Darkest Dungeon

I bought this game on 2018. It has taken me almost 7 years to finish it. The main game, at least. When I first played it, it had been on Radiant. I was Not Very Good at games, and the unforgiving nature of Darkest Dungeon and my lackluster gaming skills, even on Radiant, meant that opinion turned from 'Not Very Good' to 'Oh Girl, You Are So Much Worse At This Than I Realized.' It had ended with me throwing my hands up in surrender after suffering a team wipe twice, almost in a row, first from the Shambler, and then later to Vvulf. Despite that, I resolved to one day come back and finish this damn game.
And 7 years later, I come crawling back with gritted teeth and bloodied fingers, triumphantly better than ever before. My days of being 'Not Very Good' was over. I was now 'Eh, Acceptable.' And that was enough to fulfill a goal that was more than half a decade old by that point. On Default Difficulty, even!
(I will not try it in Higher Difficulties. I know my limits. Confidence is an insidious killer, and all that.)
Anyway, all that was to say, very dramatically, that I've finally finished it. Wonderful game. I absolutely love the sound effects and, of course, the narrator. It all really sets the Lovecraftian vibe the game was going for. While I was playfully complaining about the difficulty earlier, I didn't actually hate it. Struggling to be better, to improve, to overcome said difficulties made the victories all the more sweet. From what I understand, the game was purposely designed like that. It's supposed to be hard. It's supposed to be frustrating. And the challenge of it really elevated my experience playing the game.
I might one day return. I still haven't defeated one of the mini bosses that made me quit the game in the first place (I Am Coming For You, Shambler). Some achievements here and there that I want to get. And, of course, the DLCs that I've been hearing good things about.
Truly, one of the best games I've ever played. <3

This game is the absolute worst. It's unbelievably hard and unfair, after most of my missions my party needs like 2 weeks to recover because they're one inconvenience away from a heart attack, clinically depressed, and have the bubonic plague or some shit. I once had a whole party wipe due to 4 consecutive heart attacks.
10/10
I absolutely love this game.
This game does not love me, however.

Very hard game to review. It's pretty much the epitome of an abusive relationship.
It's a game that you'd beg your best friend to play but wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy.
It's a game that you'll love to hate and resent yourself for loving it.
It's a game where skill is mocked and luck is a bipolar parent.
And it's addictive as crack.
You've been warned.

The game UI and control are perfect for mobile. Wish the game can be ported to mobile so I can rage on the bus

this game makes me geniunely fucking stressed i cant reccomend it to any normal person, i feel that if i made my grandma play this game she'd die of cardiac arrest

but its like an abusive relationship i jjuust keep wanting more, yes one more dd1 run, just one more yeah dude yeah yeaha just onee more broooo just one moreeee fuckk my life FUCKKK WHY ARE YOU MISSING, STOP MISSING YOU PIECE OF SHIT LEPER FUCKING HIT THAT BITCH ALREADY

Iconic.
The world, the narration, the verbiage, the music, the intensity, the depth of mechanics, the constant weight always bearing down on the player... All executed in brilliant fashion. As you play the game, the Narrator makes remarks on your decisions. The remarks sometimes bolster your resolve; the remarks crush your spirit; the remarks teach you mindsets to use in the game, and they teach you a way of life.
If you love campaign strategy and have a taste for eldritch horrors, this game is a must-have. I cannot overstate the impact this game had on myself, and I still hear the Narrator guiding me to this day during my own hardships - "You will endure this loss. You will learn from it"

If you don't find grinding out hours to learn strategy and preparing for all scenarios(and still failing due to RNG) fun then consider this recommend poisonous, stay away from the game. It's meant to frustrate you and challenge you to do better. Lots of people don't find joy in that sort of challenge for a video game.
Your characters arrive, grind, expire or are in dire need of respite. The story is a nice setup but quickly gets lost in the grind. My god, are you going to grind in this game. Even updating your Stage Coach to bring in more characters at higher levels will do little to stop the never ending need to grind up characters because of the games systems. Whether it by dying to stress or bad rolls. The non-character mechanics(ex. Town Events, torch light, spawning of mini-bosses) in the game are nice and not only match the themes of dire times but also keep the player constantly managing more than just character gear. Leveling up things in your town home base was wildly helpful but nothing screamed over powered. There's a variety of characters and each has their own move set(with the exception of Arbelast and Musketeer, they're identical. Musketeer is a reskin and DLC that as of right now is free), gear, and 'trinkets'(items that go into one of two slots per character that can influence them. Generic or class-specific). The quirks your characters can get from the dungeon add even more to consider, or to cure, anytime they delve and get stressed out. The narration is nice even if it starts to sound mocking after a certain amount of time with repetition, and the designs overall are very cool.
This game isn't perfectly balanced but it has so much going for it. I highly recommend it for players like me who enjoy being constantly challenged and beating the odds. If that's not your preference the game goes on sale often for under $5 USD, and even then I would recommend it for it's interesting mechanics for a short while. The DLC aren't anything I would rave about enough to mention in the base game review.
Generic tips and tricks for the interested;
-Upgrade your Stage Coach early! It brings in new characters to use. The more slots it can show the better the odds of showing a class you want to use. Even better, there may be characters above level one so you don't invest as much time into a fresh prospect for the dungeons
-Watch out for your Stress. It can drag a team down and be deadly, as you'll soon find out. How do you manage Stress besides the obvious of 'keep light nearby'? Kill enemies that begin in positions 3, and 4. They tend to have more Stress-based abilities
-Stun is your most powerful friend, if you can get an enemy to have that condition
-Trinkets are always underrated
-The Cove is a deadly area on Stygian, just flat out avoid it