Darkest Dungeon
“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.”
-Edgar Allan Poe (The Raven)
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
Localization & Subtitles
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!
Achievements
We’ve added 64 achievements. These achievements reward your accomplishments, be they heroic, or spectacularly disastrous!
The Ancestor’s Journal
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.
New Game +
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.
Class-Specific Provisions
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
Miscellaneous Changes
- 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...
Miscellaneous Bug Fixes
- 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.