History VideoGame / DarkestDungeon

* TheAlcoholic: A hero can become afflicted with the "Dipsomania" or "Tippler" quirk, with “Tippler” forcing them to only reduce his[=/=]her stress by drinking at the tavern. Both can be randomly acquired at the tavern, and "Dipsomania" can force an interaction with curios.

** Several negative quirks on your heroes will affect their behavior in town or during your journey. Quirks like Kleptomaniac, Curious, Egomaniac, or Tippler can cause the hero to interact with certain curios as soon as you encounter them, without using any item that would make it safe to interact. Quirks like Faithless, Known Cheat, or Witness will prevent them from using certain Stress relief facilities while in town.

** You can also catch hemophilia from having a Swine vomit on you, or syphilis from [[{{Squick}} examining an animal corpse]], [[ILoveTheDead investigating a shallow grave]], or even ''studying a weird bit of architecture''. Or catching plague from ''reading a book''.

"[[spoiler:Time — an endless cycle]]. Ia! Iaaaa!"]]\\

* AmbiguousEnding: Given the ThroughTheEyesOfMadness and UnreliableNarrator elements of the game, nothing is ever entirely clear. As the game points out before the final battle begins, [[spoiler:[[UnreliableNarrator the Heart is a deceptive monster]], and the scene where the Heir is implied to kill themselves could just as easily be one of their forebears, so there's at least some question if the Heart of Darkness really will inevitably return or the Heir was the one who killed themselves. It doesn't help that the Transcendent Terror and its line, "[[StableTimeLoop Time — an endless cycle!]] [[BlackSpeech Ia! Iaaa!]]" all but states outright that the entire estate is [[GroundhogDayLoop trapped in an endless loop]].]]

* ArcherArchetype: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with.]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbalest There is an Arbalest class]], and she subverts the typical impression of lesser strength for such characters compared to melee-based characters [[https://darkestdungeon.gamepedia.com/Arbalest by being]] an armored ActionGirl holding a very large crossbow like a ChainsawGripBFG.

** B: [[spoiler:In NewGamePlus, you meet a ghost who mentions how HistoryRepeats, which implies that this is the ghost of the first heir and that you're now controlling a [[LegacyCharacter second heir]] [[TakeUpMySword taking up the first heir's duty to guard against the Heart]], [[DutyThatTranscendsDeath with their spirit staying to help guide you]].]]

* BodyArmorAsHitPoints: None of the hero classes have any inherent PROT; heavily armoured classes like Crusader and Leper just have more hit points.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: Some of the classes — most notably the Man-at-Arms, Occultist, and Leper — are very accepting of [[spoiler:being utterly destroyed by the Final Boss' one-hit-kill]]. Others, [[OhCrap not]] [[DirtyCoward so]] [[AintTooProudToBeg much]].

** Also, there's a ghost that urges you to turn back, a "Transcendent Terror," as the Ancestor calls it, as the Heir goes to the Manor. [[spoiler:It's you.]] The tone of the Ancestor is pointed as well, "You '''will''' go to the winding road," "You '''will''' be beset by brigands…" [[ViciousCycle as if the whole thing]] [[HistoryRepeats has been done before…]]

* KeystoneArmy: For most part, once a FlunkyBoss is defeated, any summons or obstacles that accompany them will vanish. There are exceptions to this, most notably the Swine King, the Shambler, and the Shuffling Horror — and this can lead to a PyrrhicVictory if the main boss is defeated (fulfilling the objective) but their flunkies kill the party.
* KleptomaniacHero: Appears as a negative character quirk; your starting Crusader, Reynauld, will always begin with this. It has two effects, the first causing the hero to have a random chance of automatically opening any loot containers the party finds[[note]] ''without'' using any item that would normally allow you to safely open/examine the container[[/note]], [[BoobyTrap even if it might not]] [[LastChanceHitPoint necessarily be the best idea]]; second, the hero will [[ItsAllAboutMe claim for themselves any loot found this way]], denying potential supplies or valuables.

