The central message of Darkest Dungeon — if we can be so serious as to make one — is that instead of making stronger, noble heroes, repeated dungeon delves in RPGs would cause serious mental and physical trauma. If these people were anything like us. It almost makes me wonder if this is a sly look at how combat veterans deal with multiple deployments and the scars (visible and internal) that they return with.

Then again, Darkest Dungeon could merely be a clever title that takes the bland tropes of being a professional munchkin and make a game out of considering the mental state of our party in addition to their physical. Either way, it’s a pretty impressive display.

Darkest Dungeon opens with a simple backstory: A rich man becomes obsessed with digging under his manor until he happens to hit on portals to eldritch realms, goes pretty much bonkers…