Darkest Dungeon is a challenging gothic roguelike turn-based RPG about the psychological stresses of adventuring. Recruit, train, and lead a team of flawed heroes against unimaginable horrors, stress, famine, disease, and the ever-encroaching dark. Can you keep your heroes together when all hope is lost?
User reviews: Very Positive (9,751 reviews) - 86% of the 9,751 user reviews for this game are positive.
Release Date: Jan 19, 2016

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Early Access Game

Get instant access and start playing; get involved with this game as it develops.

Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“Darkest Dungeon already has a ton of content (14 hero classes, 4 dungeon environments, dozens of monsters, 130+ items, and more ) and we want to give fans a chance to play the game now! This in turn gives us a chance to improve the game based upon player feedback and otherwise involve the community in development.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We launched Early Access in February 2015 and the full version of the game will be released January 19th, 2016. During Early Access we have already added more heroes, more monsters, items, new game mechanics, and more. We added a 4th dungeon ("The Cove") in September, and now are working on the final environment: the Darkest Dungeon!”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“For the full release, we are planning to add the final dungeon environment, more character classes, story mode completion, additional monsters, items, quirks, narration, and dialogue. We also have reserved some time to add other new features and make changes based upon player feedback!”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“The current Early Access build is playable with 4 complete dungeon environments (Ruins, Weald, Warrens, and Cove), 13 character classes, 10 town building types, 5+ quest types, 30+ monsters, 130+ items, and more than 30 interactive dungeon objects. There is currently no end to the Campaign Mode in Early Access, so players can keep raising heroes and embarking on quests indefinitely. The full version of the game will have an end to the story.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“Final pricing for the completed game has not been determined, but is expected to be between $19.99 and $24.99 USD.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“The community is encouraged to post feedback on the official forums: http://www.darkestdungeon.com/forums/. Also, purchasers are asked (but not required) to opt-in for anonymous gameplay data collection, which we use directly to collect play stats to assist with gameplay balancing.”
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Includes 2 items: Darkest Dungeon, Darkest Dungeon Soundtrack

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Recommended By Curators

"Unique rogue like RPG with turn based combat, team, stress(!) and town management. Great game with Gothic art style and doomy narration. Get hooked!"
Read the full review here.

Recent updates View all (58)

December 21, 2015

Holiday Cheer Update - Build #12331 (PC and Mac)

HOLIDAY CHEER AND KEIR - December 21, 2015
Build #12331 (PC and Mac)

"Hope is the last thing a person does before they are defeated."
--Henry Rollins

This surprise update adds more gameplay options, a number of interface and quality-of-life improvements, and some key gameplay tweaks! Happy Holidays from Red Hook!

HOTFIX 12331: Fixed bug with graphical display of Options tooltips

Game Options
  • More game options have been added!
  • Options are sorted into categories
  • Gameplay Options are now controlled by a master "Darkest Dungeon Config" option. In order to toggle individual gameplay options off, you must first change "Darkest Dungeon Config" to OFF. "Darkest Dungeon Mode" is the default configuration as designed.
  • If you previously had Corpses turned OFF, you will need to turn Darkest Dungeon Config OFF and then turn Corpses OFF again.
  • Removed the option to disable Heart Attacks. Heart Attacks were changed substantially in the Inhuman Bondage update (they no longer kill you instantly) and the stress mechanics of the game require you to play with the revised Heart Attacks
  • New Game Option: Disable Combat Delay Penalties
  • New Game Option: Reduce strength of enemy crits
  • New Game Option: Eliminate lasting mortality debuffs from Death's Door and Heart Attacks
  • New Game Option: Make Combat Retreats always succeed (except when blocked by Affliction)

Interface Improvements
  • Town Quicknav Buttons - Upon entering a town building, you can quickjump to another building by clicking the buttons on the left side of the screen. This reduces the clicks necessary to get around town and attend to your heroes.
  • Embark Memory - Upon returning to the Hamlet, the party slots will remain occupied by the previous party. Roster sort by activity should also include sorting by who is in current party.
  • Trap Disarm Tray Icon - Upon approaching a scouted trap, a tray icon will pop for the hero(s) to show their chances of disarming it.
  • TAB to switch between Map and Inventory panels.
  • Right panel will no longer automatically swap to map from inventory when the party starts moving. Manually do it with TAB or (M).
  • CLICK on torch meter at top of screen to quickly use a torch from inventory.
  • Added "actions remaining" to the health/stress bar tooltips to indicate what the tickmark means (hero or monster still has another action this combat round)
  • Added tutorial event for selling trinkets.
  • Misc town UI icon polish
  • Trinket selling confirm now has an "always" button, to reduce popups on repeated trinket selling
  • If embarking on a quest of Veteran or Champion difficulty and you don't have any trinkets equipped, a warning box will pop up to remind you.
  • Curio disease resists will say "Resist!" to give a better idea of what happened
  • Trinket alphabetical secondary sort so that identical trinkets end up beside one another after a class/rarity sort.

