You might get tired of limited enemy variety after fighting similar teams of lurching zombies and bandits, because many monsters and regions don't unlock until you’ve been dashed against the wall of the first ones for a few hours. You might be frustrated by the lack of tools to overcome what's ahead of you because you haven't unlocked them yet.

Newcomers might bounce off for any of myriad reasons. Managing a flexible team that can fight any enemy lineup, as well as keep the battlefield clear of cluttered enemy corpses, is a fun and engaging strategic challenge – especially when dealing with abilities that shift characters’ positions around.

Certain skills can only be used from a specific position, and only affect enemies or allies in specific rank slots. These effects matter for both your team and the enemy's, as the returning system of four ranks for hero and enemy positions dictates how a character fights. The combat design is also a step up, with many powers and abilities distilled into a system of handy status tokens to gain and exploit, such as bleed, blight, weakened, dodging, and guarding, among others. Brilliant narration and stiff yet surprisingly expressive animation make it easy to be drawn into its vague but tantalizing world, though the end feels artificially out of reach. Darkest Dungeon is a grim and merciless tactical strategy game whose great tension comes from its many layers of complexity, unpredictable randomization, and willingness to put our fragile characters in mortal danger if we dare to venture into its depths in search of treasure and glory.

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