Darkest Dungeon Documentary - It Would Suck To Be A Hero
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
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The Escapist is proud to present our latest feature-length documentary telling the story of Red Hook Studios and Darkest Dungeon.
Soundtrack: jameselseymusi...
Editing - Omar Ahmed
Interviews and Story - Nick Calandra
Original Soundtrack: James Elsey
Original Cover Art - Laureline Chambon
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Hi all,
Thanks for tuning into our latest documentary! Hope you enjoy it and if you'd like to help fund future documentaries from us, we're accepting donations that will go towards our next project!
@Articulated Thanks so much!
Just out of curiosity: how much time did the interviews lasted? It feels like an afternoon, but getting that much infos in an afternoon would be crazy
@@Sir_Bucket We filmed the entire thing over three days. Depends on the documentary, but the most we've ever done is a week and that was for the Divinity: Original Sin documentary which you can find back on the Gameumentary channel. We covered the entire series there and that took an entire week to do.
@@theescapist ok thanks for clarifying, very nice documentary btw. The musics are in the good place to set the atmosphere, the paste is really well done. And the visual is really complete and fit well with the audio
Bravo. Your best work to date.
This was great! Darkest Dungeon is easily one of the most emotionally captivating games I've ever played. That was real pain you heard.
Maggots!!!! I loved your playthroughs of Darkest Dungeon Bear!
Heya Baer!
Here I was about to send you the link and ask if you knew that you had a line in it.
My heart sunk with you when you got to that point.
Thank you for beating the game, I bought it after watching you play it a couple episodes, but I get too attached to my characters Soo I could never have finished it. Watching you play it, going back and re watching, is one of those special things that can keep a guy going.
I'll immediately pre order dd2, but I'll probably only experience it through you Baer. (No pressure though, I'm sure you've inspired hundreds of imitators that I can watch it from, but they won't have the same "je ne sais" Baer greed.
Baertaffy! I've watched so many of your DD videos! I'm such a big fan!
Baer, this is the game that Introduced me to you, and you were one who introduced me to Darkest Dungeon. It's great to know you loved the doc, and that even though, in my head, your voice ( and Wayne Junes, of course) ARE DD, your are still a guy who found a game to love too. Never stop being you, Baer. And long live the Darkest Dungeon 👹
Darkest Dungeon is one of the most enjoyable games that I wasn't good enough to finish.
Can relate
@@kevinjbonetguadalupe1729 It didn't stop me from playing it. I played the Hell out of it. I suck at FTL as well and I'm 300 hours into that game.
I rage quit the game 3 years ago & by chance I saw Quill18 do an LP a few months back. That ignited the completionist in in me to "git gud" and finally finish the damn thing. Try it again and you'll eventually get through it - there's copious material and strats out there on UA-cam & the Wiki - the key is just prioritizing the right classes & character synergies to move the RNG in your favor.
@@bilbo1778 The first time my crew died of asphyxiation while on fire I fell in love. It reminded me of getting killed by the floor on Ultima 3. I thought, "Now here's a game that doesn't care at all about my feelings. This game gets me." I can still only beat it on easy but I can't stop playing it.
@@bilbo1778 I just realized you were talking about Darkest Dungeon because I'm not that bright. I haven't quit the game at all. I'm just on a break for a minute while I repair my damaged feelings.
ooo, thank you for this watching material friends
Ay a wild Indei? Are you as excited about making Waifu Dungeon 2 Electric Boogaloo as I am to watch it?
Ready for Darkest Waifus 2?
a wild indei among the people? we.love.you.
Another foundational voice of DD, to me, anyway! Thanks for making great DD Content, as well as all the other lovely work you do. Can't wait for the RE6-a-thon you got cookin'! May your waifus always be thicc!
Haha Kangaroo Jack haha. Point and laugh.
I just sat here for a hour straight, watching a documentary on a game I adore, and I loved all of it. Thank you Red Hook, and thank you The Escapist.
This game is awesome. can't wait for 2.
Amazing, right? I was never before so caught up by a game, to even think about watching a documentary about it :D and know, I just finished over a full hour of one
i made this comment have 666 likes feelsgoodman
+1
Holy hell the editing is tremendous, felt like I'm watching a movie. The score with the comments barrage regarding the corpses patch was intense, the uplifting aspirational part near the end, the whole experience and especially the content was brilliant
So glad you enjoyed! Thanks for watching!
Yeah this was really well made
@@theescapist thank you, this is one of my favourites
@@theescapist Seriously tho,hats off to your Editor!
You are watching a movie.
A game about terror and horror came from two people filled with hope and trust.
On the old road, we found redemption
I think for this team, and for this team alone, overconfidence was not a slow and insidious killer.
They weren't overconfident. The documentary is strewn with comments about how they didn't think they'd be able to accomplish very much.
i was impressed how they handled the corpse update. definitely a pro move
Overconfidence? Their confidence was shaken! It was courage what they had to keep moving forward with their vision even though they feared shit could go wrong.
