Darkest Dungeon®
Darkest Dungeon is a game, no an Experience that stays with those who play it.
It sucks to lose your beloved hero that you spent hours upon hours building to a occultist 0 heal bleed deathblow But yknow what, you can always make another, right?
This game draws you in with its simple yet diverse combat with every enemy bringing its own deck to the table, be it stressing out your heroes or making them close to useless in a prolonged fight, every enemy has its weakness and to see one on the field and immediately say: “Oh Shit time to employ the plan” only for it to fail spectacularly and leave you scrambling and exposed as that swine skiver crit 40s your main healer and they die of a follow up attack, only to come up at the top with 2 HP on most of your dudes or dudettes can only be described as Cathartic.
– Real player with 1042.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Dark Fantasy Lovecraftian Games.
If you’re like me (I pity you) then you’ve tried to play Darkest Dungeon several times only to be rebuffed by its repetitive nature and yet you can’t let it sit because you’ve sunk the cost and want to know what all the fuss is about. After poking around a bit I made a discovery, it’s not really the repetitive nature of the game that’s the problem. It’s the hideously slow speed at which the game plays.
Once you grasp the basics of Darkest Dungeon’s gameplay loop you don’t need —or want— to sit though every camera zoom or every slow hallway creep. And thanks to the power of modding magic you don’t have to. Walking speeds, combat, and even the tallies at the end of each dungeon can be sped up with a mod, thus making the game a far more tolerable experience. There’s also a mod to kill the camera zooms, though it does make combat look a bit silly.
– Real player with 276.8 hrs in game
Dark Bestiary
Summary
Progression / Customization: 10/10
Combat: 8/10
Economy: 8/10
Difficulty: 7/10
Graphics, Story: N/A (Game isn’t about graphics and story)
New player tips
–—- Progression / Customization: 10/10 ——
Freedom to choose
Dark Bestiary’s best feature is that you are free to choose any combination of skills, talents, attributes, items, enchantments, gems, etc. to create any build you want. The selection at character creation only gives you a few initial abilities to work with and doesn’t matter long term.
– Real player with 195.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Dark Fantasy Singleplayer Games.
It plays just like an ARPG, but turn based.
It has attributes and a lot of stats, unlockable skills, passives, talents, gear with random affixes, item sets, legendary items with special effects, it’s got it all.
There is a story but it’s short and irrelevant, you can continue playing after the story ends, in increasing difficulty “Nightmare” levels.
There are no puzzles, thankfully so. Although there is a minesweeper-like minigame you can do for treasure chests if you need a break from killing stuff, which is surprisingly fun too.
– Real player with 50.9 hrs in game
Fear & Fury
In Fear & Fury, you play as Simon Shaw. A mechanic, cursed with lycanthropy. You can either relish in, or fight against lycanthropy in the City of The Cursed. Search for a cure amongst vandals, the law and the afflicted by joining forces or clashing with guns and claws. Fear & Fury is a challenging turn-based Tactics RPG. Set in a unique modern dark fantasy world where your crucial choices will shape the story and alter how you play.
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Give into lycanthropy or reclaim your humanity to decide your fate.
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Use fear to intimidate and spare your foes or show no mercy.
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Befriend, fight or negotiate with key characters from The Crimson Vandals, Sentinels and The Cursed - three factions with conflicting ideals.
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Play in unique turn-based combat encounters in the disturbing streets of Crimson City.
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Navigate through Crimson City, where you only have one shot at making choices, so make them count.
Read More: Best Dark Fantasy Horror Games.
Paths & Danger
FIRST comment I will last for eternity!
Well thoughtful game.
There’s plenty of potential to this, I really hoped some features were unlocked, but I guess they are still under development.
I loved the combos we can do with different characters, my fav so far to use are the Half -Vampire and the Paladin.
The game’s becomes intense when your chars start to have low health and stamina, and the atmosphere the game really nails it.
Loved the art in the game, kinda a mixture of battle brothers and darkest dungeon, but original enough to be distinct.
– Real player with 12.5 hrs in game
With around an hour play, i would like to give constructive criticism for the devs.
The genre is popular, im sure there are a lot of people including me who are willing to play Darkest Dungeon type of games out there. But there are a few things that need to be addressed i believe.
I started the game with Ice Mage, so no tutorial. I dont see the reason, why there is tutorial with Warrior and not with another hero? Doesnt make sense.
Thats why at times i felt i had lack of info of what to do. I had to stop my run with Ice mage because my Vampire buddy had died, i spent most of my gold on health potiıns, but stamina potions seem much more important. Because your stamina doesnt regen. This again is a flaw in game design i believe. There should be another way to regen your stamina besides spending money for it. (Maybe there is but i just got stuck and couldnt play further due to this. And it was the easy mode.)
– Real player with 2.1 hrs in game
Vagrus - The Riven Realms: Prologue
When I read some of the negative reviews about Vagrus on the store page for the full game, I was hesitant about buying it and so I decided to try out this demo. One thing I’ve gotta say is that you HAVE to be in the mood for reading if you want to fully experience and enjoy this game. The first time I launched, I was not in that mood, and boy, I was really having my doubts. After getting bored during the first few dialogues, I decided to put it down and try again another day. Second time launching, I got ready to embrace the adventure ahead of me, no distractions, and it was FANTASTIC!
– Real player with 13.5 hrs in game
KENSHI in heavy text mode and turn by turn battles?
A book where you are the hero/leader as a video-game?
Conclusion in comments!
Demo offers 2 game modes:
-A tutorial campaign titled “Pilgrims of the Wasteland” which is in fact the first part of a story-driven campaign.
