Darkest Dungeon-Like Iratus: Lord of the Dead - Darkest Dungeon clone where you play the bad guy

[Thac0]

It has less story in general, but more overlapping systems for long term progression and everything. Also while combat pacing is faster, the game isnt cut up in individual runs like DD, making playthroughs feels more sluggish. But combat is a lot more strategic, your untis will get killed and you need to make new ones with spare brains. This means you are constantly rebuilding your lineup and can radically change strategies, unlke DD which sometimes ends up in you having an A team and a B team which you alternate. Its deece, but it just got a whole lot more expensive as of leaving early access.

Also I have watched Pope Amoles video by now. Cant say I am too sympathetic, there were clearly creative difference and personal struggles with you and the other devs. They all lived in one city and worked by physically meeting, you were an online contractor. You got payed, and you didnt choose to take their shitty follow up contract offer, after their funding broke low and they became dissatisfied with your work. You wished to erased from the game credits and then you complain they dont promote your contributions enough? TBH whole thing just seems like a childish slapfight between popamole and the other devs. Also I am not unsure if you being cut from the game wasnt for the better of it, Lovehammer is dead on arrival and you are beefing with the only and negative review that you have in the steam comments. Also the idea with the comedic tone of the game and skeletons in gym clothes would have been such a bad idea.

 

[Theodora]

At the very least doesn't sound like anyone's hitting it out of the park with a 10/10 addictive formula like Darkest Dungeons where nobody has a negative word to say.

Didn't much care for it overall after about 5 hours of play. Particularly disliked the deckbuilding card-based combat.

Yeah I'm cautious about buying it because it seems to be so polarising. Deckbuilding appeals to me a lot though...

 

[Thac0]

I'll maybe check it out after DSD or if it's on a big sale.

Didn't much care for it overall after about 5 hours of play. Particularly disliked the deckbuilding card-based combat.

You got me beat by an hour, I lost interest in Deep Sky Derelicts after 4 hours, and I like deckbuilding and card combat. DSD is just not exceptionally good at it. But I like Iratus a lot more, I am on 7 hours currently and I dont feel like it has overstayed its welcome yet by far.

 

[Incendax]

I'm really enjoying Iratus. It's definitely not as anxiety inspiring as Darkest Dungeon, since you don't have to manage your stress. But it makes up for that by having lots of fun unit combinations and a modest talent tree. I found myself completely swapping units and artifacts when I go bored of one team, and ended up playing a completely different way in the same run. Multiple times. That was a positive for me.

As an interesting note, you could never "lose" in Darkest Dungeon. You just had to reset the grind.
You can absolutely "lose" in this game.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Tried this a bit this weeken (15 hours O_o) and got more fun than Darkest Dungeon. Much more fun.
Mostly because its much less grindy and I always love necromancy stuff.Only dissapointed with lich a bit but eh, acceptable.

 

[MicoSelva]

Tried it today, and I like it. It does not quite reach the mood levels of Darkest Dungeon (not as good in music and narration), but it might actually be better gameplay-wise, because of less grind (if that proves true in the long run) and constant map progression (similar to Slay the Spire). In fact, I would call it a mix of Darkest Dungeon, Slay the Spire and Return of Werdna.
I really like the Darkest Dungeon twist of enemies having sanity bars instead of your party. Depleting those is often the most viable strategy, since really fun stuff happens when enemies go insane.

 

[oscar]

New expansion pack out and a 40% sale. Seems as good a time as any to try it out. My finances are a little rough but a less grindy DD where you get to play the bad guys seems up my alley. Any thoughts?

 

[cvv]

DD got good only like 2 years into its launch. I bought the game this Spring and thought it could be great in a few years too. I'll wait for another expansion or two and then dive in.

 

[Cyberarmy]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1293280/Iratus_Wrath_of_the_Necromancer/

New expansion pack out and a 40% sale. Seems as good a time as any to try it out. My finances are a little rough but a less grindy DD where you get to play the bad guys seems up my alley. Any thoughts?