It's merely a trick of the light
It's just killing them *VERY* slowly.
Loved everyhthing about the documentary
Also:
"When i wanted to relax i'd just go to twitch and see ppl freak out of a character dying, That would bring me the utmost joy"
based as hell
I lost multiple dudes last night playing. My reaction was “good riddance.” 😂
This game twists your perception of happiness quite considerably
Such an insightful documentary. I had planned on watching it over a couple of days but once I started watching I couldn’t believe the hour had passed. Great job. It was an honour to be part of the game and a small part of this documentary.
Really good soundtrack! I find myself listening to the ruins battle music on loop sometimes
Thank you for your art.
Your music slaps my man, truly Darklest Dungeons OST is captivating
The music in this game is phenomenal.
Is the sequel merely a trick of the light?
@@pointynoodle I checked on their DEV updates on steam and the Circus DLC isn't actually cutting into their development that much, so thats good.
@@negativeninja7465 I figure it's a way to test a feature for DD2 anyway
Jason Hunter in a recent dev update of Steam they said that they hired a whole seperate team to work on Butchers Circus, so it definitely could (and probably will) be a feature in DD2, it isn’t taking any time or effort from the dev team for DD2
Really well done, enjoyed top to bottom!
@PersonaX well they are making a secuel already
“In time, you will know the tragic extent of my failings”
It's just an hour though I have time
What a fuckin dick that guy was. I'm glad an angry mob killed him. Shoulda done it sooner!
@@tomhill3248 If you are referring to the Ancestor - the mob didnt get him - he shot himself before they could. Like a coward.
@I SELL SALT The man is a thief, a liar, and a murderer who damned everyone and everything he ever knew for his ego. He deserves NOTHING! He is a villain through and through and shall be treated as such!
That's right, gulags were quite tragic.
That whole corpse saga was something else. I've never seen so many people getting so angry at a feature in a video game that at the end of the day, turns out to be alright? It's hilarious in hindsight when they revealed that less than 1% of the player decided to turn off the corpse feature in the final build. The OGs are the loudest and most obnoxious of any community I suppose.
I can understand review-bombing a game because the creator was being a horrible human being (cough*Randy*cough*Pitchford*cought), or the game is incredibly buggy and lacking in content or outright lie in their marketing and trailers despite being a AAA game (Anthem and FO76) but for an indie game to be ridiculed, harassed and even sent death-threats over something like this? It's simply baffling.
what was the corpse saga?
@@arandomperson8646 If im not it were corpses when monsters die
@@arandomperson8646 starts at 42:26
DD added a mechanic during Early access that cause dead enemies to leave behind a corpse when they die, thus obstructing the paths for the players to get to the range attackers and casters in the backrow. This essentially changed the "meta" of the game and many old tactics and team comp no longer work as players have to take into account how to clean up the corpses quickly or have more party members with range attacks that can hit the back rows right away.
What happened was that when they released the patch, people got really, irrationally angry and started to review bomb the games. Many gaming journalist websites also jumped on the bandwagon with headlines like: "DD creators fall from grace" and all that bollocks
The devs stuck to their visions but relented a little bit by adding in an option in the final build to turn off the corpse mechanic but to their surprise, less than 1% of the actual player turn off the corpse mechanic, so all's well that ends well and the people who sent them death threats over this change probably got gobbled up by the Old One or something
Yeah, no matter your project, you will always have a part of your fanbase that will be louder and angrier that everyone else, and they will take any change personnaly. It's mostly safe to not take those reviews as seriously as they want you to. But they always have a bit of truth. It's just always exagerated and ANGERY.
If you hang around in the steam review section you know which one I'm talking about, but if you don't here are (in my opinion) the signs to help you see them:
-using word like fucking, useless, shit and all of those synonyms. Basicly every word that looks like it's trying to insult the game
-a style trying to play the "let's make fun of the bad game" card
- using high caps to SHOW THE PART WHICH THE GUY IS ANGRY ABOUT like this
-disabled reply section under the comment
That said they are also negative constructed critics and those are the most interesting ones, because those show you what doesn't work in the project
@@woodhawk109 thanks
"Corpses make the game too hard"
*Laughs in Leper*
*laughs in occultist*
*Laughs in plague doctor*
Laughs in front line hellion that can hit every position.
Unless you're a crusader, corpses are just an inconvenience if you have any idea what you're doing.
Laughs as bounty hunter with get over here
“We were going to have Wayne June do just the trailer.”
*hears his voice*
“I’LL TAKE YOUR ENTIRE STOCK.”
To be fair, his voice is perfection for DD.
His voice is perfection (end sentence). 😂 but yes. Particularly for DD
Guy: "We're normal people"
Also Guy: "We like playing Mair-io Kart"
Nice try space lizards, love your game though
Owen Nagler we’re Canadian!! That’s how we say it!