** The Witness quirk, which can be inflicted from praying in the Abbey is also described vaguely as "after seeing troubling behavior, will not take part in the Prayer activity in town". One could [[PedophilePriest use stereotypes]] [[CorruptChurch of deviant and hypocritical church activities]] to guess it themselves, or possibly [[PathOfInspiration the abbey secretly houses a coven of mad cultists worshipping the Eldritch Abomination hidden in the manor]]. Which one of those two possibilities is worse? ''[[MathematiciansAnswer Both of them.]]''

* OneHitPolykill: There are several abilities that can hit several mooks[=/=]heroes at the same time, like the Highwayman's Grape Shot Blast (a gunshot which scatters through up to three enemies in the front); targeting a group of very weakened enemies with one of those attacks can have interesting results. Conversely there are many enemy attacks that can hit multiple characters at once — if you have more than one at Death's Door, you could lose them all.
** Special mention goes to the Shieldbreaker in the ruins. She has a ‘whole party’ attack, which does base damage comparable to Grape Shot, plus poison. If the initial hit doesn’t kill all the mobs immediately, it's still possible for them all to die before they get a chance to attack.
* OrganDrops: Slaying the Formless Flesh grants you its Heart. The Collector has a chance to drop organs which aren't his per se, namely the Heads of those under his control.

* OurFounder: A rather depressing version. There is a statue of the Ancestor in the middle of the Hamlet. Clicking on it will allow the playing to replay to the Ancestor's memoirs, presented with the quote "In time, you will know the tragic extent of my failings".

* OurLichesAreDifferent: The Necromancer (and variations) were necromancers that the Ancester summoned from overseas to teach him the art. When he felt that he had learned what he could, he killed them, and reanimated their corpses with their minds intact. They were quite happy with their new state.

* {{Permadeath}}: If a hero dies, [[KilledOffForReal they]] ''[[AllDeathsFinal stay]]'' [[KilledOffForReal dead.]] There is a rare town event that can bring back ''one'' fallen hero, but they are raised with an additional illness, and their skill and equipment levels reset to level 1.

* PlayerMooks: [[ZigzaggedTrope Zigzagged]]. On one hand, each of the heroes has their own personality and backstory like a traditional RPG character. On the other hand, at the end of the day, each hero is a character ''class'', and nothing's preventing the player from having more than one of the same hero in the party (much less the roster), and they have the name and [[PaletteSwap palette]] customization one would expect from more bog standard player mooks in other games.

** The negative quirk of "Thanatophobia" (fear of death) is randomly gained when looking into an opened sarcophagus. It grants a higher stress gain when health is low… which, of course, can make things go from bad to worse.

--->[[WhoWouldBeStupidEnough Surely nothing good can come of a dialogue with the dead?]]
--->[[WhatDoesThisButtonDo ...]]
--->"[[spoiler:[[GoMadFromTheRevelation Time]] — [[WhamLine an endless cycle]].]] [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Ia! Iaaaa!]]"
--->[[HeroicBSOD Dismas/Reynauld's Resolve is Tested...]]

** While the Brigands weren't exactly pushovers, they were still a WackyWaysideTribe and the only boss that they got was a tutorial boss turned DegradedBoss. The Fiends and Frenzy update, however, introduced a full fledged Brigand boss: a [[MechanicalMonster giant]] [[MadeOfIron cannon]].

* ToThePain: [[HeroicBSOD Sadistic]] heroes are fond of dishing these out to the enemy. [[DeconstructedTrope Not only do enemies never react to them,]] [[NiceJobBreakingItHero it serves to disturb the rest of the party, raising their stress.]]

* WasOnceAMan: A prevalent aspect of the monsters is that they are often former humans corrupted by the local evil power. The [[DemBones Unholy soldiers and courtiers]] from the Ruins are skeletons raised into undeath by the Necromancer, the [[MushroomMan Fungi]] [[FesteringFungus Men]] in the Weald were people infected by the mushroom that invaded the forest, a note indicates that the [[FishPeople Pelagic creatures]] are potentially former humans having undergone transformation. Only the [[PigMan Swinefolk]] weren't former humans as they are creatures trapped in pig corpses.

