The sense that a party is rapidly losing control of its situation and its composure, much like some of the most famous scenes in horror movies like Aliens, leads to the player mirroring their warriors’ feelings of desperation, and is hugely effective. Some of these character quotes are particularly disturbing, with heroes teetering on the brink of insanity and often cackling maniacally or muttering about thousand-eyed cosmic horrors. With effects ranging from them disobeying the player's commands to sapping the rest of their party’s morale with repeated insults or negativity, the mechanic is memorable. Warriors each have a stress meter alongside their health bar, and when this reaches a certain level, they can develop afflictions such as paranoia or hopelessness. The characters will accumulate ailments as a result of the trauma they experience in the underground labyrinths, all of which will impact their performance during each mission. However, the developer’s name is a clear reference to the game’s Lovecraftian inspirations, and like many other interactive works based upon the legendary writer’s horror stories, it exposes its protagonists to horrors that threaten to destroy their sanity as well as their physical bodies. Players are expected to keep their roster of warriors trained, equipped, and healed between forays into the hellish depths. The game requires the player to recruit, prepare, and then dispatch parties of dispensable heroes into these formidable catacombs to battle their grotesque denizens, which at times makes Darkest Dungeon feel like a management game. Its story sees the player learning that they have inherited an estate from a deceased ancestor, who had begun tunnelling beneath his grand manor only to release the buried horrors beneath it upon the unsuspecting town. It received positive reviews, praised for its gothic setting and oppressive atmosphere, distinctive artwork, and punishing gameplay loop.
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Darkest Dungeon is a roguelike RPG, developed and published by Red Hook Studios in 2016 for the PC before being ported to consoles and iOS soon after.