More Suffering Please!

I recently saw an article from PC Gamer that asked an intriguing question:  do you actually play the free games that you get from Epic giveaways?  If you're like me, the answer to this might instinctively be "no."  I don't find that answer completely satisfactory though, I do play them...just not all of them.  I find that I like to squirrel them away for times when I feel like playing something new.  The thing I like about the Epic giveaways is that they're a no-risk way to try out some games that you might not traditionally play.  Feeling a tad bored and adventurous though, I decided to dive into one of the games I snagged in a giveaway--Darkest Dungeon--and I've been suffering (in good and bad ways) ever since.

What is it?

Darkest Dungeon is a turn-based dungeon crawler with RPG elements.  One of the tags that immediately stood out to me was "difficult."  I know that there is an entire subset of gamers out there who love being tortured by games that make difficulty a selling point.  I'm generally not one of those people, but I do enjoy the feeling of failing at something and FINALLY being able to get it.  It is somewhat nice to be pushed--I often find myself getting bored with games that aren't very challenging.  Let's just say that Darkest Dungeon takes that to the extreme.

How long can you expect to play?

I've played about 40 hours and have not finished a campaign.  (*I also feel like I'm fairly incompetent, so others might have an easier time).  That time includes the fact that I've started over three times now.  Basically, you need enough time to level up, gear up, and prepare your motely crew of permanently suffering heroes to take on the ultimate "darkest dungeon."

Pros:

+ An array of different classes lets you figure out the best team combinations.  You get to take a party of four adventurers on each trek into a dungeon zone, but you need a full roster to truly be successful.  Part of the challenge in the game is figuring out class synergy--which classes have abilities that work best together.

+ Gameplay is truly challenging.  You're not just simply taking your heroes into a procedurally-generated dungeon and stomping some monsters; you're also having to manage their stress and personality quirks.  Some monsters specialize in stress-based attacks and stress isn't something that you can simply "heal" away (*some characters do have abilities that can reduce stress).  Characters that suffer from too much stress can crack...or, in some cases, react positively to stress.  If a character cracks, they cause other members of the party more stress, and they can even die if they have too much stress.  The only way to reduce stress is for party members to seek out relaxing activities in the hamlet once they've exited the dungeon.

Once your party has exited the dungeon, it's back to the hamlet--a small village that serves as a base of operations.  In the hamlet, you can spend the resources that you've gathered from dungeons to help manage stress, to improve abilities or gear, and recruiting more team members.  It takes a lot of resources to fully deck your squad out...there's definitely an aspect of grinding.

It's basically mandatory to have a packed roster of heroes--you won't be able to take the same party every time thanks to the stress mechanic.  There are also a ton of management decisions to make--characters can earn positive and negative quirks at the end of every dungeon...sometimes a character can wind up with a particularly bad quirk and, if you don't send them for treatment, that quirk can be locked in and be very expensive to treat.

+ Tactical awareness is mandatory--particularly in higher-level dungeons.  They're pretty brutal and require a lot of forethought about the enemies you'll be facing and which classes/characters are best suited.  You also find (or are rewarded) with special trinkets that provide buffs (and debuffs) to your squad--figuring out the best trinkets is an added layer of strategy.  Within the dungeons themselves you also have to strategize about the provisions you take, the route you follow, and when to camp (in longer dungeons).

+ Boss fights provide an extra challenge.  Once you've completed enough dungeon runs in a certain area, you have the chance to face off against a big baddie.  The bosses only get tougher as difficulty increases.

+ You can switch out abilities between battles.  This is a great feature and allows you to easily prepare for boss fights.

+Periodically, special encounters will pop up and give you the opportunity to face off against a new boss.

Cons:

- While the difficulty can provide a challenge, it can also feel a bit crushing at times.  In particular, the move from veteran (level 3) dungeons to champion (level 5) dungeons feels like a huge leap in difficulty.  Be prepared to fail.  Be prepared to have characters die.  Basically, prepare to have your soul crushed.  (*I'm playing it on the easiest difficulty and it's tough)  I've had moments of extreme frustration--just last night I was going up against a champion level boss and had a healer land three consecutive heals for 1 HP (*this particular healer functions off of RNG and can land heals from 0-30 HP)....it still makes me roll my eyes--what luck!  Then, when I realized my party was effed, I tried to retreat and failed.  I lost two of my top level characters.

- If you're not a fan of turn-based games, you'll probably find the combat to be a bit dry.  It's fairly repetitive and there's an aspect of grinding required to gain resources and level up your characters.

Recommendation:

Even though I have had moments of generally feeling frustrated, I always find myself going back for more suffering.  There's something highly enjoyable about the level of challenge in Darkest Dungeon.  You'll find yourself failing, but you'll always want more.  It's a real love/hate kind of thing.