Greetings Hamlet Dwellers!

In preperation for the release for the DLC tomorrow we are pushing a base game build to our coming_in_hot public beta branch for players to help us test for any issues with the base game. Below are the patch notes for what has change in the base game since our last patch.

• NEW TOWN EVENT
  
  • Added two new town events that relieve stress for the entire hamlet roster if at least one circus match is played before beginning the next week.
• Fixed positioning changes caused by AoE knockback and pull abilities
  
• Added stress heal received while camping buff to Meditator quirk
  
• Stress modifier vs [Enemy Type] buffs are now active while that enemy type is present in the combat. (Such as Fear/Hatred/Phobia quirks)
  
• Lowered Bloodmoon Radiant Light Dodge bonus to match Stygian (2.5%) instead of Radiant (7.5%)
  
• Plow Horse Color of Madness enemy won’t cause stall-related crashes when modded into non-wave combats
  
• Fixed enemy reinforcements crash in Darkest Dungeon location
  
• Fixed Abomination being able to ignore allies’ move-block actouts
  
• Added option to opt out of data collection
  
• Supports both new and old localization formats

Modding

• NEW DUNGEON RULES
  
  • Added "dots_can_deathblow". When false, bleed and blight no longer causes heroes to roll a death’s door check.
    
  • Added “deaths_door_test_survived_resistance_chance” to dungeon rules. A hero’s deathblow resistance is reduced by this amount each time they survive a death’s door check, cumulatively.
• NEW TRINKET EFFECT TRIGGERS
  
  • Added "melee_attack_skill" effect trigger for trinkets
    
  • Added "ranged_attack_skill" effect trigger for trinkets
    
  • Added "riposte_attack_skill" effect trigger for trinkets
    
  • Added "attack_crit" effect trigger for trinkets
• NEW BUFF RULES
  
  • Buffs can now be conditional on actorStatus "virtued" and "afflicted"
    
  • Buffs can now be conditional on rule_type "activated_first " and "activated_last "
    
  • Buffs can now decrement at the end of rounds rather than the end of an actor’s turn by using .buff_duration_type "after_turn" and "after_round"
• NEW SKILL RULES
  
  • Combat skills with “.ignore_deathsdoor true” will deathblow instantly if they deal lethal damage, regardless of deathblow resist. The target will be killed even if it was not already on death’s door.
• NEW STATS
  
  • Added “deathblow_chance” which increases the chance of deathblow and is applied against deathblow resistance.
    
  • Added “heartattack_stress_heal_percent” which modifies the amount that stress is lowered after suffering a heart attack.
    
  • Added “buff_duration_percent” which increases the duration of buffs applied by the hero
    
  • Added “ignore_guard” which causes skills to bypass guard.

KNOWN ISSUES
Some Localization Strings are still missing for some languages. These will be corrected when we push the DLC.

Here are this weeks mods:

The Exile by Badger

This mod includes a hero with custom sprites, a unique skillset , ten trinkets, and over 500 custom dialogue lines. The Exile is a versatile melee fighter who specializes in team support. Manipulate party positions and augment allies' movesets with his Assignments, or bypass and undermine enemy defenses with his attack skills.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2101866853





The Color of Blood and Venom by Hunting Slime

This mod adds a desert and courtyard area for the Endless Harvest, with the desert area featuring snakes, spiders, wolves and maggots while the Courtyard area adds all kinds of Bloodsuckers, adding a little bit extra to the Harvest to make it more dangerous.


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1417882314





Thank you to the creators for their hard work and talent!

If you would like to suggest mods for us to showcase, you can join our Discord here:

http://discord.gg/darkestdungeon

Here are this weeks mods:

The Bloodclot by Uncanny Gemstar

The Bloodclot is a highly variable and self sufficient hero. From the front, he savages enemies at close range. He pierces shell, bone, and armor alike with vampiric fangs that ravage those weakened by blight and bleed. He rips and consumes his foes flesh with mutated flesh that hungers for blood to sustain himself. With the strength granted by his curse, he tears targets to pieces with his claws, heightening his frenzied ability to consume his enemies. In the back rows, he rains hell down on the battlefield, no shuffling mosquito or retreating cultist able to escape him. He lobs balls of his own cursed festering blood at foes, opening their own wounds, or sprays accumulated bile to clear his thoughts. His most dangerous ability is utilized through Litmus, drowning the enemies in the very malignancies they inflict upon him. His body is ravenous and bottomless, and can consume the suffering of his allies, curing them of their ailments while bringing out his own.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2060478391






Doomsday - Miniboss Mod by Dem and Adon

Fight a terrifying new menace. Encounter Doomsday, a new monster in three new challenging dungeon encounters! If you can defeat this powerful creature, you have a chance to earn crystal shards, rare trinkets, or new quirks that may help you in your Color of Madness adventures. Will you be able to defeat him before your heroes meet their doom?

