persistent until the hero is treated.

Quirks are traits that every hero possesses, some good and some bad, traits are also gained by activities at the hamlet as well as during the course of expeditions, these quirks either modify stats or force a certain behaviour from your hero

Heroes are recruited from the Stage Coach, which is in the hamlet when hiring a new hero from her they will have one positive and one negative train already, addition quirks can be gain through the course of the game assuming you hero survives long enough, the limit for quirks is a maximum of five positive and five negative quirks, in the event of a hero acquiring an additional quirk when they already have five one of the quirks already possessed by the hero will be replaced by this new quirk.

If you like a certain quirk with one of your heroes you can lock that particular quirk to that hero by sending them to the Sanitarium in the hamlet. The Sanitarium can also be useful for removing negative quirks from a character as well.

Quirks have both their positive and negative versions for example, Beast Hater if this is a positive trait for your hero it will five a +15% damage and -15% stress when facing a beast. If this however is a negative trait for your hero they will received a +15% towards their stress level, and -10 to ACC against beasts.

Another example is Robust, if this proves to be a positive quirk your hero will receive a +15% disease resistance, the negative quick to this is Sickly where your hero will suffer a -10% towards disease resistance. In addition to these comparable quirks there are individual quirks that can affect your heroes.

A couple of examples of these Balanced which is a positive quirk will give your hero a +15% move resist, while Fated gives your hero a chance to turn any miss into a hit, (If you miss, you get a 10% chance to hit instead.

There are also some negative quirks that don’t have a positive counterpart for example Claustrophobia, with your hero suffering severe fear when in a corridor, which increases their stress level by 20%. There is also a subset of negative quirks called Forced Interaction Quirks, which cause your hero to activate a curios without the players consent, with each quirk having a type of curio that has a chance to interact with it.

Heroes can also suffer from a variety of afflictions, the affliction status occurs when a hero reaches 100 stress, with heroes suffering from stat penalties, they can also act on their own without player input, pass their turn, run the risk of stressing other party members, move around and disrupt your battle formation, steal loot and refuse healing and buffing. Some afflictions that can affect your party include Paranoid, Selfish, Fearful and Abusive.

The opposite of afflictions are virtues, which temporarily increase the effectiveness of your hero, for a hero to acquire a virtue they must pass a resolve check, if successful they will receive a stat boots, or randomly heal themselves or reduce the stress level of your party, or buff their teammates at the start of their turn.

Camping skills are buffs that can be used during camping in a room of a dungeon, these buffs can only be used once per camp, and last a total of 4 battles. Additional camping skills can be learned in the Survivalists building in the hamlet, each character can have a maximum of 4 active camping skills at any one time.

Weapons and armour can both be upgraded, upgrading of weapons will improve their damage, critical hit and speed base. While upgrading armour will increase a heroes health and dodge stats, both armour and weapons can be upgraded at the blacksmith in the hamlet.

Provisions are purchases via the provisions window and are consumables that help the player through the course of a dungeon, these provisions have varying effects, for example food is used to restore health and stave off hunger, while a shovel can be used to clear any obstacle out of the parties way.

Other provisions like Antivenom, Bandages, Holy Water and Laudanum are used to counter status effects, with Antivenom used for Blights, Poisons and Toxins, Holy Water is used to purge evil and restore purity, while Laudanum is used to sooth a heroes mind against the horrors of the darkness of the dungeons.

Like other effects that your heroes will either suffer from or be aided by, there are also negative and positive status effects. As covered just above negative status effects include the likes of Blight, Bleed, Horror, Deaths Door.

On the other side of the spectrum we have the positive status effects, such as buff which increases one or more stats or the resistance of the character. Guard which is used to project weaker or injured allies, this status effect allows one of your allies to receive an attack in place of another of your heroes.

In addition to these you have Riposte, Restoration and lastly Aegis, this last one is a defensive effect that prevents all damage, this status effect does not disappear after a set time, but gives you a certain number of hits received before it dissipates, this status effect does not prevent addition status effect from being inflicted on the character such as Bleed, Blight and debuffs.

As stated at the top of the page this section will give you a general feel of the story with spoilers being avoid as best I can. At the beginning of Darkest Dungeon the player learns that they have inherited an estate from a relative who, while seeking their fortune by excavating the dungeons and catacombs under their manor, unearthed portals to a dark dimension, these portals unleashed a number of evil and vile creatures onto the world.

As you have inherited the manor and all of its problems, it is up to you to recruit a party of adventurers to delve into the depths of the catacombs and dungeons and cleanse the estate of its new repulsive and vile creatures that now inhabit it. 

As the player progresses through the various dungeons and catacombs that lie beneath the manor, they will find, there relatives memoirs, detailing the terrible things he had done in the pursuit of knowledge and power.

Starting with the Zero2Zed rating for the game, Darkest Dungeon started off strongly with the first half of ratings all coming in at between a 90 and 91. While the second half of the ratings were solid moving towards good, with a few 70 ratings as well as a couple of solid 80 ratings as well.

