Red Hook Studios announced during the past months that their very punishing title, Darkest Dungeon, was going to receive an update with some adjustments to the gameplay and a whole new ‘light’ game mode called Radiant Mode.
This new addition arrived on Steam as a public beta and players can now test a less-strict version of Darkest Dungeon, with some minor yet helpful tweaks on gameplay that’ll help your party suffer a bit less, and progress a lot more. You can opt in the beta by accessing the Betas tab in Darkest Dungeon’s Steam properties.
Darkest Dungeon released last year and managed to position itself as one of the top indie titles of the year with an obscure take on dungeon crawling. Manage your roster through the deep dark ends of cursed ruins, with mind and body suffering constantly from both the the monster’s attacks and the psychological effects such missions generate.
Darkest DungeonRadiant Mode, Not Easy Mode
With this new public beta, player’s will be able to pick three different game modes when starting a game. Darkest, the regular experience; Radiant, a toned down difficulty; and finally, NG+, which is now called Stygian.
Radiant mode won’t be easy, dark dungeons will remain dark and enemies carry the same stats. The difference relies on minor mechanic tweaks that help the player beat the game on a shorter span of time. For example, heroes being able to return to the Darkest Dungeon, thus eliminating the ‘Never Again’ perk that forced players to switch and train new characters; they will suffer a penalization though, making them more vulnerable to mental afflictions.
This whole game mode is thought to alleviate the mid and late game of Darkest Dungeon, and a huge part of it is done by lowering the burden that taking care of your heroes means. With a far more upgradeable Stage Coach, players will be able to recruit level 4 adventurers that’ll benefit from a faster XP progression and a reduced upgrade cost.
Aside from those two major changes, Radiant mode also eliminates random hunger checks and boosts the buffs given by higher light conditions, minor details that will make an impact on longer runs.
New Monsters And A Heavy Balance
This update doesn’t focus only the Radiant mode, but also brings new content and some adjustments to Darkest Dungeon. There’s four new additions to the monster’s side, with the Bone Bearer, the Hateful Virago, the Swine Skiver, and the Squiffy Ghast coming on this update. Luckily, you’ll benefit from the economic balance introduced, bringing reduced hero treatment and upgrade cost, and a re-balanced loot drop that’ll help you pay for it.
For further information on technical fixes, visit the developer’s official blog.