In addition to new dungeons, there is a small random chance to encounter Doomsday in the Endless Harvest Quest or in LVL 2, 3, 4, or 5 Dungeons in the Weald, Cove or Sunward Isles (Optional Mod). Random encounters do NOT occur in the Ruins, Warrens or Crimson Court. You will see a visual indicator that means there is a 25% CHANCE at the encounter in that area.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1889221242







Thank you to the creators for their hard work and talent!

If you would like to suggest mods for us to showcase, you can join our Discord here:

http://discord.gg/darkestdungeon

Here are this weeks mods:

The Eucharistan by Cryptix

Once a mere priest of the abbey, the Eucharistan was inflicted with a terrible disease of the blood, uncurable by even the holy miracles of light. Downcast and questioning his faith, he found himself lost outside the Hamlet, eventually stumbling upon the courtyard. While trapped in the den of depravity and misshapen mutants, he was infected with the Crimson Curse, which interacted with his own diseased blood in a way never seen before: the Eucharistan completely rejected his own blood and replaced it with the Blood itself, becoming a living font of the valued elixir. Brought before the Countess half mad with pain, he was taught to utilize his new abilities and become the front line of a new infection vector, one wrought by faith and fury…

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2077870092




Mash Variety Project by Dragonborn

One of, if not the first tool generated mod(s) for DD, the Mash Variety project aims to add variety to your normal dungeon runs by adding over 33 thousand new monster compositions (mashes) across all areas! With it being completely mod compatible, this can drastically change who and what you fight in your dungeon runs.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1959413259





Thank you to the creators for their hard work and talent! We hope you all are remaining safe and healthy!

If you would like to suggest mods for us to showcase, you can join our Discord here:

http://discord.gg/darkestdungeon

Here are this weeks mods:


The Privateer by DapperJack

Having lost his ship and crew to the malevolent seas by the Manor, this shantyman has washed ashore in search of vengeance. With fiddle in one hand and a bottle o' grog in the other, the Privateer aims to venture into the Darkest of Dungeons.

This all new class mod comes with 5 skins, 7 unique abilities, 3 unique camping skills, 10 class trinkets, customized effects, a town event, and much more!

The Privateer is a mid-row support and stress healer who can be played in a number of ways.
Put him in the front ranks and down some rum to make your Privateer a heavy hitting damage dealer, or throw him in the back ranks to heal stress and wounds alike!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1965654832





The Rescuer by Dem and Selafio

Educated as a military medic in the mountains, the Rescuer and his faithful Saint Bernard and Pyrenees seek to aid those in need! Trained in medical sciences, he can heal health or stress, and cure medical conditions (bleed, stun, horror, blight). Using Nitrous Oxide heals group stress, but risks stunning himself. He has a unique rejuvenating hypnosis technique that can cleanse "battle-limited" skills from a teammate. In addition, the hounds can help with attacks, counter attacks, and bleeds. The Rescuer's self sacrificing nature is also his greatest weakness: his personal health is extremely low! With the right trinkets, his healing could match a Vestal's. The Rescuer may become your faithful companion.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2053917390





Thank you to the creators for their hard work and talent!

If you would like to suggest mods for us to showcase, you can join our Discord here:

http://discord.gg/darkestdungeon

“Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action comes, stop thinking and go in.”

― Napoleon Bonaparte

Greetings Hamlet Dwellers!

Today we wanted to give a glimpse into some of the mechanical changes as well as the release date for The Butcher’s Circus. Grab a friend or a foe and prepare yourselves because the Circus arrives at the Hamlet on May 28th.

In just a few weeks, all players who own Darkest Dungeon on Steam can join the fray! We can’t be more excited to have a release on the horizon as we’ve been heads down deep on Darkest Dungeon 2 and Circus development and haven’t had the pleasure of being able to present something to our community in some time. Soon, we can welcome you inside the big tent for us all to celebrate what we think is an interesting new way to play Darkest Dungeon.

As a little preview, let’s go over probably the biggest difference players will see when jumping into the ring: changes to turn order and initiative.

Normally in Darkest Dungeon, at the start of each combat round we roll all combatants’ initiative to establish a turn order. This initiative is the combination of the character’s speed plus a die roll. We don’t explicitly show who will act next because we like there to be some amount of unknown information that represents the chaos of a fight. Instead we use gold pips on the actors to show who has yet to act. However, in the Circus, it works quite a bit differently.



At the start of a match there is a coin flip, whomever wins the flip acts first. That is of course quite valuable, so the loser gets a special team-wide buff that lasts for the entire first round.

The starting player then gets to choose which hero to use first. That’s right–no initiative!