** The Abomination: [[ChainPain Chains]] and [[SuperSpit bile]] in human form, [[ManBitesMan teeth,]] [[AbsurdlySharpClaws claws]] and [[HornAttack horns]] in beast form.

* WhamLine: [[spoiler:"The great family of man." Yeah, turns out when The Ancestor was talking about how [[ArcWords "ruin has come to our family"]], [[KillAllHumans he was thinking]] [[ShaggyDogStory a little bigger]]...]]

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: The Miller asked for help when the harvest came in blighted. Unfortunately, the person he asked for help was the Ancestor, personal motto "[[WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer When All You Have Is]] [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow Things Man Was Not Meant To Know]]..."

* WeaponOfChoice: Each hero has a specific weapon:

** The Arbalest: A [[{{BFG}} massive crossbow.]]

** The Bounty Hunter: An [[AnAxToGrind axe]] and a [[HooksAndCrooks hook.]]

** The Flagellant: A [[EpicFlail flail.]]

** The Vestal: A spiked [[CarryABigStick mace]] and holy book — most of her direct attacks actually [[HolyHandGrenade blast foes]] with [[LightEmUp the Light]].

* ArtificialInsolence: Heroes will contract various mental illnesses when their [[MoraleMechanic Stress]] hits 100. They may become Paranoid and refuse to accept help, or Selfish and refuse to help anyone else. Masochistic heroes sometimes break formation, shoving their way up to the front and demanding that enemies attack them, or even cut themselves. The Flagellant has only one affliction, Rapturous, which acts like the "Confusion" status: he attacks at random. All high-levelled heroes will also refuse to enter dungeons they feel are "beneath" them.

** Reynauld having the Kleptomania quirk is likely a reference to Raynald's habit of pillaging Saladin's supply caravans during the Second Crusade.

* GameMod: Due to the game engine, making mods is pretty simple, but the tools provided by the devs allow modders to implement very complex systems of their own, as long as you have the know-how. Things are only limited by creativity and artistic skill, and many in-depth mods have been made, ranging from very high quality Class Mods with completely custom assets such as [[http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=1102164897 Marvin Seo's collection]], to complete overhauls like [[https://steamcommunity.com/app/262060/discussions/4/618453594742937266/ Pitch Black Dungeon]] which ramp the NintendoHard difficulty UpToEleven.

** The penultimate quest takes this UpToEleven. While marked as [[MarathonLevel Exhausting]] in length, the random teleportation caused by some of the major roadblocks in the level can either force you into plenty of backtracking… or can plant you on a fast track to the level's goal. When this teleportation happens is also random, so you can be anywhere from barely starting the fight to nearly finishing it before it triggers. It's possible that one would finish the level only after burning through all four firewood given, or clear it without needing to camp even once.

* NintendoHard: [[UpToEleven Even more so than the base game]] — The Crimson Court causes new enemies to be introduced which can spread the Crimson Curse about your party, and the Curse in itself will add another layer of resource management. Its own dungeons are large enough to require several sessions to complete, and the bosses are suitably difficult. When choosing to activate the DLC, the game gives an additional prompt to confirm if you're sure, while also discouraging you from activating it if you're new to the game.

* DifficultySpike: The jump to Champion-level Dungeons hits hard, as even the lowliest mobs get great boosts to their combat capability, the large creatures you were already facing before reach their true killing potential, the stress flow ''skyrockets'', making stress healers a must, and [[EliteMooks Elite mobs]] start showing up, which will utterly destroy you if your backline damage is lacking. The shift in difficulty is bound to end in at least one failed expedition if you're not ready.

