Darkest Dungeon - Preview @ GameInformer

GameInformer has a new preview of Darkest Dungeon based off a short demo from the developers at Pax Prime 2014. Here is a small sample of the preview.

At PAX East this year, one of my favorite surprises was Darkest Dungeon from Red Hook Games. If you haven't yet had a chance to read up on it, I'll kindly directly you there first.

This time out, I had a chance to experience the full cycle of gameplay from dungeon excursion to boss fight and back to town to recover from the horrors of the dark. There have been some significant changes since last we played, along with four new classes that offer their own gameplay styles.

You'll have to make difficult decisions with your money to upgrade hero skills and weapons, cure ailments and improve stress-induced afflictions. You'll also run into random events that might impact individual characters or force a whole class to sit out the next excursion.

Returning to town was also our first chance to get a good understanding of Darkest Dungeon's experience system, called "resolve." Unlike other games, resolve matters even in between leveling up. The more resolve a character earns, the more resilient they'll be to stress.

The loop feels familiar, but the stress element continues to set Darkest Dungeon apart. The stakes are high in every fight, but it's the uncertainty of interactions among the party that feels fresh and engaging. The variety of the sixteen classes (eight of which we know about now), along with skill progression to create different builds within them gives players the options to experiment with different combinations.