The creatures of the darkness have poured out from these portals and are doing what monsters do best causing unimaginable havoc and mayhem. In his search for riches, knowledge and fame your maniacal ancestor excavated the ruined catacombs beneath the family estate only to unearth portals into evil alternate realities. The game’s narrative begins promptly with you, the player, having inherited a grand, illustrious estate from your mad, old uncle.

If your one of those, like me, who remember your amiable characters dying so much that you had to start putting roman numerals at the end of their names to save time at character creation, a ‘la Hudson the Dwarf IV or Bones the Barbarian VII, you will be in nine-sided-die heaven with Darkest Dungeon. Those of you who are familiar with Dungeons & Dragons, HeroQuest or any old-school, table-top fantasy boardgames will feel right at home here, particularly if your Dungeon Master was a masochistic bastard who enjoyed party-wiping all your characters with fervent glee. It’s a theme that is often overlooked in games - surely, slicing and dicing through swathes of beasts, within the darkness of the unknown, while your comrades fall by your side - well, no doubt that would weigh heavily upon even the bravest of minds. The latest indie game to make the crossover is Darkest Dungeon, available via cross-buy and cross-play on both PS4 and PS Vita respectively, and I’m absolutely over-the-moon to share my thoughts about it as it’s something very, very special indeed.ĭarkest Dungeon is a gothic RPG rogue-like dungeon-crawler that focuses upon the psychological stresses that crop up when adventuring through the monster-infested darkness. More often than not, the Vita is the perfect place to play these games, not only by virtue of its portability - sure, that’s a very big part of it - but, also because those dual analogue sticks feel so damn great, and that screen looks bloody gorgeous to boot. The PS Vita is home to some truly standout indie titles that have made the leap from PC and console to our favourite little handheld, with aplomb.

DARKEST DUNGEON ESSENTIAL TIPS