** The Shambler, which can normally be fought by using a torch on a randomly-appearing altar which clearly says that bad things are going to happen if you interact with it. The battle is brutal, mainly because it's rather bizarre compared to normal bosses, requiring different tactics for survival, and prone to spiraling out of control if you make any misplays:
*** The Shambler's attacks deal very little damage — but they all target the whole party and afflict them with very high levels of blight, bleed, and stress, which stack very quickly.
*** It also summons minions, which start very fragile and weak, but get stronger with each turn. If you decide to ignore them and go after the boss, you'll soon find they're one-shotting your characters, while you can barely scratch them.

* BreedingSlave: The Siren is explicitly stated to be "the queen and the slave" of the Pelagics, and [[WasOnceAMan was once a village maiden]] who the Ancestor handed over to the Pelagics to stop her from stalking him. Presumably, she is a queen in the same sense as a queen ant or queen bee — her main function is to give birth to more Pelagics. [[FridgeHorror And given that all the other Pelagics we see are male,]] [[GratuitousRape you can see where this is going...]]
* BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu: It is a possibility in this game. You reach the end-boss for the particular dungeon or even accomplish the dungeon objective, but at the cost of your party, or be afflicted with some insanity. [[spoiler:Very much the case in the ending. If what the Ancestor says is true, history is damned to repeat and render your sacrifices meaningless.]]
** [[spoiler:This is 99% enforced by the final boss, if you reach it with more than 2 living heroes. It will always use its [[OneHitKO Come Unto Your Maker]] attack to [[SadisticChoice force you to choose which of your heroes bites it]], leaving only two alive at best when it finally goes down unless you use an extremely specific strategy to OneHitKill it before it uses the power.]]

* CosmicHorrorStory: [[spoiler:The final scene, and especially the truth about the Heart of Darkness, reveals the entire thing to be this.]]

* ForDoomTheBellTolls: Whenever a character is about to die. Also, the Vestal's "Judgement" ability has the sound effect of a bell toll.

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Tomes, artifacts, and occult scrawlings occasionally impart knowledge of ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow to the character that interacts with them, increasing their stress and bestowing potentially harmful quirks. The "Prophet" boss also has this in his backstory — the Ancestor showed him what lay beneath the manor and his intentions, driving him mad.
** [[spoiler:This is also the fate of the Heir, as he is DrivenToSuicide upon learning the secret of the Darkest Dungeon.]]

* SoleSurvivor: [[spoiler:The Blackest of Fates collection of journal pages describes an individual of a party, possibly a Hellion given they flew into a rage and used a weapon described as an axe, who seems to have slain a Shambler after their Occultist, "thrice-damned Mizir", used a torch on the Shambler's Altar to summon one. The Shambler proceed to kill their Arbalest, then the Occultist (probably insane) while he seemed to offer himself as tribute to it and their Crusader.]]

* BodyHorror: Bloodsuckers are partially mutated into [[BigCreepyCrawlies giant bugs.]] With the bosses and Chevalier enemy, the mutations are complete.

** [[spoiler:The first real boss fight plays out like a shell game.]]

* MoneySink: The new Districts feature allows to have new buildings in the Hamlet, which give various positive effects (free food each week, faster stress reduction for idle heroes, permanent buffs for specific classes...). Building them requires a blueprint (you get a free one at week 10; the other ones are dropped by bosses) and ''lots'' of heirlooms. And then, there is "The Red Hook", which is totally useless and has an obscenely high cost of 50000 gold and 750 crests.
* MuggingTheMonster: The first cinematic for the [=DLC=] shows a young Ancestor trying to stab one of the ladies partying at his home. But as he approached for the kill, the Countess revealed her monstrous nature. [[spoiler:He actually managed to wound her enough that he could harvest her blood.]]

* ThePlague: The Crimson Curse is one, spread by mosquitoes.

* VariableMix: The background music becomes more intense as the light level drops, starting with a simple droning background beat before adding in PsychoStrings once the shadows start to close in [[HellIsThatNoise to help you feel the same stress as your expedition party]]. Battle music also becomes more dramatic as your party gets into more and more dire straits.

