Festering Fear Consumes The Mind: The Horrific Cosmic Thrill Of Darkest Dungeon.

My abiding love for all things cosmic horror knows no bounds. I’ve written about the sublime themes of Bloodborne, listed my favourite Lovecraft stories and extolled the virtues of using your nightmares as creative fuel, so when I tell you that Darkest Dungeon might very well be the best distillation of cosmic horror in video game form, you know that’s high praise.

Darkest Dungeon casts the player as an unsuspecting recipient of a letter from a man claiming to be his ancestor (who also serves as the game’s narrator). The Ancestor implores the player to return to the ruin of his familial home and reclaim his birthright as lord of the manor, however as his pleas continue, players discover that the Ancestor grew restless and unsatisfied with his vast wealth and decadence, deciding to devote himself to pursuing esoteric and forbidden knowledge. This lead him to exhaust the family fortune on “swarthy workmen and sturdy shovels” to excavate the entrance to the titular Darkest Dungeon and inadvertently release the horrors within.

It is up to you to command an ever-changing party of adventurers to conquer the dungeon and atone for your ancestor’s mistakes.

While many games in recent years have pioneered the rogue like system, (See games like FTL or Dead Cells) I…