Gameplay Adjustments
  • Afflictions: if trying to heal, move or buff an afflicted hero and they resist, this will no longer consume the originating hero's turn. That hero can try to do another action. (e.g. You try to heal your paranoid Crusader with a Vestal. If the Crusader refuses, you still get to use the Vestal to do something else that turn.)
  • Increased ACC of many hero skills, with particular emphasis to make status skills (debuffs, stuns, etc.) more accurate overall. This shifts more burden onto resist rolls for those skills.
  • Highwayman - Tracking Shot now procs the buff even on a miss
  • Sanitarium - increased chance of curing all diseases at once during a disease treatment
  • Monsters - some veteran and champion HP increases to partially account for overall increased hero accuracy
  • Monsters - review of resistances (bleed, blight, stun, move, debuff), mostly resulting in reductions
  • Monsters - some speed tweaks to emphasize roles
  • Monsters - dodge tweaks (some up, some down) to still reflect intent of dodgy monsters, given increased hero accuracy
  • Madman - reduced stress output at apprentice level so he isn't quite so bad of a new party landmine
  • Fungal Bloat - reduced dmg, crit, and marked target dmg (he was a bit too over-damaging, contributing to high Weald death rates)

Miscellaneous Fixes
  • Fix to padlock stress buff not applying on transform stress.
  • Abomination stance fixes.
  • Fix to abomination not reseting to idle when fighting in battle that has no loot.
  • Restricted hero class can swap out eachother in quest select when no other restrictions will take place.
  • Clamp stress when pending affliction to avoid heart attack before affliction is applied.
  • Removed the ability to use items when screen is not idle.
  • Fix to instant skill buffs carying over when transforming because of affliction and selected skill being set.

A break in the clouds--hark, the sun!

--the Darkest Dungeon team

91 comments Read more

December 15, 2015

Inhuman Bondage - Hotfix #12181 (PC and Mac)

  • Fixed Death’s Door and Heart Attack Hangover Debuffs persisting between dungeons

19 comments Read more
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Report bugs and leave feedback for this game on the discussion boards

About This Game

Darkest Dungeon is a challenging gothic roguelike turn-based RPG about the psychological stresses of adventuring.

Recruit, train, and lead a team of flawed heroes through twisted forests, forgotten warrens, ruined crypts, and beyond. You'll battle not only unimaginable foes, but stress, famine, disease, and the ever-encroaching dark. Uncover strange mysteries, and pit the heroes against an array of fearsome monsters with an innovative strategic turn-based combat system.

  • The Affliction System – battle not only monsters, but stress! Contend with paranoia, masochism, fear, irrationality, and a host of gameplay-meaningful quirks!
  • Striking hand-drawn gothic crowquill art style
  • Innovative turn-based combat pits you against a host of diabolical monsters
  • Narration system to celebrate your successes...and failures
  • 14 (and counting!) playable hero classes, including Plague Doctor, Hellion, and even the Leper!
  • Camp to heal wounds or deliver inspiring speeches.
  • Rest your weary, shell-shocked characters in town at the Tavern or the Abbey to keep their stress in check.
  • Classic CRPG and roguelike features, including meaningful permadeath, procedural dungeons, and incredible replay

Can you stem the tide of eldritch horrors erupting across your family’s ancestral estate?

Descend at your peril!

Awards and Honors

System Requirements

Windows
Mac OS X
    Minimum:
    • OS: Windows XP
    • Memory: 2 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Open GL 3.2+ Compliant
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: 1080p, 16:9 recommended
    Recommended:
    • OS: Windows 7+
    • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Open GL 3.2+ Compliant
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: 1080p, 16:9 recommended
    Minimum:
    • OS: OSX 10.9+
    • Memory: 2 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Open GL 3.2+ Compliant
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    Recommended:
    • OS: OSX 10.9+
    • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Open GL 3.2+ Compliant
    • Storage: 2 GB available space
    • Additional Notes: 1080p, 16:9 recommended
Helpful customer reviews
638 of 747 people (85%) found this review helpful
11 people found this review funny
316.0 hrs on record
Posted: December 27, 2015
Early Access Review
I feel like I have to post a new review because all of the reviews that are pre-December, site problems that have been addressed. Red Hook released a huge bug fix and ease of use patch that was specifically designed so that players who dislike certain mechanics (like the stress for "delaying" a fight) can just turn them off. Red Hook is a company that does pay attention to the player base, the problem is that the player base is greatly divided. There is also an extremely vocal minority running a massive smear campaign on the internet, going so far as creating new steam accounts for the sole purpose of going through every positive comment and marking them unhelpful. While I don't want to get into that, if you want, you can absolutely find information about it.

This game is amazing, and I've been playing since early summer. It has come incredibly far, and anyone who says otherwise is making snap judgements, or flat out lying. Darkest Dungeon has XCOM levels of difficulty. It has XCOM level "WTF" moments. Occasionally you will miss 99% chance to hit attacks, and occasionally enemies will get nigh impossible critical strings. But just like XCOM, through base building and experience, you can minimize risk and become a force to be reckoned with.