 

Critic reviews play a major part in this scoring system and Darkest Dungeon for the console release at least was pretty solid across the board, with the game hitting a low of 70 while many critic reviews held this game very highly with plenty of 90 review scores around, the game was also well received on PC and Vita.

Grading wise the games second half grades range from a C+ for the 70 rating, a couple of B ratings for the 80 ratings, while the first half grades all A- across the board. The game rated at a total of 821 points out of a possible 1000, averaging out at a overall rating of 82.1 or an equivalent grade of a B, a very solid game that just narrowly missed out from a top 100 position overall in the Zero2Zed game ratings.

On to the first of the critic reviews which comes from Vgames for the Nintendo Switch version. The reviewer commenting on the dark atmosphere, grim locations and outright horrifying enemies all of which make this a gem of an RPG according to the reviewer in their 95 rated review.

The review continued by saying, all of these factors setting itself apart from anything else on the system, the reviewer also praised the game use of the Nintendo Switch’s touch screen calling it great, adds to the experience even more.

Next we head to IGN for the second highest review score for the game this being the PS4 version, coming in at a 91. The reviewer from IGN calling Darkest Dungeon a grim and merciless tactical strategy game. With great tension, which comes from its many layers of complexity, unpredictable randomization and willingness to put out fragile characters in mortal danger.

The reviewer continued by praising the games narration calling it brilliant, and stiff yet surprisingly expressive animation, result in a game world that is easy to be drawn in. the review did have some criticisms over the grinding aspect with the reviewer finding the march towards the final dungeon became something and an artificially protracted grind, they continued however by saying But on the other hand, a grind is only a bad thing when the act of playing becomes predictable and repetitive, and Darkest Dungeon never does.

Staying with the PS4 version our next review comes from GameSpew who rated the at a 90. with GameSpew’s review opening with Darkest Dungeon is one of the games of the year. The reviewer continuing by saying A densely gripping tour de force that provides endless hours of gameplay despite the seemingly limited scope presented in its immediacy.

The review praised the design of the game especially the games bosses, with the reviewer calling them elaborate and gorgeously macabre designs. The review also had plenty of praise for the games visuals in general calling them about as perfect as a gothic roguelike RPG can be.

In addition to the games look the review had plenty more praise for the games soundtrack, which was composes by Stuart Chatwood, with the reviewer commenting that it further enhances the dark fantasy atmosphere created by the story and graphical design.

Concluding the reviewer had the following to say on the game. Overall, Darkest Dungeon offers a robust and efficient experience that is not afraid to let the player truly go through the trials and errors that would come with such a mission. Just don't get too attached to any of your awesome warriors.

For the next highest scoring review we head over to Italy and Everyeye who also scored the game at a 90 for the PS4 version, with the review excited at the prospect of playing this game on console, they continued by saying, this sick and disturbing creature born by the guys of red hood is in fantastic shape, thanks to the incessant finishing work carried out by the team in all these months.

The reviewer continued by saying, It was not easy to condense in the very few keys of a pad (or a laptop) a game experience created specifically to be enjoyed with the coupled mouse and keyboard. If the major version has not given any problem from this point of view, different speech must be made for the small Sony house in which the mapping of commands, although designed with a certain criterion, ends up being a little intuitive and a little cumbersome. For this reason - and only for this reason - we advise you to subtract half a point.

Concluding the review highly recommended the game saying, Darkest Dungeon however remains an absolutely recommended purchase, with no ifs or buts, with the reviewer praising the cross buy/cross save as well as the addition of Italian subtitles, completes an unmissable play.

We next head back to the Switch and NintendoWorldReport’s review again rating the game at a 90, the reviewer calling the game enthralling, the review continuing by say even if I do crave sunshine and rainbows after spending too much time in this world.

The reviewer called the game a dark and gloomy place, but with the overall blend of combat, exploration, and town management, it all adds up to a fantastic gameplay loop, that will suck away your time. The review also praised the game touch controls, with the reviewer commenting that the Switch version of the game likely works best as a portable game, the reviewer found themselves mixing and matching between portable and tv mode, with some actions smoother undocked while others work better on the big screen.

Lastly for the best review scores for Darkest Dungeon we head over to Germany and 4Players.de, where the reviewer did have some issues with the font size, finding it a little too small for mobile demands, they did however find the game to be still the same. Concluding the reviewer had the following to say. That means that now also Switch users can enjoy this beautiful and challenging tactics-rpg with its excellent art design.

Next we head to the lower end of the review scale where we find the lowest review score for this game on either the Switch of PS4 is a 70 rating. The first of these comes from Playstation Universe with the reviewer opening their review with the following.

Darkest Dungeon is a turn-based RPG that’s brutal, often unfair, and consistently bringing the kind of surprises you cannot possibly prepare for. That last part is one of Darkest Dungeon’s bigger problems. It slowly makes the math side of video games seem as sterile and soulless as real-life math can feel.

The reviewer did however praise the sanity/insanity angle calling it by far Darkest Dungeons smartest move, the reviewer however found beyond that it feels very much like a generic 2d RPG with roguelike tendencies, that has cherry picked ideas from popular games of its type to retrofit itself.

