NBA 2K17

Elite NBA players enjoy the 24/7 spotlight of national television, lucrative endorsement deals, and even occasional crossovers into Hollywood. But underneath this veneer of the charmed life are thousands of hours spent in gyms perfecting shooting strokes, honing dribbling moves, and sculpting physiques to withstand the rigors of an 82-game season. For better and worse, NBA 2K17’s popular MyCareer mode looks past the glitz and the glamour to focus on the practical side of being a professional athlete.
A year after the Spike Lee debacle, MyCareer returns with a new narrative penned by screenwriter Aaron Covington (Creed). Regardless of which organization drafts you, your team’s rookie class includes an overlooked gem named Justice Young, played by the talented Michael B. Jordan (Creed, The Wire). Together, you strive to become the next great NBA tandem, following in the footsteps of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Your chemistry develops through cutscenes and hours of practice at the gym, and if you play off each other enough during a game, you unlock the ability to take control of the tandem. Controlling two players at the same time almost feels too empowering; lethal give-and-gos are unleashed at the push of a button, and Young rarely misses an open look.
Performing well in MyCareer is paramount to improving the skills of your player, who once again starts with an absurdly low rating in a shameless ploy to get users to take the easy path and spend money on the virtual currency. Regardless of which approach you take, you need to put many hours into the practice mode to round out your player. Earning currency via games played and endorsement deals is still the way to upgrade your primary skills, but certain critical skills like stamina and free-throw shooting can only be improved by grinding at the gym. Unfortunately, the path to upgrading these is needlessly opaque; even if you shoot free-throws for 20 minutes, you may not raise your rating a single point. After putting 20 hours into the gym activities – which offer great variety, by the way – I still don’t understand the logic of when skill points do and don’t get awarded.
These quibbles aside, MyCareer is once again the best offering of its kind in sports games. The allure of improving your player, earning endorsements, interacting with teammates, and spending currency on new gear is strong. My only wish is the narrative more effectively empowered player agency. Most dialogue choices are limited to two options, which often only differ slightly.
Embracing player expression is what NBA 2K17’s MyGM and MyLeague modes are all about. Want to add six more teams to the Association with custom jerseys? Go for it. How about relocating and rebranding a current team? Have at it. 2K Sports gives you all the tools to turn your team of choice into a competitor, all while managing relationships with your owner, staff, and players. Hardcore features like adjusting player rotations by the minute, league-proposed rule changes each offseason, and being able to trade players during the season, draft, or offseason once again make this the most impressive franchise mode in sports games.
If you prefer to take your game online, NBA 2K17 offers options for both streetball aficionados (MyPark) and those who prefer simulation, 5v5 basketball (Pro-Am). The servers proved to be largely stable in my experience, with only some minor lag, and each has the infrastructure in place to be destination modes. My only major complaint is I wish MyPark would do away with the ridiculous “got next” format and let me immediately form a pick-up game with the other dozens of players standing around waiting their turn.

The ridiculously overstuffed suite of gameplay options extends even further with the inclusion of historic teams for head-to-head play and collectible card based MyTeam mode fashioned after EA Sports’ Ultimate Team. This game has no shortage of ways to hoop.
Regardless of which mode you’re playing, NBA 2K17 treats its players to best-in-class presentation and gameplay. Guest analysts keep the broadcasts feeling fresh, and this may be the best-playing NBA game to date thanks to some changes that limit the amount of canned animations signature players execute. The new shot meter extends to lay-ups and dunks, bringing an element of skill into play on formally automated shots. Off the ball, more physical contact between players brings an added level of realism to movement, though the increase in collisions also resulted in more animation clipping than I remember seeing the past few years. High-end players are much better at shooting through contact, which can be maddening when you feel you did everything in your power to stop them. Regardless, no sports game is better at capturing the play styles of the many different teams; each attacks just like their real-world counterpart.
In the world of sports sims, no other game feels like it’s even on the same level as NBA 2K17. Visual Concepts continues to embrace innovation and add benchmark-setting features for hardcore fans. With unrivaled gameplay, presentation, and game modes, 2K Sports’ latest hoops game is a must-play for all sports fans.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is an open world action-adventure stealth video game developed by Kojima Productions and published by Konami for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. It was released worldwide on September 1, 2015. It is the ninth and final installment in the series directed, written and designed by Hideo Kojima following Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes, a stand-alone prologue released the previous year, as well as his final work prior to his departure from Konami. Set in 1984, nine years after the events of Ground Zeroes and a decade before the events of the original Metal Gear, the story follows mercenary leader Venom Snake as he ventures into Soviet-occupied Kabul and the Angola–Zaire border region to exact revenge on the people who destroyed his forces and came close to killing him during the climax of Ground Zeroes. It carries over the tagline of Tactical Espionage Operations first used in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

