Welcome to the Darkest Dungeon!

Darkest Dungeon began as a thought exercise.

What would it really be like to battle the horrors so commonly dispatched in the games of our childhood? What would facing down unholy abominations day in and day out do to someone? What good is a glowing Sword of Unholy Slaying +5 in the hands of a blubbering coward?

After a year of discussion over scotches and poker games, we began development full time, and Darkest Dungeon started to take shape. As we worked, we got to know the game - its personality. What it would permit, and what it wouldn’t, where it left the beaten path, and where it tended to stay close to its roots.

Darkest Dungeon grew up in that second year. It was not friendly, or welcoming; it did not owe you a victory, or suffer fools. It wasn’t fair, like the horror movies and war stories that formed its foundation. It broke game ‘rules’; took control away, kicked you when you were down. It smoked behind the gym with its friends and skipped class.

Underneath all that badassery, though, it challenged you to think differently about heroism, and about the cost of adventuring. It taught you that preparedness was important, but thinking on your feet when the shit hits the fan was the true test. And, of course, it reminded you that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer. For all its unyielding focus on what can go wrong in an adventure, it showed why heroism is the only antidote for failed hope.

Prior to our launch in 2015, we talked about Early Access as an experience - a journey that the game and its players would take through the rise and fall of certain strategies, buffs, nerfs, changes, and improvements. What we didn’t expect is to be part of that journey ourselves. There have been exhilarating highs, and terrifying lows, not just for the hundreds of thousands of heroes, but for us on the dev team as well. We’ve often likened the experience of developing Darkest Dungeon to being inside the game, contending with our own stresses, bad bounces and heroic rallies. This game’s development has even seen the full cycle of humanity amongst our own team: births, deaths, and friendships and relationships tested. It’s never been easy. It has been indeed a Long Champion boss run, but here we are - intact, (relatively) sane, proud of what we’ve made, and profoundly grateful to all of you for your support.

We’ve been truly humbled by the excitement and enthusiasm we’ve seen from our community. Whether you supported us on Kickstarter, Humble, or on Steam Early Access, you have helped make this game what it is. Your feedback, suggestions, and critiques have been a part of our discussions and development since February, 2015. Not only that, your fanart, streams, YouTube videos, cosplays, theorycrafting, fanfiction, guides, and modding - have inspired and honored us, and we thank you very sincerely for sharing your creations.

The best part? There's more to come! After some much needed rest, the team will get to work on our first (free) expansion featuring Town Events, a new Hero Class, and even more goodies. Beyond that, you can look forward to even more additions, modes, and content throughout the year, as well as our official support of the modding community and their efforts to extend the Darkest Dungeon experience even further. We love our game, and we can’t wait to grow and improve it with you!

Alright, that’s enough from us. Go to Hell, people.

-The Darkest Dungeon Team


We’ve implemented full text localization and subtitles for all the narrator’s lines in 8 languages. You can access these through the OTHER category in GAME OPTIONS.

• English
  
• French
  
• German
  
• Russian
  
• Br-Portuguese
  
• Czech
  
• Polish
  
• Spanish

*Please note: Users will encounter occasional missing strings in certain languages as our final localization pass is in progress. These will be corrected within a day or two in a hotfix. Thanks for understanding!

We’ve added 64 achievements. These achievements reward your accomplishments, be they heroic, or spectacularly disastrous!


You can now collect 21 Journal pages, created by our kickstarter backers! They add color and lore to the seething world that surrounds the Hamlet. You can read the pages you collect by visiting the Ancestor’s Statue in the Hamlet.


Upon successful completion of the game players will be awarded New Game Plus. When creating a new save file, you will be prompted if you wish to start a NG+ file. Players must use the DD Strict gameplay options, tougher monsters, and two extra criteria: Complete the game in 91 Weeks with less than 13 deaths. Failure to do so and players will be greeted with a game over, and a deleted save.


Other Classes have been inspired by the Houndmaster’s preparedness and have begun to fashion themselves with their own provision to bring into dungeons.

• Houndmaster - 2 Dog Treats
  
• Plague Doctor - 1 Antivenom
  
• Grave Robber - 1 Shovel
  
• Arbalest - 1 Bandage
  
• Crusader - 1 Holy Water
  
• Leper - 1 Medicinal Herbs
  
• Jester - 1 Medicinal Herbs

• Expanded beginning tutorial
  
• The Collector now has certain limits for his head spawns
  
• The Prophet AI has been updated to be a tad more intelligent on Tiers 3 & 5
  
• Added icons that show the various effects of enemy skills
  
• End-of-quest quirk/disease now function off of linear interpolation (LERP) and will generally be given less frequently
  
• Added tooltips on map tiles
  
• New sound FX for resistances
  
• Added Pop-up text for when camping skills fail due to afflictions
  
• Added Secret Rooms
  
• Added ability to sort trinkets alphabetically
  
• Trinkets that cannot be equipped on the selected class will now appear greyed out
  
• And many smaller changes/additions...

