Darkest Dungeon is a gothic roguelike role-playing game developed and published by Red Hook Studios. The player inherits an estate from an Ancestor whose pursuit of knowledge and power awakened an ancient corruption beneath the manor. To cleanse the surrounding lands, the player recruits adventurers, equips them, and sends four-person parties into procedurally generated dungeons.
The Hamlet serves as a management hub. Its facilities recruit heroes, improve equipment and abilities, treat injuries and afflictions, and reduce stress. Each hero belongs to one of fifteen classes, with skills shaped by position in the party. Front ranks favor melee attacks but face greater danger; rear ranks offer protection and ranged abilities. Enemy attacks can pull characters out of position, turning formation into a central tactical puzzle. If a hero dies, that character is gone permanently.
Stress is the game’s defining system. Darkness, hunger, combat, witnessing allies suffer, and enemy blights can push heroes toward psychological collapse. Afflictions may cause fear, refusal to fight, disobedience, or uncontrolled actions. At extreme stress, a heart attack can leave a hero near death. Yet high pressure can also produce a virtue, creating a rare moment of resilience. Dialogue “barks,” dramatic visual cues, and Wayne June’s sardonic narration make these inner states visible and human.
The campaign culminates in the Darkest Dungeon, where the party confronts the Ancestor and the Heart of Darkness, only to learn that victory delays an inevitable awakening. Downloadable content added vampirism, new factions, bosses, environments, a meteor-borne zombie threat, horde survival, and player-versus-player combat. Released across many platforms, the game earned strong reviews, awards, and sales exceeding two million copies. Darkest Dungeon II followed in 2023.