Too late he realized his folly as his manor and the hamlet surrounding it were overcome by an accursed influence. The back story for Darkest Dungeon is that your father drank, gambled, and caroused his way through the family fortune before turning his attention towards the Dark Arts and Things Man Was Not Meant To Know. There’s a psychological toll in seeing a member of your party brutally murdered and Darkest Dungeon extracts that payment. Red Hook Studios wants to examine the cost of a dungeon crawl. I can’t count upon a healing spell being cast before my fighter is attacked, and wait, what’s this? A stress meter? This is when I realize that the design goals of Darkest Dungeon drill much deeper than just swiping a few words from Lovecraft’s lexicon. Instead of being strictly turn based there’s a randomizing element, dice being rolled to determine order of play. “You know this,” whispers a reassuring voice, “this is as old as the hills.” Yet cracks start to appear underfoot. Like all brilliant traps, Darkest Dungeon lures one in with simplicity. Darkest Dungeon gets inside your head like the latest release from Sutter Kane. “Oh it’s addictive,” she breathed, “careful of that one.” When she said addictive I envisioned the typical, “Just one more,” button mashing scenario. It is appropriate that I first heard of Darkest Dungeon from a member of my gaming group. Darkest Dungeon is available on Steam for Linux, PC, and Mac.