Games in the RPG genre are everywhere. Companies are always making new ones, each boasting to be more impressive than the last generation. In such a crowded area of games, it's hard to stand out and be noticed unless you have an amazing game. That's where Red Hook Studios' Darkest Dungeon comes in, and it still has the competition beat after releasing in 2016.
The first thing to note is its look, a unique style Red Hook describes as "hand-drawn gothic crowquill." The game looks very much like an old-timey, gothic illustration, which fits the game and plot perfectly. Other games attempt to one-up and boast realistic graphics, but Red Hook Studios made sure their game wasn't just another in the pile when it came to RPGs. This is a game about stress and horror, and the graphics style shows it off perfectly.
The game also boasts a unique stress system that sets it apart from other RPGs. The stress system sees players' heroes get increasingly unnerved and stressed out as different things happen, such as torchlight fading or a hero next to them taking a grievous injury. Usually, when stress and mental health are shown in these games, it's in a cutscene, or it doesn't affect gameplay, but Darkest Dungeon changes that.
Stress management is an integral part of the game, and managing it is how you win. Each hero has a health bar and a stress meter. Rather than going down, the stress meter goes up, and at 100 stress, the character has a large chance of taking on a new affliction, such as paranoia or fear. These affect the rest of the heroes, with the afflicted hero continuously making comments to raise others' stress or even refuse an action.
Among the game's stand out features is permadeath. Though it's been seen in games like Fire Emblem, Darkest Dungeon uses permadeath differently. In most games featuring this, if an important character dies, it's a big blow, and parts of the game may be missed. Darkest Dungeon, on the other hand, shrugs it off and continues. The player is offered a revolving door of heroes via the stagecoach throughout the game, and though losing a hero hurts, they are all replaceable. Still, the player continues, which makes every session that much more meaningful, and that's something that trumps other games in the genre.
The game also boasts roguelike gameplay that's absent in many RPGs. It features all the staples of roguelikes and adds new features onto that, including brutal battles and constant looting, making for an impressive game unlike most in the genre today. Aside from the dungeon delving, turn-based combat, and fog of war, it changes things up even when dealing with typical elements. Characters level up via earning resolve, the player doesn't gain new skills as much as they upgrade a set group that the heroes have, and there's a town hub to manage stress levels.
It also outdoes competitors via mods. On Steam, one can find player-made mods of all kinds, from U.I. changes to character classes. Most games give you around five or so classes to use, like in Blizzard's Diablo games, but here, the base is 15 classes, plus two more with DLC. Mods take that further while also adding completely new experiences tailor-made to fit the game, like the Esper and the Mistake. These mods are so brilliantly done that even the developers showcase and recommend them, which is not a thing in other RPGs these days.
Lastly, there's the DLC. Aside from new classes, there were two significant add-ons, The Crimson Court and The Color of Madness. These gave players not only more locations to explore but also new enemy types and more backstory for the universe. When other RPGs do this, usually, it ends up that it's shorter than the base game while being very similar, but Red Hook Studios one-upped the competition again by making full campaigns alongside the main one and having new mechanics on top of new enemies.
Darkest Dungeon is very much an outlier from regular RPG fare. Not only is it incorporating the Roguelike features, but it even rises beyond. Things like the stress system, permadeath, and mods set it apart from the pack. It takes all the fancy things newer RPGs attempt to achieve and says, "Hey, look at this," and delivered what is, hands down, an RPG that outclasses competitors even now.