What happens when four adventurers descend into the depths of a monster-infested dungeon? Many of these tales, no doubt, end with the heroes’ victory, who end up triumphing over an ancient evil of sorts and proceed to go home with their well-deserved loot and riches. The development team at Red Hook, however, is not quite content with the so-called “happily ever after”: in Darkest Dungeons, the adventurers under the player’s command will be exposed to hellish conditions and will have to face the maddening truth: it is both their physical and mental well-being that is at stake.

Darkest Dungeon’s battle system will be primarily turn-based and very much tactical, says Red Hook. As such, I can only assume that the mental affliction system mentioned above will also play a part in providing a tough, challenging roguelike experience for hardcore fans of the genre. One thing is certain, though: upon reading through the Kickstarter page, I left the site highly intrigued. As it turns out, I was not alone in this: gamers’ reactions appear positive, and in only a day, Darkest Dungeon managed to successfully fund its development and still have some money left over. In conclusion, I do think Red Hook has hit upon a very promising idea that could turn into something quite magical if executed well.
Darkest Dungeon is planned for an early 2015 release for PC and Mac – the developers, however, haven’t fully ruled out the possibility of Linux, tablet and console versions, either.