The Phantom Pain was critically acclaimed upon release, with its gameplay drawing praise for featuring a variety of mechanics and interconnected systems which allow a high degree of player freedom in approaching objectives. While the story drew criticism from a few reviewers for its lack of focus, others acknowledged its emotional power and exploration of mature themes. The game received perfect review scores from several publications, including Famitsu, GameSpot and IGN, and was described by critics as the greatest game in the Metal Gear series.

Gameplay
In The Phantom Pain, players take the role of Big Boss, under the nickname Punished "Venom" Snake, in an open world environment. The gameplay elements were largely unchanged from Ground Zeroes, meaning that players will have to sneak from several points in the game world, avoiding enemy guards, and remaining undetected. Included in Snake's repertoire are binoculars, maps, pistols, assault rifles and explosives.Following one of the series traditions, The Phantom Pain encourages players to progress through the game without killing, using non-lethal weapons such as tranquilizer darts to subdue enemies. Players may traverse the game world with vehicles such as cars and tanks, in addition to traveling on foot or on horseback, and as certain locations are mountainous, players can opt to scale a rock face as a short cut.They may also call for friendly helicopter support against enemy soldiers in a combat alert or send commandos to scout a target area. Snake can also call on AI companions—including Quiet, a silent female sniper with supernatural abilities; D-Horse, a horse with a customizable saddle for carrying more equipment in the field; D-Walker, a manned, highly agile mobile weapons platform that can provide heavy weapons support; and D-Dog, a wolf pup raised and trained on the new Mother Base to assist him in the field.[8] The companions' abilities and their effectiveness will depend on the player's relationship with them.

As in Peace Walker, The Phantom Pain features a base-building system that allows players to develop weapons and items from their home base. Recruitment of enemy soldiers and prisoners has also returned for this purpose, allowing the base to grow through organization. The player is given the option to access their base from their real-life smartphones and other devices via a companion app.Unlike in Peace Walker where players can only see Mother Base from the air, they can control Snake as he explores the complex on foot. The Fulton surface-to-air recovery system, an item introduced into gameplay in Peace Walker, returns as well, with players now able to transport captured soldiers and other objects such as animals and vehicles back to Mother Base. Money for upgrading Mother Base's defenses and technology can be collected from objects found all over the map, such as diamonds, shipping containers, and special blueprint boxes, as well as sending recruited soldiers on combat missions around the world. The income is invested on upgrades to the appearance and abilities, weapons and equipment of Snake, his AI companions, and vehicles. For example, Snake's prosthetic arm can be modified with a taser, echolocation function, or remote controls that allow it to fly as a drone.

The enemy AI has also improved in terms of situational awareness. If players frequently use particular weapons or tactics to subdue enemy soldiers, repeats of the mission will see the enemy increase in numbers and be outfitted with better equipment; for example, the frequent use of headshots will see enemy soldiers don metal helmets to make targeting the head harder.

Kojima also revealed that the game has a new day-and-night cycle that runs in real-time, and that the time taken to travel from one location to another will affect the time of day when the player arrives at their destination. The cycle also fasts-forwards when Snake lights a "Phantom Cigar", a type of electronic cigar; a digital silver Seiko watch panel appears on screen to denote time. The passage of time enables players to analyze the movement of marked enemy forces in the area, such as shifts in sentry patrols and individual patrol routes. Weather effects, such as sandstorms and rain, will also affect the gameplay environment by, for example, reducing visibility or masking the sound of footsteps.

A new game design direction allows the player to choose in what order the story events take place by selecting missions in any order they like, and yet still "understand the encompassing message by the end".

