What is the coolest thing about Darkest Dungeon other than it’s expert splicing of pulp fantasy with Lovecraftian fiction and Jude Wayne’s glorious narration? The monsters! Or more specifically, the places where they come from!
Warning! Lots and lots of spoilers for Darkest Dungeon and also an episode of the X-Files for some reason (but c'mon man, it was decades ago, get with it already)
Rendered slightly less threatening by the weird collar thingy.
6. The Ruins
You could probably predict this being the least scary. As the starting area, it is the least threatening. The enemies are pretty basic, the curios aren't very unsettling, and the background isn't very memorable. It might be noted that the place does manage to feel like the rubble of some terrible cataclysm.
Stars: 2/5
Scariest enemy: The Necromancer. No further comment *shudders*.
Serious Question: How does a zombie get drunk??
5. The Cove
The eldritch imagery on the Cover is pretty creepy to walk past if you have any knowledge about the Cthulu mythos and the Deep Ones. And the wreckage of all the ships that have crashed here increases the eeriness. I don't find the fish people very threatening though, even if they are dangerous in the game. And I don’t think anyone is running for the hills for fear of facing a giant sea snail (well, most people anyway).
Stars: 2.5/5 (can we do percentages? Well, I've decided we're doing percentages)
Scariest enemy: The Drowned Crew. They are the most disturbing undead in the game, ignoring the fungal enemies. But don’t worry…we’ll get to them.
4. The Warrens
The Warrens is the goriest, most gross-out area, the idea of what the swine-folk have been doing to humans they catch is disturbing. Unfortunately, I prefer more subtle horror. The overabundance of corpses, bones, skin, disease, and the twisted flesh abominations make for a unique hellscape but they begin to feel over-done by the second time you encounter them. This area does have the best soundtrack though.
Stars: 3.2/5
Scariest enemy: The Swine Skiver. There’s something disturbing about the idea of a swine-human-eldritch possessed monster hunting and skewering humans. I’ve always found pigs to be the creepiest of barn animals, probably because I watched the live-action adaptation of Animal Farm as a small child and the scene where the Napolean's right-hand pig re-writes the rules on the barn with his little hooves wall freaked me out.
3. The Darkest Dungeon
For some people, this may be the scariest. For me…eh. It’s got some wicked designs and nasty monsters, but it’s got the same problem that the Warrens have, where it feels like it’s too much. I feel that the subtle horror of the situation is much more interesting the over the top gore and eldritch elements. It does make up for it in terms of difficulty and by virtue of managing to live up to its own hype.
Stars: 3.67/5
Scariest enemy: YOU. Wait, no, sorry that was a typo. I meant to say, the boss of the game. Holy Jesus mother and mary the boss of the game.
This should go just about as well as it looks like it's going to.
2. The Courtyard
Replacing bats with mosquitos for the vampirism based DLC was a stroke of genius, and this is never more apparent than in the Courtyard. It might seem weird for this one to top the Darkest Dungeon but in terms of atmosphere, it’s gothically beautiful. Not only is it a sprawling labyrinth full of deranged, bug-people aristocrats but speaking as someone who grew up a couple hours from the marsh, it perfectly encapsulates what is eerie about the swamp. The mist, the buzz of insects. Despite all this wonderful atmosphere, I must admit that though some of the moves are disturbing, a lot of the aristocrats are kinda silly looking and so is their pet croc.
Stars: 4/5
Scariest enemy: The Courtesan. Just thinking about some of her moves brings disturbing ideas to mind about how horrible/miserable she was before she died.
1. The Weald
The Weald is more lurid than any of the other areas for me. With the rabid wolves, angry giants, and cannibalistic hags, it feels like a twisted fairy tale come to life. And that’s not even mentioning the fungal enemies. They take the cake in terms of body horror. I don’t know why fungus growing out of your orifices and moving your dead body is worse than all the other messed stuff in the Darkest Dungeon. But it is. Oh god, it is.
Stars: 4.6/5 (nothing's perfect guys)
Scariest enemy: The Fungal Scratcher.
Just look at that thing. Brrr.
I find something unnerving about the shape of fungi, probably because I watched an X-Files episode many years ago, in which a fungus exploded out of people’s throats, killing them violently and creating a cloud of poisonous spores in the process. It also caused phallic rods to become the stuff of nightmares in my young mind.
Ah, there it is!
Freud would have a field day with my psychosis I have no doubt.
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