2016 Roguelike Is Suddenly Blowing Up on Steam

05.04.2024 - 17:19 / gamerant.com / Dominik Bo

Darkest Dungeon has been blowing up on Steam since early April. Its massive popularity spike arrived more than eight years following Darkest Dungeon's debut.

Developed by Vancouver-based Red Hook Studios, the roguelike RPG was released on PC in January 2016 before making its way to a wide variety of other platforms, ranging from the PS Vita and Switch to iOS devices and the Xbox One, over the following two years. All versions of the game have received widespread critical acclaim, with many reviewers praising Darkest Dungeon for its addictive gameplay loop, grisly gothic setting, and unique art style, among other qualities.

Eight years later, the original PC version of the RPG is now once again blowing up in popularity, having reached over 17,000 concurrent Steam players on April 5, as first spotted by PCGamesN. That is only about 2,000 people short of its all-time peak of 19,357, which was recorded shortly following its release, as is usually the case with non-live-service games.

This massive popularity boost is ostensibly related to the fact that Darkest Dungeon received a massive 90% discount on April 1. The promotion saw this grimdark indie game drop to its lowest-ever price of $2.49 on Steam. While officially touted as a midweek deal, the offer itself will remain available until Monday, April 8. All three of the game's DLC packs are also available at 75% off during this period, with The Shieldbreaker being the cheapest of the lot, priced at $0.99. Meanwhile, The Color of Madness and The Crimson Court can presently be purchased at $1.24 and $2.43, respectively.

Older games getting massive popularity boosts from major price cuts is a fairly common occurrence across all platforms, Valve's PC storefront very much included. Back in late February, a similar promotion propelled Stardew Valley near the top of Steam's sales charts, although that particular achievement was also helped by the fact that the beloved farming sim had just received a major content update at the time.

The new Darkest Dungeon discount also coincides with its sequel hitting an all-time low price of $21.96. That 66% discount will be available until April 18, but hasn't had a comparable effect on the game's popularity, with its current concurrent player number being roughly ten times smaller than that of its predecessor. Still, Darkest Dungeon 2 has already managed to outperform the first game shortly following its mid-2023 release, when it peaked at 23,800 simultaneous Steam players.

Darkest Dungeon was developed by Red Hook Studios and is a roguelike role-playing game that has become infamous for its brutal and unforgiving difficulty.

Darkest Dungeon players not only have to keep their characters alive but also prevent them from