Kojima spoke about the restrictive nature of previous MGS titles, saying that they "set [the player] on one rail to get from point A to point B, with a certain amount of freedom between". In stark contrast, Kojima's team instead offer the player new ways of traversal and sneaking methods, such as taking a plane, helicopter or motorcycle to the mission area. Players are able to traverse the game world or deploy directly to landing zones that allow for different approaches. A video published after the E3 2015 convention showcased this, with the same mission played four times in a number of different ways: with the player opting for stealth, launching a direct assault via helicopter gunship, attempting to assassinate a target with a sniper rifle, and smuggling an explosive device into an enemy base by way of an unsuspecting patrol vehicle crew. The player's actions will affect the wider game world; for example, sabotaging a radar installation will open up new entry points. This is in order for Kojima to accomplish a "true open world experience". According to Famitsu, Konami confirmed that the playable world in The Phantom Pain is two hundred times larger than that of Ground Zeroes, featuring a variety of climate conditions and environments. This allows the players to freely roam the map while proceeding to either story missions or sidequests, as in other games with nonlinear gameplay. In addition, players who have previously played Ground Zeroes are able to import save data into The Phantom Pain and gain special perks.

Multiplaye
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain includes two multiplayer modes: first, the new Metal Gear Online, developed by Kojima Productions' newly formed Los Angeles division (now known as Konami Los Angeles Studio).The first footage for multiplayer was revealed in December 2014.While originally set for launch alongside the release of The Phantom Pain, Metal Gear Online was postponed to October 6 for consoles and January 2016 for Microsoft Windows.

The second multiplayer mode is an extension of the Mother Base base-building feature. Players are able to expand their operations to include "Forward Operating Bases" which can be used to generate resources and income for the single-player campaign. These facilities can be attacked by other players, making a player-versus-player mode available whereby the attacking team attempts to steal resources and/or soldiers and the defending team tries to protect the Forward Operating Base from the intruder. Defenders will also be able to call on their friends to aid in the defence, especially if their Forward Operating Base is attacked during a story mission. Players are able to customize the security, staffing and layout of their Forward Operating Bases, allowing for a large number of compound configurations. Following the success or failure of the intrusion, the location of the attacking player's Forward Operating Base is revealed to the defending player;however, defending players can only launch a retaliatory strike if the attacker was discovered during their infiltration. The Forward Operating Base feature is intended to be an entirely separate multiplayer experience to Metal Gear Online, and is also needed to increase the number of combat units the player can deploy.

During development, Kojima Productions and Konami attracted criticism for their decision to include microtransactions; a system that allows players to pay for access to content in the game. However, a spokesperson for Kojima Productions confirmed that the system was included to benefit players who may not have the time to complete the game, given its scale, and that no content would be available exclusively through microtransactions. Further controversy emerged following the publication of an early review claiming that the Forward Operating Base mode was behind a paywall, which Konami refuted saying that microtransactions acted as an accelerator rather than a paywal

Age of Empires II HD Edition Review

The appeal of Age of Empires II: HD Edition is readily apparent. After all, the originalAge of Empires II: The Age of Kings and its expansion are so beloved that there is still a healthy modding and multiplayer community devoted to the game. This is an impressive feat for a real-time strategy game that came out over a decade ago, especially when you consider that the official multiplayer matchmaking service was shut down years ago. A prettier version of AOEII with easier multiplayer matchmaking and mod support (via Steam's servers and Steam Workshop) is a solid idea. Unfortunately, Hidden Path's HD edition of Ensemble Studios' classic RTS suffers from a variety of bugs and missed opportunities.

Nobody expects the Spanish cannon galleon fleet!

AOEII:HD's gameplay is instantly familiar to practically anyone who has ever played a real-time strategy game focused on the big picture. This fast-paced game has you exploiting natural resources, constructing beautiful wonders and formidable castles, and advancing from the Dark Ages to the much more dignified-sounding Imperial Age. Along the way, you use the tried-and-true rock-paper-scissors formula (pointy sticks kill cavalry, villagers kill sheep, and so on) to violently evict other players from the map. There is a lot of depth to AOEII:HD, because all of the 18 playable nations have unique bonuses, units, and tech trees. For example, Frankish castles are cheap, Turks field awesome gun-powder units early on, and the Huns don't need houses to support their population. There are also randomly generated and real-world maps to play on, as well as numerous game modes, including a pacifist game type where the first player to complete a wonder wins. Because of the variety of victory conditions and diverse powers for each nation, there are a lot of ways to play, and excel, in Age of Empires II HD.