• Fixed Trinket/Provision Exploit
  
• Guard can only be active on 1 Target per Caster
  
• Stunning Guard Casters will Remove Guard on Target
  
• Fixed Disappearing Party Member on mission start.
  
• Fixed camping ambush exploit
  
• Most attacks that have preferences for highest-stress targets will now no longer target a virtuous hero
  
• Fixed guards ‘failing’ due to an AI error
  
• The Siren will no longer target heroes at Death’s Door for ‘Control’
  
• Allowed camping in first room after backtracking to it.
  
• Fixed Brackish Tidepool transparency issue
  
• DoTs are no longer cleared automatically upon camping
  
• Fixed overlapping backgrounds around the Tavern
  
• Fixed bug concerning custom sound levels
  
• Fixed surprise save exploit
  
• And many smaller fixes...

Full Patch Notes found here.

Welcome to the Darkest Dungeon!

Darkest Dungeon began as a thought exercise.

What would it really be like to battle the horrors so commonly dispatched in the games of our childhood? What would facing down unholy abominations day in and day out do to someone? What good is a glowing Sword of Unholy Slaying +5 in the hands of a blubbering coward?

After a year of discussion over scotches and poker games, we began development full time, and Darkest Dungeon started to take shape. As we worked, we got to know the game - its personality. What it would permit, and what it wouldn’t, where it left the beaten path, and where it tended to stay close to its roots.

Darkest Dungeon grew up in that second year. It was not friendly, or welcoming; it did not owe you a victory, or suffer fools. It wasn’t fair, like the horror movies and war stories that formed its foundation. It broke game ‘rules’; took control away, kicked you when you were down. It smoked behind the gym with its friends and skipped class.

Underneath all that badassery, though, it challenged you to think differently about heroism, and about the cost of adventuring. It taught you that preparedness was important, but thinking on your feet when the shit hits the fan was the true test. And, of course, it reminded you that overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer. For all its unyielding focus on what can go wrong in an adventure, it showed why heroism is the only antidote for failed hope.

Prior to our launch in 2015, we talked about Early Access as an experience - a journey that the game and its players would take through the rise and fall of certain strategies, buffs, nerfs, changes, and improvements. What we didn’t expect is to be part of that journey ourselves. There have been exhilarating highs, and terrifying lows, not just for the hundreds of thousands of heroes, but for us on the dev team as well. We’ve often likened the experience of developing Darkest Dungeon to being inside the game, contending with our own stresses, bad bounces and heroic rallies. This game’s development has even seen the full cycle of humanity amongst our own team: births, deaths, and friendships and relationships tested. It’s never been easy. It has been indeed a Long Champion boss run, but here we are - intact, (relatively) sane, proud of what we’ve made, and profoundly grateful to all of you for your support.

We’ve been truly humbled by the excitement and enthusiasm we’ve seen from our community. Whether you supported us on Kickstarter, Humble, or on Steam Early Access, you have helped make this game what it is. Your feedback, suggestions, and critiques have been a part of our discussions and development since February, 2015. Not only that, your fanart, streams, YouTube videos, cosplays, theorycrafting, fanfiction, guides, and modding - have inspired and honored us, and we thank you very sincerely for sharing your creations.

The best part? There's more to come! After some much needed rest, the team will get to work on our first (free) expansion featuring Town Events, a new Hero Class, and even more goodies. Beyond that, you can look forward to even more additions, modes, and content throughout the year, as well as our official support of the modding community and their efforts to extend the Darkest Dungeon experience even further. We love our game, and we can’t wait to grow and improve it with you!

Alright, that’s enough from us. Go to Hell, people.

-The Darkest Dungeon Team


We’ve implemented full text localization and subtitles for all the narrator’s lines in 8 languages. You can access these through the OTHER category in GAME OPTIONS.

• English
  
• French
  
• German
  
• Russian
  
• Br-Portuguese
  
• Czech
  
• Polish
  
• Spanish

*Please note: Users will encounter occasional missing strings in certain languages as our final localization pass is in progress. These will be corrected within a day or two in a hotfix. Thanks for understanding!

We’ve added 64 achievements. These achievements reward your accomplishments, be they heroic, or spectacularly disastrous!