After that hero acts, play passes to the other player and they in turn get to choose a hero to act. Action continues to alternate back and forth between players in this way until all heroes have acted. Then a new round begins.



Although we are fans of some good old-fashioned RNG (as you well know), relying on the base game initiative system would introduce too much randomness into the outcome of a single PvP combat match.

This new mechanic introduces a huge new layer of decision making into combat. Do I go for immediate damage with Crusader or Leper? Or do I set up some marks with my Houndmaster or Bounty Hunter so that my Arbalest can score big kills? Should you activate the hero most vulnerable to being stunned first, even though ideally you’d like to leave them for last in order to combo or do a saving heal? It creates an interesting cat and mouse dynamic for the first half of the match as you attempt to outmaneuver and activate your chosen strategy while interrupting your opponent’s.

Along with the initiative change, we’ve also made other combat changes to enhance the PvP experience, but we’ll leave you to discover those in the Arena. It’s a whole new battle out there! However, rest assured that the single player campaign and combat will continue to function as they always have.

Add The Butcher’s Circus to your Steam’s Wishlist today and be notified the minute the DLC releases on May 28th! In anticipation of the release, we also invite you to join our Discord and speculate wildly with our welcoming community!

Discord link: https://discordapp.com/invite/darkestdungeon

Blog link: https://www.darkestdungeon.com/the-butchers-circus-dlc-releases-on-may-28th/

Here are this weeks mods:

EC Dungeon Backgrounds by eclipsezr

A mod that adds a grand total of 31 new backgrounds to rooms all throughout the normal dungeons! A simple addition that is good for anyone who wants to add a simple little bit of content if you’ve seen all the normal backgrounds 10 times over.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1447858689






Darkest Dungeon: Senua by Balgin Stondraeg

After what seems like an eternity lost in madness a newcomer claws her way back to reality and drags her sorry carcass into the Hamlet. While her grip on sanity is tenuous at best she draws strength from madness and she will ride that whirlwind of destruction into oblivion itself. Sometimes, if she is lucky, she'll still be standing amidst the wreckage. A solitary figure left alive to mourn for the fallen.

A Senua has entered the Hamlet. What is a Senua, you might ask? Is it related to Senuna the obscure Celtic goddess? Perhaps. Is it related to Senua from Hellbade: Senua's Sacrifice? Absolutely! She even bears the severed head of her lover on her quest into darkness but if ever there was a character suited to Darkest Dungeon then it is she. With her hallucinations and delusions she should fit right in among the other denizens of the Hamlet.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2016855256





Thank you to the creators for their hard work and talent!

If you would like to suggest mods for us to showcase, you can join our Discord here:

http://discord.gg/darkestdungeon

“Everything that happens before Death is what counts.”

-Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes


Greetings Hamlet Dwellers!

The rumors are true – tents are being pitched, banners raised, and the Hamlet is rife with competitive camaraderie. The Butcher’s Circus has arrived!

On April 2nd we announced that we will be releasing a new FREE DLC for Darkest Dungeon on Steam. This new DLC will add a whole new way to play: PvP battles against friends and foes alike!

We’ve always toyed with the idea of a competitive version of our combat system, and as we began to shift production to Darkest Dungeon II, we just couldn’t give up on the idea. Thanks to the success of the game, we hired a few extra hands to dedicate to this DLC while the rest of our studio continued work on Darkest Dungeon II. The results of this experiment are almost ready to unveil!

Here are a few tidbits of what to expect with The Butcher’s Circus DLC.

We are adding a whole new sub-hamlet screen, The Circus! You can easily switch between the Circus and Hamlet screens much like you do when going to select your next quest. Once in the Circus you can choose to challenge a friend, visit the prize booth to see what rewards are next for your progression, or enter the main tent and join the matchmaking queue to face off against other players.



The party select screen (pictured above) allows you to quickly select and kit out your party. An important note: the heroes you use to enter the ring are not the ones you have on your roster in the Hamlet. You can experiment and try out PvP parties without fearing the loss of Dismas or Reynauld as they attempt to assault the Darkest Dungeon! Going to the Circus is no risk for your campaign.

The Butcher’s Circus will have its own version of skills, class balances, and other various combat mechanical changes that are separate from Darkest Dungeon’s main campaign. Those changes do not extend into the single player game. The next blog post will cover more details on those changes we’ve made to create an exciting and competitive environment.

While we have you here, let’s go over some Frequently Asked Questions we’ve seen from the community since we’ve announced the DLC.

Q: How much will this DLC cost?

We are giving it away for FREE, permanently.

Q: Are there in-game purchases, loot boxes, or microtransactions?

No. All rewards are gated behind player progression, pure and simple. No pay to win, no pay for visuals.

