Kickstarter PageExtensive Gametrailers InterviewRPS articleFirst TrailerCinematic TrailerBig 'ol Q&AWebsiteDarkest Dungeon will be a turn-based dungeon crawling game,
the format of which is currently unclear. Will it have a top-down presentation, echoing games like Hero Quest and other table top dungeon crawling games? The video implies it without committing to it. You've got an old school grid-based map with fog of war in the lower part of the screen that you use to select your desired destination, moving from room to room. And like the trailer, your movement tracked as a marker moving over tiles. However, simultaneously, in the main gameplay screen everything is presented in side view, like you saw in the trailer (walking through the crumbling halls, smashing barrels, digging through corpses for food, fighting off horrid beasts, etc) . The camera is obviously pulled out further in the game, but the steadycam look and feel is there.
What sets this game apart from other dungeon crawlers, besides the uber gritty art?
The point of the game. Rather than simply leveling a band of heroes and getting them teh phat lewts as you clobber moderate threats, Darkest Dungeon aims to explore the psychology of heroes as they wither under the constant threat of danger and horrors mankind was never meant to know about.
Each and every adventurer you recruit will develop a unique combination of predispositions, proclivities, flaws and strengths – factors that must be carefully considered when forming a party and leading it through horrific environs. Furthermore, how you perfom in the dungeon will have lasting and impactful consequences on their continued development. You are put smack-dab in the role of a squad leader or sports team manager, doing your best to keep the human factors from fracturing your team or destroying their effectiveness.
There's permadeath (obviously), in addition to the game tracking hero's stress levels and their relationships with other members of the party.
Do watch the video, as it oozes flavor and intent. I'm tempted to say X-COM in a dungeon, but that's probably not accurate. This doesn't seem like a game you win while lamenting your handful of lost soldiers. This seems like a game you play to watch your party go insane and/or die. In their words:
In short, we want to create the kind of team interaction and tension that arises in the most desperate situations. We want Hudson’s panic from ‘Aliens’, MacReady’s booze-battling from ‘The Thing’, James’s detached sadism from ‘The Hurt Locker’. We want you to manage a party of human heroes faced with almost insurmountable odds. If you can lead them to victory, you’ll have earned it.
The current ETA for cyclopean madness is: Late 2014 for Early Access, January 2015 for full release.
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Topic: Darkest Dungeon II. Emotionally traumatize some adventurers. Wagon Life. (Read 221850 times)