Darkest Dungeon®: The Crimson Court DLC

Cool DLC, I love vampire so this is a must

Kinda gets repetitive but bosses are fun!

This is quite literally the worst DLC I have played to date. Flawed as the base game is, it is still fun. Crimson Court is just trash, all of the issues of the base game are cranked up to 11 and most of what made it fun is buried so deep under even worse grind and bullshit rng there is literally nothing enjoyable to be found here. And not only is it trash by itself, it also has some additions to the base game that again make it worse.

This dlc does exactly what is advertised, it introduces new features and makes the game harder. The game itself also warns you before starting a game that activating the crimson court increases the complexity of your game and is meant for experienced players. If you don't like that, i'm not saying you're wrong, i'm saying you're bad. Just doing my part to hopefully increase the rating someday.

It is not that bad. While it does add extra thing to worry about in already pretty hard game, it is an interesting spin to it and It is good when you make a separate save file just for crimson court DLC. I do recommend picking it up after you complete the main game at least once though because some elites and bosses fuckin' suck and require lot of skill and luck. Also the Flaggelator is very useful in warrens and weld as he can quickly build stacks of bleed and also heals good chunks when in dire situation. Idk, I had fun with it.

its a really good set of additional mechanics that changes how you play the game, adding what feels like an entire game's worth of content. but it can be so demanding and time consuming that it WILL take over your playthrough if you don't keep a constant eye on it and/or look up guides on the missions thats not a bad thing, and it does feel appropriately forgiving... but those missions are LONG. it's like a whole new journey as you send in team after team and take breaks to resupply your... vital resources. so when the blood starts pumping, thats going to be the SOLE FOCUS of your next couple hours THAT is the reason why people (and the game itself) recommend that you don't turn this on for a first playthrough, it literally forces you to stop playing the base game and play JUST the crimson court for hours at a time. or you will lose ALL your guys over and over and over, and the only way to stop it is to go on that bloodsucker binge. its disruptive to the game's progression and flow, and it WILL massively inflate the runtime. if you want that, buy it! but i definitely regret enabling it on my first playthrough. i cant juggle this incredibly long game AND constant bloody sidequests. its like a challenge mode.

If you haven't finished the base game, don't buy this. [i]The Crimson Court's[/i] brutal difficulty will probably leave any inexperienced player behind, but for those who crave the extra challenge, it will serve as a fine addition.

Cool concept, however in practice its all just an annoyance. Not fun, but annoying. What makes it especially bad is that it mixes the new enemy groups into regular dungeons that are an unexpected difficulty spike and infect your party - speaking of which, usually in media this is kinda cool you are getting new powers growing stronger etc. but at a price... here? No, just bad, only negatives and annoyances no benefit whatsoever. Avoid this DLC like the plague it is and play the game without it. Maybe enable it after you're mostly done with the campaign.

Cool story and enemies that are hidden behind a pile of annoying shit that just makes the game worse

While I can understand the mixed reception I think this is ultimately a pretty great DLC. If i had to guess, the disconnect between those who like it and those who do not might largely comes from 2 elements: 1. The Fanatic and Investation feel cheap to the new player with how hard it can be to avoid infection and not take infected party members with you on quests at times and 2. Crimson Court's content warping the game around it rather than enhancing the base game. My thoughts are as follows: 1. Yes, the Fanatic absolutely is cheap and frankly, I don't like his inclusion in his current state. He is my major problem with this DLC because unlike other RNG mechanics like The Things From The Stars or Bloodsucker encounters, he feels nearly impossible to be prepared for at all times. Crimson Curse can spread so fast due to infestation that it is not an uncommon occurrence that an average skill player will *have* to take infected party members with them for a decent composition. However, having a decent composition that is *also* good at staying healthy AND fighting off the Fanatic is a big ask for something that is completely up to chance. Compare this to The Thing From The Stars, who is also a random encounter but is shown to roam one specific area on the map at a time. This means that if your current available party members are not good at fighting him, you can simply avoid that area for the time being. The Fanatic is ALWAYS there, can show up at any point during most quests so long as one VERY common condition is met, and he is extremely dangerous. It's not very fun, especially for players new to the DLC. 2. I feel the rest is a general disconnect between a decent part of the playerbase and what I believe Red Hook was trying to accomplish with the DLC. I think *because* it is paid DLC many people might come into Crimson Court with the expectation that since they had a pay a decent amount for it, this is content *any* darkest dungeon will be able to enjoy rather than a rework of the main campaign designed for hardcore fans to make an already hard game EVEN harder. The game warns you that this is not the case, and that you should play this only after beating a regular campaign, and I do wonder how many of the players who walked away disliking the DLC took this warning seriously seeing as quite a few Crimson Court DLC achievements have a higher completion rate than beating the base game on Radiant, or how many base game players really tried to change and adapt their playstyle to fit the new challenges and needs the DLC presents. Infestation can seem annoying or unfair at first, but focusing on collecting a significant amount of trinkets that buff your units against bloodsuckers specifically will help out a lot when dealing with these additional random encounters, while also increasing your ability to deal with threats in the Courtyard. The Crimson Curse is also a new thing you'll have to manage and outside of the Fanatic I think it is an interesting mechanic that adds another level of inventory and item management, and as long as you recognize the necessity to rush the Sanguine Vinters, which produces two vials of blood each week, this too never gets too overwhelming from my experience. On top of this, the Crimson Court adds incredibly engaging lore, a really cool aesthetic, an interesting new area (although I hate the crocodilian boss and the Epic length layouts are probably a bit **too** long) If you treat the DLC for what it is, that being a harder, new way to experience the Darkest Dungeon campaign, I think it succeeds at that exceptionally well. Also the Flagellant rules what a sick character whose role as a bleed stacker with consistent, strong healing opens up so many more teamcomps. If you enjoyed your playthrough of the base game and are looking for a different take on it, definitely get Crimson Court. Otherwise, you are probably better off waiting for a sale and buying the DLC for cheap for the Flagellant (who can be enabled seperately from the Crimson Court campaign).