Q: What’s the catch – how will you make money on this?

Thanks to the success of Darkest Dungeon, we are excited to share this with the community and we hope you enjoy it! (The Butcher’s Circus does require the core game to play, and DLC heroes also require the associated DLC to unlock.)

Q. What platforms/stores will this DLC be available on?

At launch we will only be on Steam, and only on Windows. We will be adding Mac and Linux support soon after. Other platforms and storefronts are TBD. Honestly, it depends a bit on the reception of the DLC!

Q. Can I use any mods or modded characters in the Butcher’s Circus?

No. In order for us to have any form of anti-cheat in place, that means that everything related to the PvP mode (facing other players) cannot be modded.

Q. Can I use The Flagellant or Shieldbreaker in the Butcher’s Circus without owning the Crimson Court or Shieldbreaker DLCs?

In order to put those characters into your party you will need to own their respective DLCs. That said you can still be matched against players who are using them, even if you don’t own them yourself.

Q. Will this have any sort of anti-cheat?

Yes! The service we are using for this DLC that handles our matchmaking, analytics, and progression system will also be running our anti-cheat system. Because this service is using various analytics tools to help us we will need to update our EULA agreement to let people know about how we comply with GDPR requests.

Q. Is an internet connection required to access this DLC?

Yes. For now you will need to have a connection to the internet in order to even get access to the Circus menu screens.

Q. Will there be bots to play against?

Yes, we will have bots! If you get anxious with playing other people and want to experiment in your own time, you can play against bots. Since we require an internet connection to access the Circus menu screens, that means at launch there won’t be any offline bots. This is a feature we hope to add post release.

Q. Will the hero corpses be making their way back to the main campaign?

No. The corpses are very important for this mode and we haven’t evaluated their impact on the main campaign. While many of our fans over the years have requested hero corpses, since we aren’t looking to modify the base game with this DLC we have chosen to keep them inside the DLC.

Q: Is this Delaying Darkest Dungeon 2?

Nope! The Butcher’s Circus staff were hired specifically to work on this, and we didn’t do it at the cost of also making progress on DD2. So… enjoy The Butcher’s Circus guilt-free. Or if you aren’t the PvP type, rest-assured that the sequel remains under production and we look forward to sharing more news on it when we can!

https://www.darkestdungeon.com/introducing-the-butchers-circus/

And so can this pandemic! Hope everyone is staying healthy and safe during this time.


The Bloat by Kranot, Sasiji, and Kenthril

Bloated, Diseased, Disgusting, surprisingly capable and friendly. This describes the Bloat best. A fat Happy man from an unknown region of the world that carries within him every plague imaginable. But instead of being a decaying corpse some strange pagan fetish keeps him alive and well. He values Friendship, good stories and a good meal.

As the Bloat is a very cautious man who tries to not get his amulet broken he has developed a very specific fighting style. He sticks to the middle of back rows and spreads his diseased sludge through a custom slimesprayer. He also utilizes the many side effects of his myriad of diseases to his advantage to stick insects on foes or cover himself in a crust of mold. Gameplay-wise this probably translates as: Ranged off-tank blighter with some buffing thrown in.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1990986165






Swine Chieftain (Here Be Monsters) by Shay, Sasiji, and anonymous_koala

Here Be Monsters is a series of mods that will add new minibosses to all 4 vanilla dungeons. This first one adds the Swine Chieftain, a rare enemy that will only appear in the Warrens. With him come a drove of marauding Swine, as well as the living battering ram of their army, the dreaded Grond. While he and his lackeys will prove an arduous challenge, the treasure and trinkets he may drop, including two rare unique trinkets not available anywhere else, will be a handsome reward for a task well performed…

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2024095844





Thank you to the creators for their hard work and talent!

If you would like to suggest mods for us to showcase, you can join our Discord here:

http://discord.gg/darkestdungeon

Joke Trinkets by Pseudonomenclature

The Jester is still pretty ticked off about being nerfed time and time again throughout the game's development, and has taken it to be some kind of cruel ironic joke. Well, now they have countered with a few Jests of their own, this time at the expense of that all-too-dreaded game balance! This is all incredibly stupid.

This mod adds 11 new very silly and dubiously balanced trinkets to the game! They can be obtained with a 10% chance as loot from CURIOS (if interacted with by a Jester) or from DEFEATING ENEMIES (if you have a Jester in your party).

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1986537874






Anti’s Skin Collection by Anti’

A collection of every skin Anti has made, all put into a single mod! This features many different skins for every single vanilla hero, some putting very different takes or ideas on the base heroes!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1804245425






Thank you to the creators for their hard work and talent!

If you would like to suggest mods for us to showcase, you can join our Discord here:

http://discord.gg/darkestdungeon