** The Grave Robber: [[KnifeNut Daggers]] (mêlée and [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks thrown]]), [[PoisonedWeapons poisoned darts]], and a [[PowerfulPick pickaxe]].

** The Jester: A [[KnifeNut dagger]], [[SinisterScythe sickle]] and [[InstrumentOfMurder lute]].

** The Occultist: A [[KnifeNut sacrificial dagger]] and [[BadWithTheBone ceremonial skull]].
** The PlagueDoctor: A [[KnifeNut dagger]] and [[TrickBomb various grenades]].

** The Crimson Court DLC also has this for boss missions, with maps even bigger than the Darkest Dungeon mission noted above. However, unlike all other missions in the game, you aren't actually intended to finish the dungeon in a single attempt. Progress is saved between runs, but each attempt where you are forced to retreat without beating the boss will stress your team out, and you will have to get another special item (called a Deed) to continue the mission.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: [[spoiler:A Trampled Journal describes a Man-at-Arms whose party with a Highwayman, an Occultist, and a Crusader were progressively killed and left him alone, starved and half-mad, seeking revenge for his allies as he stayed in the ruins' house without any light to ambush the cultists and brigands from the shadows.]]

** Heroes that acquire a [[HeroicWillpower positive affliction]] have a tendency to make them, sometimes even inspiring the other party members and giving them a buff.

* HeroicWillpower: Sometimes, when a hero's stress is maxed, their resolve comes back in full force, giving them a virtue instead of an affliction. This will give them ''tremendous'' boosts to stress and all stats, and makes them completely immune to heart attacks.[[note]]Hitting 200 Stress under those conditions, though, will dispel the virtue and reset their Stress.[[/note]] Depending on the virtue, they may buff allies or heal their stress gradually by shouting a BadassBoast, or heal themselves from damage or stress. Stalwart heroes, for example, heal their own stress so effectively they rarely need stress relief in the Hamlet after the mission.

* SanityMeter: Called 'Stress' in-game. Characters will suffer 'stress damage' from attacks, random events and so on. If their stress bar fills up their resolve is tested and they either [[HeroicBSOD break down]] (which can damage the sanity of other party members) or [[HeroicWillpower get motivated]] to kick more ass and inspire others. If it fills up ''again'', then they either die of a heart attack (if Afflicted), or lose their Virtue (if Virtuous, although this also has the effect of removing all their stress). Stress is lowered gradually over time when heroes are inactive in the hamlet, and can be healed in larger amounts by paying for activities at the Abbey and Tavern. Reducing stress in the middle of a dungeon is trickier, but it can be done with many classes' camping skills, certain classes' combat skills, or by scoring critical hits or heals.

* NoSell:
** The ''Shieldbreaker'' DLC introduces blocking as a separate defence stat similar to dodge, but which is only available to the titular character. (Even the Man-at-Arms does not possess it, in spite of using a much larger shield.) If it works, it prevents all physical damage, but does not stop any accompanying effects, including blight and bleed.
** The other characters can also gain the "Aegis" effect ([[GratuitousLatin Latin for shield]]) which will block the next attack. However, that requires using the Aegis Scales, which are only dropped from the Snake enemies that only appear in Shieldbreaker's Nightmares, or in the rare random encounters after all of her Journal pages have been collected.

* CrazyPrepared: It often pays to play like this. Even when you might be coasting through dungeons with a team of fully-upgraded level 6 heroes, you never know when the game will take the RNG and beat you over the head with it like a baseball bat, which means that bringing along some extra supplies and planning your moves carefully can make the difference between you coming home with a bunch of loot, or coming home with a few less heroes.

* DysfunctionJunction: When the quirks start to pile up, your characters WILL end up like this unless you sink a lot of time and money into treating them. Any hero that has went through more than three expeditions is almost certain to have some sort of mental trauma.