However, Hidden Path missed opportunities to improve on AOEII's gameplay. As things stand, you cannot give move-attack orders; dragging a box over a mass of units selects both villagers and troops; and it's impossible to queue up a mixture of units and research at the same building. AI pathfinding also needs some work. For instance, villagers ordered to travel to a lumber camp located in plain sight 700 yards away over open country may inexplicably decide to take a scenic route through a canyon populated by ravenous jaguars. These are examples of flaws that could have been resolved, but increasing the maximum population limit from 200 to 500 is the only noticeable change made in terms of gameplay.

At least the old cheats work.

The main difference between AOEII:HD and AOEII is the HD version's use of Steam for multiplayer matchmaking, which, given the size of Steam's user base, is significantly more convenient than programs like GameRanger. You can hop into a random game from the lobby browser and, theoretically, enjoy fantastic experiences. The game is highly enjoyable for both friendly comp stomps and player-vs.-player games. Of course, some people rage quit after accusing you of cheating simply because of your Byzantine fire ships' predilection for sinking undefended fishing fleets.

Still, a victory is a victory. A match might involve you sending a series of impressive (and foolish) Aztec human wave attacks against Viking castles and longboats defending the river crossings separating your peoples. Untold hundreds of digital Aztecs could die trying to destroy the proud Norsemen's wonder. When the stars are aligned correctly and everything works, AOEII:HD's multiplayer is exceptionally fun.

Sadly, such experiences are rare because AOEII:HD's multiplayer is currently extremely buggy. You could encounter out-of-sync errors, random crashes to desktop mere moments into the game, complete strangers entering friends-only games, and excessive lag. Another recurring problem is that, often, when someone drops, everyone else gets stuck on a vote screen, and nothing happens even if the players unanimously vote to continue the game. Furthermore, when you are using two monitors, AOEII:HD runs so poorly that even the single-player modes are practically unplayable. Hidden Path has released a few updates over the past week and fixed some of the problems. The lag in two-player games is less pronounced and some achievements work now. While it's fortunate that Hidden Path has been working on some of these problems, it is inexcusable that the game was released in this state.

Valhalla, I am coming!

While AOEII:HD's multiplayer experience is a mess, at least the nine single-player campaigns work fine. Each campaign includes at least six scenarios, and most of those take at least 30 minutes to an hour to finish, so you could easily spend dozens of hours playing the single-player campaigns. Of course, quantity isn't the same thing as quality, but some individual scenarios are so enjoyable that they stick in your memory. One example is the scenario in Attila the Hun's campaign in which you extort tribute from the Eastern Roman Empire by raiding settlements near Constantinople. You can even try to sack that heavily fortified city if you'd like.

Another memorable scenario has you leading the Vikings as they run away from Norway's many hungry wolves in search of a new life across the sea. You need to raid Scotland and conquer Greenland before traveling on to North America. Finally, you must build a proper colony in the face of constant attacks by the native Skraelings, who think they own the place. The campaigns don't make up for the woeful state of AOEII:HD's multiplayer, but they are great fun, especially if you've never played them before.

Despite the name, AOEII:HD doesn't scream "high definition." The game supports higher resolutions, but there are already several lovely graphics mods on Steam Workshop that look better than the base game. Vanilla AOEII:HD is attractive, but (original developer) Ensemble's artists deserve most of the credit. Major historical structures, such as the Dome of the Rock, Torre del Oro, and Hagia Sophia, are depicted in stunningly gorgeous detail. In fact, practically all the structures are full of interesting details, such as seagulls circling the docks, goods arranged for sale at the markets, and swords and practice dummies visible in the courtyard of a barracks. In terms of sound, the HD edition has added no new material and only includes the soundtrack from the Conquerors expansion. Thankfully, you can find all of the missing tracks on Steam Workshop.

If you're having Turk problems, I feel bad for you, son.

Age of Empires II: HD Edition has enormous potential. After all, the base game is still enjoyable and visually attractive (excepting the units that were never beautiful), and you can smoothly download content from the Steam Workshop. However, the HD edition fails to improve on the original's gameplay in any way, and numerous bugs mar what should be an excellent multiplayer experience. Hopefully, Hidden Path will eventually fix the problems so that epic eight-player matches with hundreds of units on each side can entertain strategy fans until our civilization, like ancient Rome, falls and fades into the annals of history.

Mortal Kombat Komplete Announced

It's always tempting to pick up DLC for a game, and now Warner Bros. and developer NetherReam Studios are making it easier than ever to buy all the DLC for Mortal Kombat in one easy package.

Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition not only features the entire 2011 game, but also all its DLC and more. The DLC itself includes Skarlet, Kenshi, Rain, and Freddy Krueger, as well as 15 skins and three Fatalities (Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Reptile). The Komplete Edition also offers digital downloads of the Mortal Kombat: Songs Inspired By the Warriors album and the infamous 1995Mortal Kombat film.

The MK Komplete Edition comes out for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on February 28 for $59.99

The not so beautiful game.

Once again, the English football season kicks off, and with it comes EA’s yearly cash cow. Much like Madden, FIFA is one of the publisher’s biggest earners, due in no small part to FIFA Ultimate Team.

The first thing I noticed upon launching the game is how little has changed with the menu. This wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t so cluttered. There are several menus and sub-menus, and even sub, sub-menus to tackle.

Straight off the bat EA wanted to set up my FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) profile. This teaches the basics of Ultimate Team and opens a few packs for free. Just think of it as that dodgy looking stoner standing outside the local store, trying to get the kids hooked on his wears; Try this for free, but you’re gonna need to pay if you want a real hit! Better players come from better packs, and they will cost. Players can use the in-game currency to purchase packs, but the the game dishes that out like Scrooge McDuck.

Once I created a team, I then had to prove myself online. This is where FIFA 16 excels. EA have had years to perfect the online experience, and by most accounts, it’s seamless. Taking my FUT online and finding people to play was easy and I had very little issues. Of course, the result of the match depends on the ability of the team, and with my starting players I had a battle on my hands when I encountered other FIFA players who had paid lots to increase their squad.

The single players is where I found myself at home. All of the modes that one would expect are there. Manager mode, Player mode, Tournaments and Exhibition. One much publicised addition is the introduction of women teams. But playing the fairer sex is limited to international teams only, in a tournament mode. It’s nice that the feature is there, but adding the Woman’s Football Super League wouldn’t have been too difficult. But hey, they need to have something to sell next year, right?

Another new addition adds the ability to press in the R stick and turn on the FIFA Trainer, which acts as a guide to help with next best actions. It would be a cool little feature, especially for those new to the game. If it worked. Most of the time it was telling me to slide tackle, when I was nowhere near any other player. How about showing me the buttons for speeding up my player instead? I would recommend only using it if players are unfamiliar with the controls. On the plus side though, FIFA 16 introduces a few new changes with pre-season tournaments, as well as a more in-depth player training feature.

Unfortunately, the game misses in a lot of areas. Firstly, scoring from a set piece, something that used to be near impossible last year, is incredibly easy this year. Whether from a corner, or from a cross in from the wings, it’s almost impossible not to score. EA needed to change the difficulty of those plays, but this has gone too far in the other direction. The game also continues to suffer from sluggish passing and poor AI, as it has for years now. It hampers the flow of the match and causes frustration in tense games.

They have also failed to solve the problem where AI players just refuse to run to a deadball, even if they are mere feet away. The problem that stands out the most however is the commentary. There clearly has been little effort on the part of EA to record a variety of lines. Alan Smith and Martin Taylor return for this year’s game and they do a sterling job of delivering the lines, but they just have so few of them. In many of my games I heard the same lines repeated 4 or 5 times. It’s just lazy and breaks some of the game’s immersion. I could turn it off, but again, that takes something away from the experience.

FIFA 16 has a few nice additions, but failure to fix some of the franchise’s ongoing problems, along with a massive focus on FUT leaves it feeling stale; especially seeing as PES seems to be scoring highly in reviews. My only fear is that with Konami allegedly moving away from console games, EA may continue the franchise without feeling the need to innovate and improve. There just isn’t enough here for me to recommend buying FIFA 16, if you already own last year’s version. If you are hooked on FUT and only really come to FIFA for that, then you will be well served here, but then again, what’s stopping you from continue enjoying it on FIFA 15?

BEACH BUGGY IS BACK WITH AN EXPLOSIVE SEQUEL!

Drive into an action-packed, surprise-filled world of off-road kart racing mayhem! Race against a field of rival drivers, each with unique personalities and special abilities.  Build a collection of crazy powerups, like Dodgeball Frenzy, Fireball, and Oil Slick.  Unlock and upgrade a variety of cars, from dune buggies to monster trucks.  Test your skills in 6 different game modes on 12 imaginative 3D race tracks, against a pack of tropical-loving rivals with a serious case of road rage!  
GAME FEATURES

EXCITING KART-RACING ACTION

Utilize your driving skills and a collection of creative powerups to fight your way to the finish line.  It’s not just a great looking 3D racing game, it’s an epic battle with spectacular physics-based gameplay!

