NO. 7 IN THE INDEX · ROGUELIKE · TURN-BASED · STRATEGY
Darkest Dungeon
Ruin has come to our family.
By the editorial desk · Red Hook Studios, 2016 · Steam version
Ascendant
Tier A · 86/100
THE VERDICT
Grim, stylish and cruel in the best way. Excellent.
A gothic dungeon crawler about the cost of heroism. Your adventurers will panic, break, develop phobias and die, and the game asks you to send them back down anyway.
The ledger
- Developer
- Red Hook Studios
- Publisher
- Red Hook Studios
- Released
- 19 January 2016
- Steam builds
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- Steam Deck
- Verified
- Modes
- Single-player
- Steam price
- $24.99
- Typical playtime
- ~50 hours
- Cost per hour
- ≈ $0.50
The world
Your ancestor dug too deep beneath the family estate and woke something. The Narrator, voiced unforgettably by Wayne June, reads every success and failure like a line from a Lovecraft story. The hand-drawn art is grim and beautiful in equal measure.
Darkest Dungeon key art
The fight
Turn-based fights in a four-person line where position matters. The real enemy is stress: heroes who crack can refuse orders, harm allies or die of a heart attack. Managing the mental health of your roster is as important as managing their hit points.
The build
More than a dozen hero classes with positional skills, trinkets and quirks that develop over time. Team composition is the main build decision, and some combinations shine against specific regions.
The trial
Unforgiving by design. Bad luck happens and permadeath is permanent. Radiant mode reduces grinding and is the best choice for a first run.
The port
Light on hardware, with native Windows, macOS and Linux builds. Verified on Steam Deck, where it is an excellent fit.
Worthy
- Stress system that makes every expedition tense
- Narration and art that define the gothic tone
- Meaningful roster management between runs
- Excellent on Steam Deck
Unworthy
- Random streaks can feel unfair
- The late game demands a lot of grinding on default settings
- Repetition across long campaigns
Who should enter
Strategy players who enjoy managing a doomed roster and can laugh at catastrophe. Avoid if bad luck ruins your evening.
How the score was reached
- Combat 25%
- 88
- World & lore 25%
- 92
- Builds & systems 20%
- 86
- Fair challenge 15%
- 78
- PC port 15%
- 92
Best atmosphere per dollar in the codex.
Kindred worlds
Chosen for how they feel to play, not just the genre tag.