You can now collect 21 Journal pages, created by our kickstarter backers! They add color and lore to the seething world that surrounds the Hamlet. You can read the pages you collect by visiting the Ancestor’s Statue in the Hamlet.


Upon successful completion of the game players will be awarded New Game Plus. When creating a new save file, you will be prompted if you wish to start a NG+ file. Players must use the DD Strict gameplay options, tougher monsters, and two extra criteria: Complete the game in 91 Weeks with less than 13 deaths. Failure to do so and players will be greeted with a game over, and a deleted save.


Other Classes have been inspired by the Houndmaster’s preparedness and have begun to fashion themselves with their own provision to bring into dungeons.

• Houndmaster - 2 Dog Treats
  
• Plague Doctor - 1 Antivenom
  
• Grave Robber - 1 Shovel
  
• Arbalest - 1 Bandage
  
• Crusader - 1 Holy Water
  
• Leper - 1 Medicinal Herbs
  
• Jester - 1 Medicinal Herbs

• Expanded beginning tutorial
  
• The Collector now has certain limits for his head spawns
  
• The Prophet AI has been updated to be a tad more intelligent on Tiers 3 & 5
  
• Added icons that show the various effects of enemy skills
  
• End-of-quest quirk/disease now function off of linear interpolation (LERP) and will generally be given less frequently
  
• Added tooltips on map tiles
  
• New sound FX for resistances
  
• Added Pop-up text for when camping skills fail due to afflictions
  
• Added Secret Rooms
  
• Added ability to sort trinkets alphabetically
  
• Trinkets that cannot be equipped on the selected class will now appear greyed out
  
• And many smaller changes/additions...

• Fixed Trinket/Provision Exploit
  
• Guard can only be active on 1 Target per Caster
  
• Stunning Guard Casters will Remove Guard on Target
  
• Fixed Disappearing Party Member on mission start.
  
• Fixed camping ambush exploit
  
• Most attacks that have preferences for highest-stress targets will now no longer target a virtuous hero
  
• Fixed guards ‘failing’ due to an AI error
  
• The Siren will no longer target heroes at Death’s Door for ‘Control’
  
• Allowed camping in first room after backtracking to it.
  
• Fixed Brackish Tidepool transparency issue
  
• DoTs are no longer cleared automatically upon camping
  
• Fixed overlapping backgrounds around the Tavern
  
• Fixed bug concerning custom sound levels
  
• Fixed surprise save exploit
  
• And many smaller fixes...

Full Patch Notes found here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

This hotfix cleans up a few things, including the Odd Case of the Negative Healing!

• Heal rework to make sure buffs are applied in appropriate circumstances. Heal should never be below 0.
  
• Riposte, guard, mark durations in tray tooltip
  
• Dots carry over to death if done as part of the killing blow.
  
• Fix to stances in non fatal heart attacks.
  
• Surprise rolls for battle now are saved and restored.
  
• Fix to ensure Shambler and Collector limits don't persist over multiple dungeons.
  
• Disable camping in first room.
  
• Removed ability to finish quest from camp.
  
• Removed ability to finish quest when getting ambushed.
  
• Removed ability to retreat while ambush is happening.
  
• Fixed master volume.

This hotfix cleans up a few things, including the Odd Case of the Negative Healing!

• Heal rework to make sure buffs are applied in appropriate circumstances. Heal should never be below 0.
  
• Riposte, guard, mark durations in tray tooltip
  
• Dots carry over to death if done as part of the killing blow.
  
• Fix to stances in non fatal heart attacks.
  
• Surprise rolls for battle now are saved and restored.
  
• Fix to ensure Shambler and Collector limits don't persist over multiple dungeons.
  
• Disable camping in first room.
  
• Removed ability to finish quest from camp.
  
• Removed ability to finish quest when getting ambushed.
  
• Removed ability to retreat while ambush is happening.
  
• Fixed master volume.

• Fixed roster heroes sometimes not showing up on the Mac
  
• Fixed town sometimes not showing up on the Mac
  
• Fixed exploit where you could quit the game during an attack in order to get a different roll/target/stun etc.
  
• Man-at-Arms riposte is now 2 rounds
  
• Camping Skills that cure disease are now 100% successful (note: this is an experiment)

• Fixed roster heroes sometimes not showing up on the Mac
  
• Fixed town sometimes not showing up on the Mac
  
• Fixed exploit where you could quit the game during an attack in order to get a different roll/target/stun etc.
  
• Man-at-Arms riposte is now 2 rounds
  
• Camping Skills that cure disease are now 100% successful (note: this is an experiment)