Jeff Tangsoc He’s onto us! Abort the mission!
WHAT YOU MEAN, FELLOW HUMAN? IT IS HOW MAIR-YO KA-HART IS PRONUNCED.
Ughh as someone who actually carries this name, just don't, please! Doesnt matter what your voice sounds like all I hear is some nasally chain smoking grandma (weirdly specific, I know) every time I hear a long a in Mario amd it make me want to vomit. Hell, I dont think Italian even has a long A, Spanish doesnt either as far as I know.
Before seeing this, I imagined the devs as these sadistic bastards that laughed with glee every time you failed from RNG. Never thought of them as an emotional, crying, nervous mess.
They are to some degree ;) 58:05
That approachability element is what was foundational for so many of DD’s biggest critics as well. A lot of those ‘humorous’ early access posts got misinterpreted as arbitrary and sadistic. It was as much about the mechanics changes as it was players’ faith in the developers. The game has a knack for getting players emotionally invested with their characters, but that can backfire. DD had an “us vs. them” reputation going for a while and some people even today still conceptualize it that way. They didn’t see the ending sacrifice as an artistic decision they saw it as meaningless assholery. Community management/engagement is key, which RH learned.
Appropriately enough, when the game is based on eldritch horrors
I remember when the game came out in early access, sending an email to their team being like "hey, this boss seems so busted" and I was such an idiot child cause I was just attacking Wilbur constantly against the Swine God
But they actually responded, telling me to try a different combo and to not attack wilbur. Love these guys
Not that it's worth anything to these guys probably right now, but during the corpse and hound update I genuinely didn't hate on the change even once, and that makes me feel good, knowing I wasn't one of the unwitting mean people
I think it's worth it you gave them a feedback which mean what they design is working
When I first fought the Swine Prince, I thought it would be a good idea to kill Wilbur at the start...
@@benl2140 Samee
People complaining about corpses proves they were casual leper abusers
Or worse: People that use crusaders without holy lance :p
@@couchpotatoe91 That's H E R E S Y
You ever see a youtube comment you wanna screenshot and send to people without context? This is one of them
Aaron Mitchell
Do it.
@@couchpotatoe91 Why would you ever do that? What other abilities were they using that were so important they couldn't slot holy lance? ...Let's see, smite, scroll, pommel, hmm, I guess either inspiring cry of battle heal would be nice, but in that case that would do alright too. ....people use bulwark?
18:14 Darkest dungeon: Moving right into shit!
Yeah, sounds about right... but in a good way
Here's to 6 more years of moving right into shit!
darkest dungeon: moving left (backwards): +10 stress
Major story spoilers from 55:50 to 59:00
Would recommend those whom have not completed the game to skip that bit as it spoils the final boss.
I just want to kms now... I really dindt want to get spoilered
too late :c
Just watch the kerb stomp scene in American History X. Same difference.
too late DDD:
Thanks for saving me. I got it in early access but I’m a weenie when I lose my favorites and never finished. Picking it back up tonight.
What a great documentary, the 68 minutes just flew by.
I think their big mistake with the corpse update was loading lots of monsters with hideous amounts of protect at the same time. I remember maggots having 70% damage resistance and stuff like that. I think a lot of players didn't realise what it was about that update that really made the game tedious to play, and just seized upon the most obvious change. RH nerfed the protect changes/added more ways of getting past it in subsequent patches and voila, everything was fine (or as fine as things in a game deliberately designed to be a stress simulator can be, anyway).
The review bombing and subsequent 'reporting' on that patch was insane though, farcically out of proportion for what it was. I've never seen anything like that happen to an indie game before and it really did seem as if a group of people out there had it in for RH. It was quite upsetting to watch, I can only imagine how stressful it must have been to be in the middle of it (whilst suffering from the loss of a parent). Tyler and Chris did incredibly well to respond to it all so calmly and sensibly.
You've discovered the comment section. Now, like me, you're a part of this place...
Legitimately one of my favorite games of all time. It combines the style of some of my favorite comic book artists, the themes and atmosphere of Lovecraft, the best narration in a game bar none, and wraps it all around mechanics so good that even someone who usually hates turn-based combat like me ended up loving it. It's the rare game where every idea and mechanic just compliment each other in such a way that it feels like an uncompromising vision fully realized.
I also just found out about a sequel being worked on and I already can't stand the wait.
You summed it up way better then i ever could. Agree fully.
If you enjou the gameplay you could play Iratus: Lord of the Dead while you wait. It's really good!
The narration makes me question my belief that perfection is impossibly bc holy shit did the voice actor do an absolutely phenomenal job
Combat in this game is very bad tho
It's glass cannon vs glass cannone while most turn based game go for a more strategic and thoughtful approach.
I think the closest thing is homm ahah
I smell Darkest Dungeon 2 news coming shortly...