This game is challenging, but not nearly as hard as most negative reviews would lead you to believe. Most of them say things like "The devs have been trying to remove every winning strategy" or "the game is anti-fun now", but in reality, I haven't met any players new to the game that have problems with it. This leads me to believe that throughout the development of the game, players found certain strategies that were drastically over-powered (which is why in the discussion boards, there are players that rant about the game being too easy), and the devs introduced changes which reduced the efficacy of these imbalanced strategies (which in any other game would be considered a "balance patch", but apparently in this game, people think it is intended to be "fun-killing"). One of these strategies (early on) was to get 4 of the same class, and use the exact same attack every turn until you won everything. This is no longer possible. This seems like a reasonable balance patch to me.

I'm really disappointed that I have to write this review in this fashion. There is no reason I should be justifying the game against the recent torrent of bad reviews. This is an amazing game for anyone who likes strategy and/or Lovecraft. I have 300+ hours for a reason, you might not get that much time out of it, but for context, out of the current 3 difficulty tiers of dungeons, I didnt hit level 2 until 80ish hours. I really hope you give this game a chance.

Edit: Due to some feedback, I would like to make something clear, this game is not XCOM. It does not have XCOM's production value or quality, and it is not worth 60 dollars. It is certainly worth it's current price tag, and buying it on sale is a no brainer.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny
324 of 420 people (77%) found this review helpful
8 people found this review funny
77.5 hrs on record
Posted: December 25, 2015
Early Access Review
Everyone says that the new update has ruined the game.

Simply not true. I've lost heroes because of my own mistakes, underestimating opponents (♥♥♥♥ing Ancient Webbers), and (rarely) RNGesus, but it's never been because the game was too stacked against me.

To earn gold, you HAVE to budget. In early stages, when you're upgrading your Hamlet, you have to learn when Heroes are more trouble than they're worth and to let them go (i.e. their stress reduction cost total > the gold you're taking in, too many diseases, bad quicks that are locked in, etc). Everyone in the beginning is expendable. The overall goal is to accumulate wealth and upgrade that Hamlet.

Simply said, you're not going to get to level 6 on your Heroes from the very beginning.

After a while, gold and upgrading become less of an issue. Gold farming is incredibly easy to the Champion level dungeon runs (presuming you survive), with 15K gold as a reward for completing it, and it cost me about 4K to get more than enough supplies to survive. Adding in all the loot that I got (around 14k on my last run), the difference is real. Putting in about 6K in stress reduction, and 4K in quick-removal/disease removal, I still came out on top.

Even with the ease of gold farming in later stages of the game, your Heroes can AND WILL die. I lost nearly an entire party of level 6 Heroes to Webbers because I had gotten into a "click, kill" mentality, and thought that the blight damage would be under control. Wrong.

You have to think about each move you make, because every encounter has the possibilty of going south.

Update (Jan 5 2016): I'm very pleased that the featured reviews are all recommended like this game deserves, instead of the people who raged when updates happened and couldn't think critically about it.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny
168 of 231 people (73%) found this review helpful
4 people found this review funny
171.7 hrs on record
Posted: December 28, 2015
Early Access Review
I've been in the Darkest Dungeon since release:
-Art is great in a dark and grim way.
-Music and Sounds add to the art, getting both eyes and hears on the same page:
You're expected to read,listen to every clue the devs throw at you. If you don't play with your brain you will be destroyed!
Redhook has been adding options so that more "casual" gamers could play, so...
everyone who loves turn-based/party-based games should give it a go.
Was this review helpful? Yes No Funny
120 of 167 people (72%) found this review helpful
3 people found this review funny
41.0 hrs on record
Posted: December 28, 2015
Early Access Review
Exetremely atmospheric and fun. It's balls hard but once you learn hpw to manage resources and make the best of a bad situation you will excel at this game. Expect to lose characters a lot a first and even much later. Each dungeon area has different status effects and troubles you will need to be prepared for which keeps the game fresh as it encourages you to build up multiple characters rather than have one mega party of the same 4-5 characters. Crossbowman, Occulist, and Grave robbers are weird classes that don't seem powerful, but they become extremely useful once you start to learn the flow of the game and how to approach troublesome encounters.
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109 of 155 people (70%) found this review helpful
4 people found this review funny
34.4 hrs on record
Posted: December 28, 2015
Early Access Review
I bought this during Winter 15 sale. I had been watching the reviews and the price.
I can't speak to the state of the game before I got it, but of the dozen or so games I bought I am hooked on this one first.
Although I like D&D type games, I tend not to like the ones that make you feel like you could do it all on a tabletop.
Which this kinda does, but I like it anyway. Alot. The production values are good, from small things like being able to use items in inventory as you discard them (it's a small thing, but surprised they thought of it) to voice narration and theme. Does not feel like a tabletop. A couple days after I bought it, they released a patch to make the game optionally easier. I am already used to the current mechanics and they don't feel unbalanced yet, there is a learning curve is all.
It's alot of fun.
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