"This is no place for the foolhardy." - my heart every time I open the game.

If you enjoy D&D concept, this is something you'd enjoy. Though, The in-game stress mechanic is a thing you feel IRL.

Perfection

There is a caveat to this, so please wait until the end.

I have every reason to hate this game. It relies on RNG, the combat visuals are as simple as they get, it is turn based, the margins for error are brutal and unforgiving, and I hate permadeath.

But what this game does is deliver an experience using simplistic mechanics. You are the manager of what amounts to adventurers and they miss often and you need to be prepared for when everything goes wrong.

You will be asked to gamble on some very tough choices. Tread carefully and you will be fine.

I strongly suggest buffing your healers with some mods as the game is rather unforgiving, and having buffed healers takes away a large amount of frustration.

If that sounds like too much work for you to do, then I don't know what to say. This game feels more perfect when you can save yourself from a bad situation by healing, and actually makes the occultist a worthwhile pick. You don't feel so helpless, which still isn't saying much in this world. You're just less helpless. But I especially love that because it gives you more options. It isn't as fun only having one or two dedicated healer classes.

I know that frustration is a core part of the game, but honestly it's just exhausting for me. I tried to like it, but I really couldn't get into it. Great artstyle and narration tho.

Воке
Contains overtly pro-DEI messaging. Features multiple female heroes who are front-line combatants, including the Arbalest, a WOC wearing full plate armor who wields a giant crossbow.

ok

Challenging and rewarding. Can play in short sprints or long sessions.

good jame

Vanilla experience is almost fully RNG. Loot a corpse? RNG to check if it has valuables, its trapped, empty or if one of your guys will decide to molest it. Take a step? RNG to check if you step on a trap, trigger a random fight or your party gets suddenly hungry even if they just ate a feast in the previous room. Get into a fight? RNG to check if your entire party will just rearrange itself even in full light and no stress. This was a deeply frustrating experience, and yet somehow, the gameplay loop is still captivating enough that I played for around 50 hours.

I don't recommend it because the game uses too many cheap tricks to make it a "hardcore experience", even when it's not necessary. Combat is complex and enjoyable, the stress system in battles and events works great, and the town adds resource management that is simple but effective. All of this works great and should result in a tough but mostly fair game, but then it throws you a bunch of random punishments that serve no purpose other that to hinder the experience, and take the player away from the immersion each time a "this is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥" event happens.

you can lowkey write a book about your darkest dungeon playthrough.