That would fit the narrative. Cause i see/assume that this was made before corona hit. And the devs probably said that they have to release the interview when they say :)
I heard one of them say “Darkest Dungeon 1”
Ethan Walthorn same!!
One year latter and its finally out in early access on GoG
Damn, didn't expect to see you here
I've poured like 500 hours in this game. This comment is for the algorithm :)
"Friends should aspire to be the least talented person on their team, also; aspire to make yourself as talented as possible, if those two things come together then you'll probably make something good." I really related to that at the end. Thanks. Great documentary. Really enjoyed this. Thanks for all that awesome information.
Many fall in the face of chaos, but not this one. Not today.
EDIT: But yeah the narration, active side-scrolling and gritty art made the best atmosphere.
Amazing doc :)! Inspiring, wonderfully edited and fascinating, thanks!
By the gods, the production quality on this thing. Props to everyone behind this project, amazing work!
Can. Not. Wait. For. DD2.
"Trouble yourself not with the cost of this crusade - its noble end affords you broad tolerance in your choice of means."
Don't care dad, you're an asshole and I'm getting through with 0 deaths. And if I see you in the stars imma slap the shit out of you.
@@tomhill3248 I have restarted so many files due to losing favourites. I know it's not in the spirit of the game per se but dammit, I'm keeping my faves!
@@1Thunderfire Then let me aid you brotha. What do you lose heroes too? I've made it into champion dungeons without losing anyone. I know a few tricks.
@@tomhill3248 Occasionally the spider stun/blight combo, sometimes unlucky critical hits, sometimes me making the wrong move, sometimes just plain bad luck.
@@1Thunderfire I've lost 1 party member in my entire D&D career and it was a antiquarian to spiders on a crit. An under leveled antiquarian, with a slow party. That was my mistake.
You're doing something wrong, it's not bad luck, not on it's own. It's your party set-up. If you feel like it's bad luck, it's not, it's your party set up. What kinda trinkets do you usually run? What kind of skills? Synergy is very important.
You're doing something specific wrong. Maybe you don't have anyone fast in your party(always have at least 1, unless you're team beef, the wall don't need a speedster, give your vestal prot by the way.). Maybe the trinkets you go after are just not that useful. Maybe you just don't understand how to use the occultist(front liner....yes really, first rank, or second with a leper, have a guard with him, man-at-arms or Doggomancer).
I'd need more information to know exactly what's going wrong. The solution to spiders by the way is either team beef (even double crits can't bring them to deaths door) or said speedster. I like a highwayman personally. You can handle him a lot of ways, point blank shot in the front, 2nd rank, even 3rd can work. I like to give Dismas a feather trinket to almost guarantee he goes before 1 spider, and an accuracy trinket to guarantee he hits them. Go for the spitter when you run into spiders. That spitters already dead.
Spitter "Nani?! *explodes into gore"
My impression of this game when I first played it was: "This game is an asshole... I love it, I frickin love it"
Now I know, that I'm a masochist and I can't wait to torture myself again in Darkest Dungeon 2.
Those two dudes are Dimas and Reynauld.
And in the old road, they found redeption.
So who you did think has the kelptomania?
@@lkcdarzadix6216 reynauld obviously... because dismas is doing this entire thing AS redemption for literally killing his entire family(wife and child) thinking they were a rival bandit gang that took over the carriage he was trying to rob
The corpse controversy is bullshit. It's basically "I don't want change in my game hurrdurr" right how dare they change things in their game, it's not like the game is in early access or anything.
you cannot blame the common player who feels that he lost something, it's the media who was after the blood.
first of all, steam let the players review the game and publish their thoughts, and this in a way builds up a scientific metric with which you can validate "the rise and fall" of expectations. once you have this, you can claim whatever you want, under a pretense that you know what you're talking about.
the dev is right, it's about the 'fall from grace' myth that appeals to everyone. it basically confirms that people are subconsciously jealous of high success, and will gather around to lynch if they sense any sign of vulnerability or mortality.
but ultimately, it's the popular journalism, basically a primal-instinct attention-seeking monetization-scheme*, that is working around the clock under this disguise of keeping people "informed," is largely appealing to this primitive urge, and supporting the herd behavior -- for no reason other than to gain material benefits of being consumed and talked about -- and for this I hope the journalists will all burn in a very specific ring of Dante's inferno.
(* aka tabloid format, and today there are no exceptions, even youtube literally encourages tabloid behavior, popularly known as clickbait.)
I sadly see this A LOT in many Early Access Games... sometimes it IS justified, as we see fun features getting removed and replaced with nothing (looking at you, Starbound), but sometimes when the Devs just finally fix an old exploit or problem and people go "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! How dare you make change my playstyle!?" (seen this one a lot recently in Project Zomboid after the new Animations Build).
