Unlike the usual random dungeons, the Dungeon Map layout and all fights in the Darkest Dungeon are scripted. All these penalties mean that, regardless of difficulty every Hero will most likely go on a mission only once, so choose your composition wisely. On Radiant difficulty, Heroes can be reused for subsequent expeditions into the Darkest Dungeon, but at a very high cost - they will immediately enter with 80 Stress, and their Virtue chance will be reduced to the bare minimum of 1%.

Additionally, Marked Heroes will not occupy a slot in the roster, meaning you can recruit 4 more without dismissing anyone or having anyone die. However, even though they cannot be used in the Darkest Dungeon again, they can still be a major asset to you: it's still possible to send them on other quests, and they grant additional resolve XP to all other party members from then on. Such Heroes are marked by a torch in a Hero roster and candles on their stat page. You should also be aware that you cannot retreat at all during the game's final quest.Ĭharacters who successfully complete a quest in the Darkest Dungeon will - on Darkest / Stygian difficulty - refuse to go back ever again. If you must flee, unequip all Trinkets before abandoning the quest to avoid losing them. However, if there is only 1 party member left, they will escape safely. You can't easily retreat from the Darkest Dungeon, either, should things go south: when you retreat, a random party member will die (representing them holding off the monsters to buy their comrades time to escape).

Almost every attack will induce stress, every blight and bleed deals high damage, and every encounter has a good chance to be the last. First and foremost - the Darkest Dungeon is nothing like the challenges you’ve faced before.

Darkest dungeon narrator opening