* EarlyGameHell: Your lack of supplies, funds, upgrades, and good trinkets makes the first few expeditions rather trying unless you strike it big with great loot early on. Things become a lot better once you start upgrading your skills, weapons, and armor. It also doesn’t help the learning curve can be pretty high, making potential {{Disk One Nuke}}s easy to overlook without a thorough understanding of the mechanics.

* EldritchAbomination: The game's setting is partly inspired by Lovecraftian stories, with eldritch horrors erupting across the family’s ancestral estate. [[spoiler:Including a cosmic abomination deep within the earth which may or may not be the very progenitor of humanity itself.]]

** Really nasty examples are The Collector and Shambler. Both of which waste no time summoning support and wrecking player teams in short order.

* FlunkyBoss: If a Boss doesn't occupy the entirety of the enemy ranks by himself, chances are that it will summon some common enemy to better fight the enemy. Special mention to the Shambler whose spawns keep getting stronger the longer they are present, making killing them quickly a necessity.

** Also, there's a ghost that urges you to turn back, a "Transcendent Terror," as the Ancestor calls it, as the Heir goes to the Manor. [[spoiler:It's you.]] The tone of the Ancestor is pointed as well, "You '''will''' go to the winding road," "You '''will''' be beset by brigands..." [[ViciousCycle as if the whole thing]] [[HistoryRepeats has been done before...]]
** When the Town Crier is taking up one of your Cloister slots, if you hold your cursor over him, his dialogue reads "Gods and men...Gods are men...Gobs of men..." [[spoiler:The one confirmed God of the world, the Heart of Darkness, spawned humanity and is able to reabsorb parts of it into itself ("gods are men"), leading to the lower reaches of the Darkest Dungeon being a [[WombLevel horrible nightmare meatscape]] inhabited by equally horrible fleshy mutants ("gobs of men").]]

* FriendOrIdolDecision: The game can actually force the ''player'' into this situation. There's a limited amount of space in your inventory, and sometimes you might need to choose between a valuable bauble or important supplies. On that note, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential you only need to keep one hero alive to make it out with all the treasure you've collected]]...

** Hunger is a semi-random event that disregards how much food you've already eaten, meaning it's possible to eat all your food to restore HP ''then'' have it strike.

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Tomes, artifacts, and occult scrawlings occasionally impart knowledge of ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow to the character that interacts with them, increasing their stress and bestowing potentially harmful quirks. The "Prophet" boss also has this in his backstory—the Ancestor showed him what lay beneath the manor and his intentions, driving him mad.

** The attacks and behavior of the bosses can be this, particularly when they are compared to one another. For example, against the Brigand Pounder, you always want to target the Matchman first. Knowing this, and facing the Swine Prince for the first time, you might think [[ShootTheMageFirst you should take out the little one marking all your heroes before going after the big guy]]. '''''DON'T.'''''

* HideYourChildren: Children are referenced a few times by the narrator but, like most of the Hamlet's citizens, are not seen in-game. The Abomination does express fear that a child may have gone missing during his transformations. This is averted during the Highwayman's comic, where he accidentally kills a child.

* HyperspaceArsenal: Very {{Downplayed|}} - the sixteen slots provided to the party's inventory [[InventoryManagementPuzzle is very limited]]. However, a less-than-full party will apparently heft the extra bags anyway since inventory slots don't go away as the party loses members and heroes with the Kleptomaniac or Egomaniac quirk may randomly steal loot from curios and keep it for themselves...somehow, even if the party's inventory is completely full and they randomly end up taking ''a lot of stuff'' (stealing more than a few busts certainly beggars belief).

* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: The game has three difficulty levels, named "Radiant" (easy[[note]]well, ''less'' hard, though the game mentions that it is far from turning it into a cakewalk[[/note]]), "Darkest" (normal[[note]]initially refered as "normal", since it was the only difficulty level[[/note]]), and "Stygian" (hard[[note]]before the release of the Radiant upgrade, this was named "NewGamePlus" and was unlocked once the game has been completed once in normal difficulty[[/note]]). ''The Crimson Court'' renamed "Stygian" to "Bloodmoon".