I've seen pettier, I've seen someone dive into a game's github to take and upload an old build because an update "ruined it". Said update basically just made both boss HP and player damage work with smaller digits.
@@IGreyKnightI that's not true. after the game was released, most of what they did should not be called patching, but considered as regular updates, and that's the part of a normal product service, until the company decides to move on.
after having playing DD for years, not only it is feature complete, but also highly polished and expanded upon. I'm not sure if you understand what EA really is, what constitutes a released game (software is never bug-free, and games are never perfectly balanced), and what are the legit post-release responsibilities of a developer.
“We really wanted to threaten the player”
Mission accomplished and thank you.
17:54 Oh man, the origins of that classic Ancestor quote! "DSFKL NMWELKND.MDSV SDLVMS D"
there's nothing cooler than seeing your characerter's stress bar fill up and then see him/her become radiant and inspire your whole party while heavy war drums sound in the background. i love this game and i can't wait for darkest dungeon 2: even darker
Corpes add a very interesting aspect to the combat. Its a good feature. It makes you think alot more about what ability to use and when to use it.
By the time the doc got to the audio and narrator section, i was already on the Nintendo eshop buying the game. Well done doc, keep up the good work
When the corpses happened I was like "WTF?" But in a GOOD way. I thought I knew the game like the scars on my wrist, but this was like a surprise wound that I suddenly had to react to, which kinda generated those feelings I got for the game originally. I found the option to turn the corpses off and... ignored it. I was too interested to see how this effects the whole game. I still play with corpses on. Don't be a bitch, it's Darkest Dungeon, there's no room for cowardice.
while I wasn't there for the corpses addition there were certainly a lot of abusive afflictions it seems when they added it. Though you got yourself a vigorous virtue.
Wait, does anyone actually play without enemy corpses?
@@orionphalynx6192 I didn't even know you could turn them off! To be fair, though, it's hard to judge what the system was like in implementation, as I assume a lot of character skills to clear corpses and what positions they can target got balanced after the fact. But their resolution to stick to their guns was absolutely the right call.
1:02:57 gotta love the leper's T H I C C flip-flops with socks
Darkest Dungeon is a phenomena of gaming/entertainment that will *ALWAYS* have a place in my heart
I will admit, when the feature of corpses came out, I think very early on I wiped and it felt like I had put so much time into these characters, to have them destroyed by this change. I stopped playing for awhile, and could understand a fair amount of how people felt in terms of the frustration. Pretty sure i had most of a hundred hours at this time, and I didn't know what to think.
A couple of months down the line, I came back to it with a fresh perspective, and as such I built strategies around this mechanic and don't really see how I found it bad to begin with. I think a lot of it was the high emotion that people had at this time, and won't defend the worst of the behaviours, but the fact is that you made a game where people get so very invested in their best characters and strategies.
At this point I have almost put four hundred hours into this game, and had great highs and lows, and still haven't beaten the game on the hardest difficulty. This game is wonderful, and whenever I don't know what to play, I put an hour into a run, that can so easily become two or more. The game is beautiful and everything those of us who saw the advert on kickstarter wanted of this, turned out as we imagined. It is amazing.
Thank you for your support of the game-we are very happy that you have gotten so much enjoyment out of it!
Emotions are the greatest bane to change.
@@tylersigman4643 Super glad you put this on the Switch. It has a strong hold on me even if I occasionally need to rage at DD! 😄
Corpses was such a good addition, immediately made half the classes do something again.
Simply brilliant. I admit I once got frustrated and went to complain immaturely at Red Hook on their Facebook once, and that's one of the rare things I can say that I regret. I wish I had backed the game on Kickstarted, had I been aware of it: I got it into Early Access, and now, years later, I must say that this was worth it. I got every single DLC they released, and I hope only for the best for Red Hook Studios.
The game stresses me out so much I can’t play it very frequently for long periods of time. But I love it so much that every time a DLC comes out I buy it even if I never play it. Just to support Red Hook.
Love the game, but I love even more Wayne's voice as the Ancestor. My god, it's f****** AMAZING, love it! It really fits so well and it wouldn't be the game it is without it. You remove his voice and you almost lose the inmersion of the game
I like how the highwayman never really changed
This is the best documentery on a Video Game i ever saw in my life! I Thank you and the Dev Team for making this masterpiece
One of my favourite games of the last few years. It's always really interesting to learn about the creative and development process behind something you love. Good documentary choice!
I am honest to god surprised that Yahtzee never did a ZP of this game.
"This game is brilliant."
There, that's the episode.
@@DannyMexen9 He does a very good job of not reviewing games where he has nothing interesting to say. His recent Call of Duty review is the perfect example of this.
I think it’s that he played the game but couldn’t come up with anything to say that was different or insightful when compared to what everyone else had already said. He has referred to the game many many times in other ZP episodes. So you know he played it, he just never made a video on it.
