See, it’s almost impossible to identify which actions will cause a rift between characters, and it all seems pretty random. It’s an intricate system, though perhaps a little too intricate. They can grow fond of one another, in which case they’ll often step in front of their beau to take damage for them. They can become respectful of one another, in which case they’ll sometimes attack in tandem. Sometimes they’ll form bonds – not always romantically, although it can happen. Just as they can build relationships during brief moments of respite, so too can they fall out. They’ll accuse each other of kill-stealing, or of favouring other party members if you heal one of them first. Character actions can now directly affect the other characters. In order to take this concept to the next level, Red Hook Studios have deepened the systems at play in a pretty extraordinary way. It’s not just a case of staying alive it’s what you have to live with afterwards. Surviving encounters requires a lot of skill and even more luck. What’s even more worrying is that you won’t know what your heroes will be afflicted with until it happens. Certain characters lose access to their moves. You can lose the ability to hit your target, or you can suffer reduced damage or defence. This can have a multitude of effects, as can other negative consequences. Fill the gauge (actually a little row of dots under their name), and they’ll have a breakdown. When anything negative happens, your heroes will gain a little point against their mental health. Bonds of battleĪs a result, you will lose people. You will trade blow for blow based on an initiative system, but the odds always seem stacked against you. The thing is, the enemies in Darkest Dungeon II are just as strong, if not stronger. You begin with just four, a decent enough crew comprised of a tank, a couple of DPS types, and a plague doctor who doubles as a healer, sort of. Taking hits, missing blows, and seeing their allies die has devastating effects on your party members.
You may win a desperate fight against a band of zombies or deranged cultists, but even if you, you may emerge somewhat changed. See, Darkest Dungeon II continues its predecessor’s penchant for punishing you even in victory. Unfortunately, winning fights is an incredibly difficult affair. You need to keep the flame burning, and you do that by winning fights and helping the needy. As long as it flourishes, you’ll receive buffs to morale and combat prowess. This flame represents your Hope, and if it goes out (which it will, now and then), it’s Game Over. It traverses the shadow-haunted land, sticking to old roads through gnarled, thorny woodland and ancient pathways, breaking through barricades and illuminating the gloom with its single flickering flame. Instead of languishing in an inn between delves, your ragtag band of miserable hatemongers languishes in a rickety old stagecoach instead. Actually, it takes that concept and hops on a stagecoach with it, since that’s your primary mode of transport in the sequel. During grand adventures you may also starve to death, get eaten by something, or catch the plague.ĭarkest Dungeon II takes that core concept and runs with it. This is a world where you either starve to death, get eaten by something, catch the plague, or strap on an eye patch, grab a sword, and go dungeoneering. Of course, it doesn’t help matters that the world they live in is so relentless bleak. But ultimately they were meant to be ordinary adventurers.
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Yes, okay, one of them is a professional poisoner, and there’s a highwayman, and they all have special skills and, in some cases, magic. The heroes (for want of a better word) in that game were presented as more down-to-Earth, normal(ish) people than you usually see. Heroes die, sometimes in quite horrific ways if you stop to think about it, but the main group or protagonist battles on, fighting the never-ending good fight.ĭarkest Dungeon, from Red Hook Studios, turned the entire genre on its head when it introduced the concept of PTSD to the standard dungeon crawler template. You almost never see the dark side of fighting an endless horde of zombies or cannibalistic orcs, or actual dragons. One thing you rarely see in fantasy tales, be it literature or movie, is the emotional and mental toll adventuring must take on the adventurer.
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