The turn-based system is relatively straightforward with a focus on buffs and debuffs. Running into enemies engages a battle in the same perspective. Rooms are connected by halls, both holding obstacles, items, and enemies. Moving through these procedurally generated areas happens with your party of four slowly walking from a side-scrolling view. That leads to the recruitment of various randomly generated characters from a variety of different classes that you can take into different parts of the estate to explore while fending off Lovecraftian fiends. The setup of this gothic-inflicted roguelike is that you inherited a haunted estate from an ancestor.

Somehow that feeling of challenge and often oppressing difficulty leads to a magnificent overall experience that, outside of some bouts of convolution and frustration, is memorable and engrossing. Everything from the dour aesthetic to the gloomy soundtrack reinforces the notion that your town of disposable heroes is doomed to fail more often than not. Even when you defeat bosses, clear quests, and delve deeper into the darkest of dungeons, heavy losses will assuredly engulf you.

This is a game that makes you work hard for success, much like its other roguelike brethren.

Patience and planning is a virtue in Darkest Dungeon.

Darkest dungeon ancestral review