DLC seems fine, if you liked DD and looking for a less grindy version, this is it. Not quite replayable like DD though, imho Iratus is good for 2-3 playthroughs at most.

 

[Retardo]

New expansion pack out and a 40% sale. Seems as good a time as any to try it out. My finances are a little rough but a less grindy DD where you get to play the bad guys seems up my alley. Any thoughts?

Played for ~10 hours, and it feels much better (=less grindy and less RNG) than DD. As someone said here, the fun lies in exploring synergies between minions and finding most cheesy combos.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[nimateb]

Been playing this, very addictive turn based combat

 

[Kruyurk]

The game is currently on giveaway on GOG https://af.gog.com/game/iratus_lord_of_the_dead?as=1649904300

 

[Aemar]

Playing this right now. This genre looks boring af.

 

[Aemar]

DLC seems fine, if you liked DD and looking for a less grindy version, this is it. Not quite replayable like DD though, imho Iratus is good for 2-3 playthroughs at most.

As one who doesn't like DD at all, I'd say Iratus is worth the price for what it is. Less grindy and more strategic; and also more straightforward than DD.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Yeah, that's what I like about this game TBH.

 

[Harthwain]

Indeed. The grind in Darkest Dungeon was unreal.

 

[Thac0]

Free on Epic Games right now. Together with Geneforge Mutagen and some other stupid multiplayer game.

 

[Devastator]

I finished this game recently. It’s good for what it is, but by the end I was pretty burned out. I guess this genre is too repetitive for me.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

All procedurally generated content is fated to mediocrity, but for what it is, this game is cool enough. Its aesthetic is particularly enjoyable.

 

[cvv]

Same as DD for me - cool aesthetic, fun gameplay for the first 10 hours, then a downward repetitive spiral. Worth the price tho.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Beat a playthrough on the not-hardest-difficulty because you're not allowed to play the hardest one the first time through. Didn't wipe once, had 2 or 3 minions die total. Probably took me a handful of hours? Far less than Darkest Dungeon, for sure.
Can't even really give it a mini-review tbh. There's nothing really here worth praising or criticizing. Felt like a cheap dollar menu burger. None of the minions really 'stood out' beyond the werewolf in terms of unique abilities and such, compared to how iconic each class in DD is. In fact, most of the minions suck. Story is a complete afterthought with mini blurbs when you enter a new level or fight the level's boss. Unlike DD, I never felt like I was being put off guard or worrying about survival, you just keep going forward. The building management thing was completely meh. Upgrading was color-coded meh.
VERDICT: Not recommended.

 

[Kruyurk]

I also just finished the game and I agree with cvv, rusty and others.

The game is simply not good enough for a genre that lives and die by its mechanics. It succesfully creates the illusion during the few hours when discovering all the minions available is exciting, along with the various build options like your talents, spells, and base-building to get various bonus. Then by the second quarter of the game you have seen it all and everything becomes dull. I also played in the hardest difficulty available but pretty soon I did not have to do much thinking to keep on going forward, the routine had set in.

Compare it to FTL or Slay the Spire, where every run is interesting from start to finish, with exciting choices to be constantly made and peril at every corner, and that even after countless hours spent fleeing before the Rebel of ascending the Spire, but while not abusing of your time for a run, and without being bloated by half-baked mechanics. Really, some games are better than others.

Of course not every game can be excellent, but I feel that the Iratus devs did not even give it a shot by working iteralively (iteratusively even) on the mechanics until they eventually arrive at something really great. I remember a presentation of the FTL devs explaining how different the game was meant to be originaly, but that they changed their plans because the first design wasn't good enough. I don't think that is how Iratus' development went, I imagine it being more: create all the nice assets, create the gameplay while heavily borrowing from another succesful game, quick polish phase, release (at a heavy price for the genre), now onto making DLCs.