A mix of Heroes of Mighty and Magic in 2D, a MOBA and an environment with enemies and protagonists like Dark Souls: many of you will think this playing Darkest Dungeon, indie game developed by Red Hook Studios thanks to a fundraiser on Kickstarter, which is available for PS4 e PC, available on Steam. The comic-style graphics and very dark environments immediately give the idea of the game: simple in appearance, complex in mechanics.
Are you ready to face the shadows?
An innovative retro style!
"You said it's a nice but difficult game with elements inspired by other games ... but what is Darkest Dungeon in practice?"
Darkest Dungeon is an RPG with turn-based combat in dungeons divided into various rooms. Our team will consist of a maximum of 4 members chosen by us before starting the dungeon expedition. Each of these members will have one own class and skill, which will be used in combat. The peculiarity that characterizes the fights is the position of the various components of the quartet: in fact the various skills of each fighter will require that he is in a certain position to be used; this element is one of the two mechanics that make this game really tough. In fact, it will not be easy to decide where to position your warriors, since in addition to requiring a certain position to be effective, the skills will not be able to target any enemy, but only those present in the positions indicated by the ability. Crossbowmen, for example, have most of the skills dedicated to hitting the rear or multiple targets at the same time, while knights are unlikely to be able to attack beyond the second row!
Organize your own team!
"And isn't there a checkpoint to reorganize our team?"
Of course there is! There city, its buildings and services, will serve to prepare our team before tackling an expedition (hoping that it will end in the best way). Within it we will be able to manage the members of our team and, through paid services, enhance or heal them, in case they have suffered debuff or malus. Structures such as the guild, the forge or the church will allow us to upgrade our heroes, increasing the damage of their weapons, learning new skills or increasing the level of heroism.
Other structures such as the tavern or the hospital will serve to heal our soldiers, lowering the level of stress or eliminating malus and diseases.
It will also be possible within the city to review the gameplay footage and have a "list" of our heroes who died in battle, since no effort is in vain, especially in an experience like the one offered by Darkest Dungeon!
The psyche of the fighters: am I a hero or a failure?
"You mentioned" stress "and" heroism "earlier ... does that mean fighters have a psyche?"
Thankfully (or sadly!) Yes, it does, and underestimating this can cost your team a lot. The actions taken, the attacks suffered and the surrounding environment will affect the psyche of it, going to add points to the stress or atheroism. These characteristics are the opposite of each other: if once we reach the maximum points in heroism our character receives buffs that will make him invulnerable to bleeding or the like, the stress will generate significant penalties: Paranoia, Masochism o Cleptomania are just a few examples. The former does not have a heavy effect on the fighter's stats, but will greatly increase the team's stress; the second one will automatically move the affected champion to first position, in order to suffer most of the damage; the third instead has no effect on combat, but will not allow the team to obtain items in the dungeon, as the sick fighter will steal all found items.
Don't stay in the dark!
"Darkest Dungeon ... how do you counteract the decline of shadows?"
The light in this game is a fundamental component, and it will be better to keep it on, so as not to run into unpleasant surprises. Using the torches from our inventory we will be able to keep the light level high: if this drops, the stats of the enemies will increase considerably, causing a lot of trouble. Darkness is also one of the environmental characteristics that affects team stress. Keeping a high light level will also allow you to surprise your enemies, allowing you to act first at the beginning of the fight; needless to say that if the light level were to be low, the effect obtained will be exactly the opposite!