Documentary in a nutshell:
The game development that they face is similar to their game design that they have envisioned.
If you haven't finish the game, and wants the full experience out of it, don’t watch the last part. I really wish I finish the game before watching this😢
final boss section is one hell of a terrifying thing tbh...
Darkest Dungeon is a challenging, fun game. Can’t wait for DD2. And overconfidence can’t be a slow and insidious killer if there is no overconfidence.
As someone who has been massively influenced by Mike Mignola's art style too, to the point of getting a tattoo of a sketch of his (of a frog... cuz, ya know, I'm French!), I always thought that Darkest Dungeon looked like a love letter to Mignola, so I'm really glad to hear that's the case! But I also had the same approach to him at first! Not so striking, but I definitely felt betrayed because the art style didn't match the cover of what I had picked up. But then the shear zen minimalist beauty of his deep shadows and sculpted highlights just... seduced me. There is no turning back for Mignola fans. I could never emulate it however. So kudos for really pulling it off and sticking with it.
I've been working on a fantasy novel that I finished when I was 11 and I just felt like it wasn't good enough at the time. I've been working on it since then and it has taken me over 20 years. I have had incredible struggles along the way and I've been working on my query letter to find an agent for over a year. I just found this so inspirational. Thank you for sharing.
You ever get it out?
Darkest dungeon was the first time I played a game where I loved everything about it. I love the atmosphere, the art, the gut wrenching feeling as you lose your best tank, the ensuing hectic battle where your dps pulls through with a miracle crit, the healer somehow staves off insanity and their virtue shines through... That feeling of elation when you are truly at the darkest point and your heroes stand back up and ask "is that all you've got". The only way those insane highs are possible are due to the incredible lows that you have struggled through.
I played Darkest Dungeon before corpses and was.. nonplussed. It didn't deliver the feel I felt I was sold.
I got a little miffed when corpses we're introduced. Not "leave a scathing review" mad, but nascent "now I need to re-learn everything? Eff that!" Mad.
Two months later and I'm kicking myself for ever being mad. The system works. It delivers the feeling I was sold on. Oppressive, claustrophobic to the point where a dead body encroaches in positioning. How did the game do so well without this mechanic?
If I ever posted a drunken rant against corpses that I cannot remember, please let this be my official apology.
year 2020, still haven't finished the game. my fave game of all time
HAHAHAHAHA Baer made it into the documentary not for his VA work, but for his video coverage. :D
also, i remember when that video came out, and his outrage was amazing.
This is a shining beacon of hope in my dreams of becoming a game designer, Darkest Dungeon means a lot to me and it's a very important reference point for the road ahead, thank you Red Hook for being amazing
I hope that darkest dungeon is red-hooks magnum opus. Because if they top this game, the experience might break me because I still haven't forgiven them for what they did to my dismas.
Fantastic work team! More Documentaries like this please!
Next one is already planned! Best way to support is through memberships or donations that we can put towards our next project! :)
This is a truly inspiring story. While Kickstarter is...well...Kickstarter, Red Hook Studios proved that crowdfunded games CAN work if the team is competent, but also if the scope is within their abilities. No massive, sprawling world. No purchasing entire cities or ships with real money. No super-advanced graphics. No trying to reinvent the wheel with millions of features that either won't be in the game or will be implemented poorly.
Just good design around a good concept, and the game is finished in three years.
I still remember that baertaffy stream when in DD4. The terror in his voice was amazingm
Quit watching before 56:09 to not get spoiled to the ending.
read too late :\
Too late! Haha.
Really really enjoyed this!! As someone who is interested in working in the video game industry, I found this very motivational. Didn't really know much about the game going in, but this definitely made me want to check it out for myself! Looking forward to what y'all have in store for us next!
HE said the characters are back in DD2, does that mean Reynauld and Dismas will be back ? Please
On corpses: gamers don't know sh*t about what they really need, must be awful to do gameplay changes in early access instead of the usual "heres a new asset" every week. Even worse if thats a change meant to protect the player from him/herself...
One day i was just typing on youtube best indie games, and i found this hidden gem at that time, im from dominican republic, a 3rd world country and my parents just didn't have any money to buy the game so i downloaded a pirate version, 3 month later as soon as i turned 18 and found a job, first thing i did with my first payment was to buy this, to show support to redhook. I love this game more than any other game i have played so far, cant wait for the part two guys, im so fucking exited.
I absolutely adore DD and I'm so excited for the second. This documentary was ace, thanks for showing me so much about one of my favourite games.
These devs are pure passion. I've loved DD ever since I first played it but had no idea of the development process whatsoever. It's awesome to see the process through which this dream and this creative vision came to reality. Their passion truly shows in the quality of the game.
