2. Darkest Dungeon

“Darkest Dungeon - Release Trailer”

Darkest Dungeon is exactly how it sounds. This game explores the intense psychological effects of killing waves of enemies and the despair of fighting for a world already ruined. Hope and joy are hard to come by emotions of Darkest Dungeon, and with turn-based combat and unique character buffs and damage modifiers, this game is hard to forget from the get-go.

You manage a party of heroes in this RPG who are tasked with exploring the dark and foreboding dungeons beneath a gothic estate that the player character has inherited. Your unnamed relative has opened portals and rifts to the demonic forces of the underworld, and these heroes must not only close them, but also keep watch of their own stress levels. Strategy, careful planning , and knowledge of each hero’s buffs and stressors are required in order to keep your party alive. It’s dark, it’s a dungeon, and the true horror comes at the cost of your party’s sanity. You have the choice to either drive them into complete madness, or to save them from their cruel and unwarranted fate.

The affliction system is the gameplay feature that makes Darkest Dungeon so unforgettable. Your heroes will react to not having enough food and facing starvation, being left in the dark, witnessing the death of a party member, and blights brought upon by your ghastly enemies. Horror fans will love the intense despair featured in this game, and casual players will find a new challenge in keeping your party members alive without afflicting them too badly. With the grotesque, hand-drawn graphics style and the dark and disparaging plot and writing, it’s easy to see why this game makes number two on the list - It lingers in the back of the mind like the monsters in the dark it throws at your unknowing party.

This hero has lost her hope. This is one of the afflictions that heroes face in Darkest Dungeon, and now she will become weaker until she regains her morale.

These heroes rest aside a campfire in the dark dungeons and try to invigorate each other with stories of happier times and morale-boosting speeches. Managing stress levels like this is essential to gameplay.