OVER 25 AMAZING POWERUPS

Beach Buggy Racing crushes other kart racers with over 25 totally unique Powerups ... and more Powerups are coming!

COOL CARS TO CUSTOMIZE

Use your winnings to collect and upgrade a garage full of unique cars, from monster trucks to muscle cars to lunar rovers!

12 SPECTACULAR RACE TRACKS

Explore dinosaur-infested jungles, lava-spewing volcanoes, beautiful beaches, and mysterious swamps. Each unique race track is packed with hidden shortcuts and surprises.

COLLECT A TEAM OF RACERS

Recruit a team of drivers to play with, each with a unique special power like teleportation, flaming fire tracks, and confusion spells.

SPLIT SCREEN MULTIPLAYER

Race shoulder-to-shoulder with up to 4 friends on one tablet or TV-connected device. (Currently available for Android, Amazon Kindle, and Windows Store only.)

CHALLENGE YOUR FRIENDS ONLINE

Compete with your friends and earn achievements with Google Play Game Services (Android), Game Center (iOS), and GameCircle (Amazon).

Darkest Dungeon

Despair overtakes you as your houndmaster misses an all-important attack on an enemy fusilier, the lighter of the brigand’s massive boss cannon. The cannon is going to fire this turn, and there’s nothing left you can do to stop it. While your leper and bounty hunter land the finishing blows on the massive machine, your plague doctor and houndmaster fail to survive the encounter, joining the legions of the dead that occupy the hamlet’s graveyard. Dead champions never return, but their memory will haunt you through all the battles and dungeons yet to come.
Tremendous highs and tumultuous lows combine in the Lovecraft-inspired, turn-based dungeon-crawler Darkest Dungeon. You’re always one hit point or one mind sliver away from complete collapse as you explore winding halls of ruins, warrens, coves, and the titular Darkest Dungeon itself. Featuring permadeath, procedurally generated levels, and some aspects of permanent progression as the player builds up the decrepit hamlet into a bustling economy, the game is ultimately about finding combinations of curious glory seekers and treasure hunters and putting them to work against swarms of deadly and debilitating monsters.
This dread ensemble is a pleasure to manage down to the finest details. With 14 different classes to choose from, each with many unique abilities, weapons to customize, skills to upgrade, quirks to manage, and diseases and afflictions to cure, you’re always managing something.
 With perseverance, you can even the odds against the nightmares ahead. The game strikes a brilliant balance most of the time, constantly testing the player to weigh resources and risks, but training a fresh team after a massive loss can be time consuming and punishing. This too, can be an important lesson: In Darkest Dungeon, discretion is often the better part of valor, and while mechanics make cowardice costly, it’s far better than losing a team to the grave forever.
Your hamlet will continue to improve even if your characters continue to head toward the grave, as most standard dungeon runs offer resources to help you upgrade your facilities. It’s an important and satisfying mechanic that gives some sense of progression even in the face of overwhelming odds.

Darkest Dungeon tweaks the traditional task of managing character hit points by adding another element called stress. Darkness, enemy attacks, critical strikes, and watching comrades fall can all cause despair.
A full stress bar gives the hero a chance for greatness in the face of terror, but the more likely outcome is a serious malady such as masochistic or antagonistic tendencies, which could lead your characters to injure themselves, become unresponsive to your orders, or chastise the rest of the team into deep depression.
Managing these two resources along with light sources, provisions, and other supply items as you traverse the depths makes for an insightful lesson in risk-management, and it feels wonderfully satisfying when you deliver the deathblow to a crawling chaos. Depending on the dungeon run, your heroes may come back with diseases, maladies, or stress that should be taken care within the hamlet before sending them out to venture again, making the construction of many different teams a necessity so some can adventure while others rest.

Darkest Dungeon boasts plenty of substance and style, but if you’re averse to crushing difficulty it may prove to be too frustrating to be palatable. The uncompromising difficulty and challenge will be attractive to some, but could put off players looking for a simple crawler where you can outlevel or outgear content, and the sometimes grindy nature of recouping losses can take its toll.
Darkest Dungeon is an incredible take on the classic dungeon crawl. The game brings Lovecraftian lore to new heights with cool classes, powerful narration, stylish art, and addictive gameplay that will keep you crawling back to battle slithering monstrosities even as your favorite heroes become corpses.