I'd love to see them make a proper Hellboy game using the style of Darkest Dungeon, but with the gaming sensibilities of a Hollow Knight. Now that would be the perfect way to pay homage to Mignola work
I came after corpses. I have no idea how the game would function without them. There would basically be no incentive to run anything other than quad leper
200+ hrs(it's probably waaaaay more than that) + a ton mods and I still *LOVE* this game to death. I do not envy these men, the sheer anticipation and expectation of fans are stacking, how are they going to out do this refreshing system? What are they going to change or improve, and have that oppressive and difficult atmosphere intact?
By the way nice movie Escapist 😉👌
This series is incredible. Before the switch up I used to just watch ZP, now I watch every series on your channel. Thanks for making great stuff guys!
*Insert relevant ancestor quote*
I remember playing the pirated early access because I had no money at the time but the game looked so interesting.
I played it into the night and through sunrise having been so sucked in the the atmosphere and how the game is different mechanically with the ailments and permadeath.
After that night, I recommended the game to everyone I found to be remotely interested in dungeon crawling.
Respect from Egypt
I wanted to tell y'all that this was amazing to watch. I never even played this game but watching this was so enjoyable, the editing and flow of the entire thing made it feel like I sat here for 10 minutes. Ended up spending an entire hour drinking a cup of coffee cause I was just so into the video. Amazing ♡
Seeing that Totalbiscuit "WTF is...Darkest Dungeon?" instantly brought tears to my eyes in an already emotional, involved documentary. Great job to everyone involved, thank you Red Hook, thank you to the Escapist. Thank you to those who have fallen, and those who still stand today.
I came to this game after corpse changes and what I have to say: this change makes more viable damage dealers who can attack 3-4 enemy's position even if they don't have a lot of damage. So, in essence I suppose this brings more diversity to player's party formations. Now you need to really think how to quickly kill enemy backliners or clear corpses.
or make Leaper useless
I'm hoping this is Redhook closing the book on Darkest Dungeon 1, with the whole documentary on the entire life of the game and telling the whole story and completely opening the book on Darkest Dungeon 2. Not a bad indirect marketing strategy, reminding everyone about Red Hook and DD for further marketing of DD2 .
This is great, thank you
You deserve all the success that came your way. Great game, I sometimes sit during combat and just listen to the music. Then I scream at my characters when they can't hit for shit.
Sigh.
10/10
Introduction of corpses...
Crusader... "It says you're a HERETIC!" Shows scroll ,hits all dev team xD xD
Dev team: Options to turn corpses off
Crusader... "JERUSALEM!" (if you don't understand this line of jokes you haven't seen the best Darkest Dungeon video ever then)
Link, or title?
Witch Hunt seems like a predecessor to Town of Salem.
This documentary was tremendous in so many ways. Thank you guys so much for making this.
On the off hand is there any place to find the name of the Instrumental music used for the credits and intro? It sounded pretty nice!
It's a complete original soundtrack for the doc, you can support the artist here: jameselseymusic.bandcamp.com/album/darkest-dungeon-documentary-original-soundtrack
@@theescapist Cheers, hoping for your next documentary soon =)
@@curvion4312 Thanks for the kind words! Glad you liked the Music!
@@JamesElseyMusic Actually cool to see you the music creator respond, i honestly replayed that instrumental at least over 15 times after I finished the documentary. It really gave me some 'Darkest Dungeon Netflix Adaptation opening vibes.
@@curvion4312I'll always be appreciative of people enjoying my work, thanks again!
The stack of four hobos walking forward in a dungeon just made me think "Yep, they've reinvented the marching order".
When a team of a dozen paramilitary hobos walk into a dungeon complex, they are doing a lot of tunnel and room pitched fighting. Room is sparse, who can stand up front and hit them and who can jab at them with spears or sling rocks over their friends heads matters. Instead of just a jumbled confusing mob, you decide that someone becomes the point man/vanguard/main body front.
The game and this documentary are masterpieces.
As a consumer, I have loads of experience when it comes to games. I've reached a point where few things impress me anymore. I don't really dig into AAA games that have even better graphics with each instalment (I swear my eyes can't find the differences anymore). I love the complexity and beauty of fast-paced fighting games like Street Fighter, but I lack the reflexes or the persistence to tough the learning curve through. I enjoy deck-building games like Slay the Spire and absolute love that personal feel about achieving a good playstyle.
Darkest Dungeon... is one of a kind. You build your characters with a random factor (similarly to StS), the art has a lot of personality thanks to its simplicity, and even though its mechanics and battle system have a lot of depth, it's not as harsh to learn as in fighting games.
I stumbled upon DD thanks to a youtuber. I didn't really enjoy watching him play. I was missing out on... many things. When I was a kid and any new achievement was still, well, new, I still felt the rush of emotion when playing. For instance, whenever I threw a pokeball at a Sableye in Pokemon Emerald, I ran out of the room and prayed in pain for him to stay in the ball. I swear that purple dwarf escaped each time just to spite me. I came to forget the joy of playing and just... played because it's what I've always done during my free time.
