This is an experience of grinding away at a monolithic, evil foe, fighting inch by inch to level up your roster and position them to take on the extra-dangerous bosses.Īnd lord, what foes you will face. Not only is it just about as long as Darkest Dungeon, in fact, but it’s probably even more difficult than a game that already stood out for its punishing disregard for your favorite heroes. Where Darkest Dungeon II may actually lose some fans with its attempt to innovate by streamlining elements of the game and creating a campaign that can be played through in a far shorter amount of time, Black Reliquary embraces the heroic marathon grind that was necessary to complete the full story of the original. If, like me, you’ve been eagerly awaiting that sequel since the original game from Red Hook Studios way back in 2016, it certainly feels like an embarrassment of riches after a long wait.īlack Reliquary is likely to be particularly welcomed by fans of the original game because it embraces the philosophy of simply piling on vast amounts of new enemies, regions, classes and story onto the original Darkest Dungeon framework, as opposed to the full-on sequel from Red Hook, which is instead reimagining the core gameplay loop of their horror-focused roguelike. The team behind this recently released total conversion mod must love Darkest Dungeon with a passion exceeding any hobby I’ve ever possessed, because why else would they commit the absurd amount of time and resources it must have taken to create what is essentially an entirely new game? This mod doesn’t just offer “more content” for Darkest Dungeon fans it effectively doubles the footprint of the original game, coming just a couple weeks before the long-awaited proper sequel Darkest Dungeon II finally arrives with its full release.

If creating a hit indie videogame that offers dozens if not hundreds of hours of replay value is rightly regarded as a labor of love, then what does one call a fan-created total conversion mod–a free one–offering just as much new content? Try as I might, it’s truly difficult to imagine the dedication that must have been required to create something like Black Reliquary just because you’d like to see it exist.

Easily manage mods darkest dungeon