Darkest Dungeon is not for the faint-hearted. The acclaimed roguelike turn-based game pivots around an eerie town called Halmet, which serves as a base of operations from where gamers must make their way to the shadowy estate. Along the way, though, one’s party of heroes will face all manner of Lovecraftian horrors.
Death is all but guaranteed. Players will lose many heroes during their runs, but each loss will only make them stronger. While the game is not designed to hold the player’s hand, making note of certain tips and tricks can make the journey to the titular Darkest Dungeon a bit easier.
Embrace Death With Open Arms
Something most newcomers have a hard time digesting is that death is a permanent feature in Darkest Dungeon. Heroes are meant to be killed while exploring dungeons. When they die (and they will), there is no way to revive or bring them back from the dead. New heroes will arrive every week in the Stage Coach, and players can replace their fallen adventurers and create new parties to try again.
“From Beyond” is a rare Town Event that allows players to resurrect a random hero from the graveyard. If it triggers, it is recommended to choose the hero with the highest level and best quirks.
Hence, there is no traditional “game over” in Darkest Dungeon. Even if a player loses all of their heroes and upgrades, sees their town destroyed, and becomes bankrupt, they still cannot lose the game. There is always room to recover and start again with a new party of adventurers. Those playing the Stygian mode, however, will need to beat the final boss of the base game within 86 weeks. The failure condition also limits players to 12 deaths, after which they need to complete the game within the same aforementioned number of weeks.
Discard The Weakest Heroes
No Room For Emotional Attachments
There is a limit to how many heroes players can have in their roster at a given time. It is important not to be afraid to cut them out at the first sign of weakness, especially during the early game. If there are heroes with high stress levels and several negative quirks, players should dismiss them instead of spending precious gold on treating them. There will always be new heroes to take their place.
To remove heroes from one’s roster in Darkest Dungeon, players should open their character sheet and hit the Dismiss button in the top-left corner, underneath the name-change icon.