Then DD came along and made me sweat of fear when my favourite heroes touched death's door. That poor soul I've carried through many dungeons against horrible monsters that made him suffer like hell, backing up against a wall and dying by the throw of a dice. That thrill is something only DD manages to cause me. As expected, I've played that game for so long I've eventually become somewhat numb to that feeling (although it is there still). DD proved something to me. There is hope. The future may bring new and exciting things for me. Ironic, given the dark themes of the game, but true nonetheless. Also ironic that my favourite ancestor quote when it comes to rng is "There can be no hope in this hell. No hope at all."
I agree with what Red Hook said about not being able to produce a sequel that makes as much impact as DD. I would honestly be quite suprised to see the same formula with a 2 in the end becoming better that the former, especially when we take into account the wonderful community it has and the excelent modders that add fan-made content. Hype is a bitch. Raise the expectations too high and anything will fall short. However, I don't really need a sequel. DD is a timeless game. That is why I'm fine with them trying new things for DD2.
Anyway, thanks Red Hook.
To quote Yahtzee when asked about Darkest Dungeon on Zero Punctuation:
"Not Darkest Dungeon, now shut up!"
The stories of indie game devs are always so beautiful damn Im gonna cry
Literally one of the greatest games of all time. I'm crazy about it. It's somethin special.
Hello, I had no idea you boys were Canadian!! Makes me so proud. Anyway, I wanted to share my experience with this game. Sadly I didn't get to play early access, and had no idea about the corpse controversy. Glad you stuck to your guns and kept the game hard. It's difficult to find challenging games now a days.
It took me 2 years and over 200 hours to beat this game, I only played on Stygian right from the start, no assists from google. A little help from my small stream, and a few breaks after multiple soul crushing defeats. I still don't know all the curios off by heart and nobody knows the best team comps even though they think they do, I love that about it. Nothing is perfect.
When I finally beat the game, it was likely my biggest gaming achievement. I doubt I could repeat it again because all the stars aligned. Only 0.7% of people had the "World's end" achievement when I got it. I killed Vvulf, it was absolutely insane. I have no idea how they lived on deaths door so many times that fight, I was mangled when I got there and limped through what I think was the hardest boss in the game. Come unto your maker blew my mind, I accidentally killed Dismas, then the boss did it again, Renault made it out, I killed the boss with 2 people left and 10 deaths.
I restarted a few campaigns thinking I didn't have enough time to kill all bosses and do the final Darkest Dungeon, I had no idea it stopped the timer and you could kill the bosses afterward.. I had 3 bosses left to kill after the end boss. The feeling of finally beating this game was one of the greatest I've ever had. Filled me with heroic satisfaction. I'll link the clip if anyone is interested. Thank you for this masterpiece, your hard work paid off.
Shows how even indie developers have that corporate attitude that the customers are never right.
And in this case it was, since they released the option to turn corpses off as a lot of people seemed to be complaining about it, yet less than 1% of the entire playerbase actually did turn it off. Oh the hypocrisy
22:16 Ohhh! So THAT's from where the inspiration for Ancestor's 'stache came from! :P
Seriously tho, I was SO HAPPY to hear Wayne June voice back on the DD2 trailer; to me, sound and voice acting are vital immersion elements to almost any kind of game.
Plus, the fact that I could prolly hear WJ's voice talking about a ham sandwich in the fridge and I'd still get some goosebumps whenever I grabbed the door handle, is one the things of DD that no other game can give me.
Not to mention that his lexicon can probably teach me more new cool words than any English textbook...
watching this on the dawn of the release of Darkest Dungeons 2 and though I'm worried about it with all the things I've heard and seen up till now I actually considder that a good thing and EVEN though I'm worried I'm STILL going to buy it on release....not because of hype but BECAUSE I'm worried.
I've only ever been worried about games I truly liked and haven't been let down yet. That's some mighty expectations to fill but even though I'm worried I'm ALSO confident that Red Hook is able to rise up to that potential.
I'm not too proud to say that I died on the Old road the first time I booted up Darkest Dungeon...
Here's to dying on the Old Road again (or DD2's variant of the opening scene)....
Their road from the early stages of game development, to Early Access, and being out of it and then being massively successful... They truly tread on the weary road of Darkest Dungeon. It's like their entire party was getting bombarded with stress in the same way our characters in the game did. Certain events inducing the lowest of lows and whatnot.
But as the Ancestor/June Wayne said..
"Many fall in the face of chaos...But not this one. Not today."
Nicely done, Red Hook.
I'm slightly disappointed they didn't talk about how they replaced the game's RNG system with Murphy's Law "anything that can go wrong, will most definitely go wrong in DD." lol
Darkest Dungeon is the Bloodborne of JRPG's, and maybe even Roguelike's.
There seriously is nothing else like getting a "0 heal bleed" from your Occultist out there.