The review was also critical of the Permadeath with the reviewer saying the game should be a winner here, giving Xcom as an example, saying that you care for every one of your soldiers, the reviewer however found that Darkest Dungeon gives you a procession of free fresh meat to send to the slaughter, this making you care less.

The reviewer concluded that Darkest Dungeon can be quite inventive and interesting at its best, but the reviewer found these highs aren’t held for very long, the reviewer still found the game to be a solid turn-based RPG with a great gimmick.

Remaining with PS4 reviews for the time being we find COGconnected who also scored the game at a 70, like other reviewer they called the game grim, as well as coming with tension and complexity when it comes down to the tactical strategy of both combat and the resource management elements of the game.

The reviewer went on to talk about the game difficulty, saying that even Dark Souls players will find Darkest Dungeon a nightmare at time. They continued by saying, however it is a rewarding experience and one that is full of character and excellent narration Concluding the review had the following to say. It’s easy to get drawn into the deepest caverns of despair with Darkest Dungeon, but there is always a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

Another 70 rating up next again we stay on the PS4, this review comes from DarkZero, with the reviewer find that the console version of the game could have been smarter with its control layout. Because the review found the rest of the game shines in brilliant darkness as it did on PC.

The reviewer praised the game for making every duel in the game feel tense, with the fear of death and insanity always lurking. They continued by saying player will die, again and again. But like a certain other difficult series centred around darkness and sun bros, Darkest Dungeon’s maddening tendrils will manipulate even the most frustrated folks to try again. The reviewer concluded by saying, but consider sticking to the PC version to avoid the added frustration of fumbling around with the controls.  

Next up we have Metro GameCentral who rated both the PS4 version and the more recent Switch version, when I say reviewed both what a really mean is a largely cut and paste job for the switch review, with a vast majority exactly the same as the PS4 review, i had to do a double take as I thought I had accidently opened the PS4 review twice by mistake but no.

Both reviews from Metro even have the same review blurb on Metacritic, with both saying. A fantastically well designed and presented roguelike, that makes your heroes’ mental health just as important as their physical well-being.

The penultimate review comes from GameCritics who like Metro reviewed both the PS4 and Switch versions of the game, and while they did just copy and past large segments of the  PS4 review, they did at least add a significant portion dedicated to the game release on a new platform.

The reviewer while glad they waited for Darkest Dungeon to hit the, they still had misgivings, while they did find the Switch version much better for on the go unlike the Vita release, in for not other reason than the larger screen.

The reviewer still found that the game doesn’t feel like a great fit, however the reviewer found that the game in docked mode, is still the same amazing game that it’s always been. Concluding the review had the following to say. There’s just no easy answer. However, one thing does remain clear — now that the devs have added even more tweaks and amenities, the core experience is still outstanding no matter what platform it’s on.

The final review we will be looking at comes from Nintendo Life who commented on the game being an RPG that finds ways to make life uncomfortable for the player, with the Nintendo Switch version having a couple of usability issues on top as well.

The reviewer had the same issues as previously covered reviews, with text that resulted in having to squint in order to read it, or the awkward control layout, even so the reviewer still found this to be no major hardship. Concluding with, this remains a dauntingly deep, thoroughly absorbing dungeon crawler that will swallow you up for hours at a time.

  

This is the part of Modern Game Weekly where is visit four online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com, eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk for older generation titles and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific, but from a podcast I listen to, I’ve heard they have a huge stock of games, Ebay has now been dropped unless the game is unavailable at other retailers.

At the time of writing the game does not yet have a physical release, one is planned for a March 2018 release on both the PS4 and Nintendo Switch, with a title of Darkest Dungeon Ancestral Edition with an RRP of $39.99/€39.99/£34.99 on Nintendo Switch and $29.99/€29.99/£24.99 on the PS4.

 

With the usual store sources being useless for this game at the moment we will head over to the various system stores such as Steam, PSN Store and the Nintendo Store. Starting with the PSN Store we find two different editions of the game on offer, the first is the standard release which can be picked up for £17.99, which is $25.36 in the US.

The second edition on offer is the Crimson Edition which can be picked up for £21.99 or $31 in the US, both of these are available for the Vita version as well. In addition there is The Crimson Court  DLC which can be picked up for £7.99 and an additional character called the Shieldbreaker can be picked up for £3.00

Moving on to Steam we find the base game can be purchased for £18.99, with the two pieces of DLC priced at £6.99 for the Crimson Court and £2.98 for the Shieldbreaker character DLC. The Ancestral Edition which includes all can be picked up for £32.27 with the bundle currently on offer with 10% off.

The Nintendo eShop has the base game listed at $24.99 which converts to £17.75 but is priced at £17.99, both pieces of DLC are also on offer with The Crimson Court priced at $9.99 and The Shieldbreaker priced at $3.99. The Ancestral Edition is also available and will set you back $34.99 on the Nintendo Switch.

  

Written by

P J Gibbon