I completed it in 3 hours or so, taking my time to read tutorial hints and lore texts.
-5 turns in a free campaign, open-world setting.
I didn’t try it, 5 turns (days) seems too low for me to enjoy, also the tutorial has been enough of a test for me, i’m hooked.
– Real player with 5.3 hrs in game
Wulin Chess
我在测试之初就玩了这款游戏，高难度通关了测试版之后，有惊喜，存回味，亦有遗憾。
游戏画风独特，难度硬核，叙述古风，难为大众，却不失精品。
对于它，有的人踌躇不前，躲避不及；有人却砥锋挺锷，悻然前往，也许这就是江湖，这就是【天下为棋】的独特魅力。
– Real player with 47.8 hrs in game
just cut all those online wuling bullsh1t and get this NOW.
solid game yet lack of content.
– Real player with 18.3 hrs in game
Amneron’s Legacy
Good game and fun to play. Interesting characters and some romance mixed in.
– Real player with 19.1 hrs in game
Story line is well thought out and game play is solid. Highly recommend this game.
– Real player with 12.7 hrs in game
Rogue Lords
I really enjoyed Rogue Lords, and I decided to write this review as I have a slightly different take from the others I read.
It took me ~40 hours to finish all chapters, and I always played with the same team (the starters: Dracula “the Support”, the Headless Horseman “the Tank”, Bloody Mary “the DPS”). I think I had a total of two game overs, one at the second or third chapter, and one at the second-to-last (but see below).
I read several reviews mentioning that the game is hard and RNG can hit hard. I think they are not wrong, but I did not find it THAT hard: I think it’s more a matter of COMPLEXITY. Damage already starts in the double digits, and it is not unusual towards the end of the game to hit for 30-50 (multiple times). With 3 characters on your side and 1-3 characters on the other side, you can also have several status effects in play at the same time (probably the maximum I’ve seen is ~20). You accumulate this with relic effects and maybe even battle effects, and suddenly it becomes really easy to make a fatal mistake. I remember in one boss battle I accidentally made the Headless Horseman use an attack that steals HP and SP, while he was under the effect of a Zombie debuff (healing received becomes damage), so instead of healing him I made him Vulnerable with 0 HP and 0 SP. Fun times.
– Real player with 132.9 hrs in game
Note that while I am giving this a thumbs up, there are definite issues that sour the experience (that I will go into more detail over below). Honestly, this rating should be 3/5, 6/10, or a neutral but we don’t have those options.
Long story short:
Rogue Lords is a fun roguelike very much like Slay the Spire, but not being a rip off in the slightest. It has a unique cheating mechanic and is pretty difficult while also having balance issues and run destroying bug. The concept is unique, fresh, and fun, but the gameplay could use some retuning and class balancing.
– Real player with 116.7 hrs in game
King Arthur: Knight’s Tale
What can I say. As far as EA go (I have played extensively BG3 164.4 hrs, and Solasta 64hrs EA), that this is well worth the money for what it gives you as a taster. 77,4 hours played? Sure feels a hell of a load more than that.
The rolling cinematic is amazing, gripping and you want to skip past it just to get to starting the game, but it’s so freaking amazing. When can they make a movie out of it? Hah
The story is Mordred (you) went on a rampage across Avalon destroying and corrupting everything he could, raising a huge evil army and eventually coming face to face with the legend that is King Arthur. After an epic battle, Arthur manages to lance you in one, but being the badass Mordred is, he pulls himself across the lance in order to deal a killing blow to Arthur. Game over for the both.
– Real player with 129.7 hrs in game
In general, fun game, if a little slight atmo. Assuming it gets discounted from the price of the full game when it comes out, £27 is a little steep but not too bad for what you get. I ended up playing 24 hours to complete the game (with crashes and restarts cos I couldn’t pause & save).
PROS:
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There’s just enough tactical nuance in the fights to keep it interesting.
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Skill tree is nice - an interesting set of options and a clever way of setting them out.
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Rune system as weapon/armour upgrades is also nice. I like the way that you often have to do trade-offs (eg. do I accept less overall damage to get +2 Bleed, which will stack with Mordred’s Bleed skill).
– Real player with 24.0 hrs in game
Hellslave
The world of Hellslave
The world is coming to an end and humanity is on the brink of extinction. Save it from a demon invasion by making a pact with the Devil and praise one of 6 demons to avoid humanity’s demise into darkness. Use your newly acquired demonic power against the invaders but it may have a bigger impact on you than you thought…
A unique experience
Hellslave is a dungeon crawler unlike others following on the footpath of classic dungeon crawler but introducing new mechanics and drawing its inspirations from Dark fantasy universe, poems and artists (such as John Milton).
Key Features
Unleash unique powers and skills
Customize your character around a passive skill tree, discover and experiment with dozens of skills and demonic powers. Take advantage of synergy between skills to achieve combo and defeat your foes.
A dark world to explore
Travel on world maps filled with dozens of unique landmarks but beware of what lurks in the dark. From villages to graveyards and crypt, destroy your foes, retrieve old relics to help the inhabitants of this doomed world.
Fight your way through this perilous world
Deal with dozens of different enemies from zombies, ghosts, demons and bosses straight from hell to fight for your life and this world’s survival.
Gameplay driven by a strong art direction
Contemplate unique visuals during your journey in hell on earth through handcrafted cut-scenes and visuals.
Your journey in Hell is just beginning
Experience different playthroughs depending on the powers of your starting Demon. If the first journey wasn’t enough for you, enjoy this hellish invasion a second time with the challenging New Game +.
