What is the grimdark-est grimdark rpg?

[Reinhardt]

i hope you won't have problems with your rabbi for showing this to us

 

[Serus]

any wh40k game is quite dark

Probably not the ones where you play exclusively as an Ork.

I already posted this one in Rogue Trader thread but it's soooo fitting.
Welcome to WH40K real grimdarkness:

 

[Stoned Ape]

The Imperium will eventually fall into Chaos or be eaten by the Tyranids. It is teetering on the brink of destruction and will eventually die (as the Old World already has).

Unless the Emperor is allowed to die and is reborn as the Star child and nukes all the bad stuff. Or they invent even better space marines and wipe the universe clean of enemies or GW go bankrupt and we're finally rid of the fanboys shitting up every tabletop discussion!

GW's narrative has been in hard decline since 2009. The moment Rick Priestly left the company both Warhammer and 40k settings became creatively bereft.

 

[lukaszek]

I already posted this one in Rogue Trader thread but it's soooo fitting.
Welcome to WH40K real grimdarkness:

camo not allowed in grimdark?

 

[Reinhardt]

I already posted this one in Rogue Trader thread but it's soooo fitting.
Welcome to WH40K real grimdarkness:

camo not allowed in grimdark?

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

If you can stomach repetitive Dynasty Warriors style combat and general weabooness, Drakengard had the most hilariously edgy story I can think of.

 

[Halfling Rodeo]

The Imperium will eventually fall into Chaos or be eaten by the Tyranids. It is teetering on the brink of destruction and will eventually die (as the Old World already has).

Unless the Emperor is allowed to die and is reborn as the Star child and nukes all the bad stuff. Or they invent even better space marines and wipe the universe clean of enemies or GW go bankrupt and we're finally rid of the fanboys shitting up every tabletop discussion!

GW's narrative has been in hard decline since 2009. The moment Rick Priestly left the company both Warhammer and 40k settings became creatively bereft.

Always was. Most the stuff people like about GW was stolen from else where whole cloth. So many 80's authors hold grudges against GW for stealing their shit and peddling it as their own. The artists are basically the only originality in GW.

 

[Stoned Ape]

The Imperium will eventually fall into Chaos or be eaten by the Tyranids. It is teetering on the brink of destruction and will eventually die (as the Old World already has).

Unless the Emperor is allowed to die and is reborn as the Star child and nukes all the bad stuff. Or they invent even better space marines and wipe the universe clean of enemies or GW go bankrupt and we're finally rid of the fanboys shitting up every tabletop discussion!

GW's narrative has been in hard decline since 2009. The moment Rick Priestly left the company both Warhammer and 40k settings became creatively bereft.

Always was. Most the stuff people like about GW was stolen from else where whole cloth. So many 80's authors hold grudges against GW for stealing their shit and peddling it as their own. The artists are basically the only originality in GW.

Priestley did borrow heavily from John Wyndham, Michael Moorcock, Frank Herbert, & 2000 AD (explicitly Nemesis the Warlock which was also a rip from Moorcock). Any authors from the 80s would also have been influenced by Moorcock and Wyndham so they would be hypocritical to complain. Priestly took bits (Chaos from Moorcock, the treatment of Psykers as witches from Wyndham, hive cities and inquisition from the Termight Empire in Nemesis) but also created the Emperor and the Primarchs, the background of the Eldar, Orks, Old Ones, etc.

He did take from previous authors, but no more so than any designer of any other successful setting that's ever been made.

 

[vitellus]

no mention of scorn? absolutely terrible game all around, from start to the point you'll just quit because it just sucks so much but the world is just the best thing ever. not enough to get through that game though. the whole gieger-esque biomechanical world where somehow all of this exposed musculature is immune to infections.

 

[REhorror]

no mention of scorn? absolutely terrible game all around, from start to the point you'll just quit because it just sucks so much but the world is just the best thing ever. not enough to get through that game though. the whole gieger-esque biomechanical world where somehow all of this exposed musculature is immune to infections.

That game looks like a darkdark to me!

 

[luj1]

We haven't even agreed on what an RPG is.

Read my signature

 

[luj1]

Grimdark is a retarded term used by zoomers.

Just say gothic horror.

 

[Shuruga]

I'm sure these aren't the top of the heap, but a few of the darker games I've played include:

• Tainted Grail. Already mentioned but worth repeating. This is a strategic card battler, not my usual genre but I enjoyed it for what it was and it had a very bleak and hopeless tone.
  
  
• The (original) Witcher. Racism, squalor, and overall bleakness really pervade that game.
  
  
• The NWN module A Dance With Rogues. This one is infamous for the graphic erotica, which I don't really care for, but the world building and tone are quite good. You play a princess whose kingdom has been overthrown, and you're living incognito (or at least trying to) while the city is under occupation.
  
  
• Starsiege. AI robots invade Earth's solar system and methodically wipe out all of humanity. I hesitated to include this one because the moment to moment gameplay is "blow up some robots" (unless you play the alternate campaign where you are one of the robots) and it is a mech game rather than a proper RPG. But... it had the hopeless last stand vibe down quite well, especially if you read the in-game codex that recounts various resistance fighters across the solar system slowly being wiped out. I fondly remember one mission where your job is to defend the launch of a few ships that were supposed to carry cryogenically frozen colonists out of the solar system because everyone knew that Earth and the home solar system was doomed.
  
  
• Darkwood. I'm actually playing this one now and I'm just a few hours in, but it is definitely dark. You're stuck in weirdly cursed woods and are struggling to survive. You spend the days scavenging for supplies and avoiding the dangers of the woods... then at night you huddle in a shelter and try to avoid the even nastier baddies that roam around.

I'm sure I could think of a few others but those are the ones that come more immediately to mind.

 

[Crispy]

Arx Fatalis deserves a mention.



While it isn't literally all that dark in the game itself, it does take place 100% underground in a world that has been struck by a meteor, whose sun is dying, and whose population has all been forced to live in mines and other protected underground locations.

Legends tell of a time, many thousands of years ago, when the world of Exosta was full of life. Humans, Orcs and Ratmen - some claim even a few Goblins – lived on the surface, in the open, under a clear blue, and often lightly clouded, sky. No one really knows what caused the sun to stop shining, but as quickly as the sun died, so did this golden age come to an abrupt end. The perpetual darkness and the cold drove the inhabitants of the city of Arx underground, into the old and long abandoned Dwarf mines. Goblins, Trolls, Orcs and Humans sought shelter in the dark shafts and caverns, and made them their new home. United by their common plight, the races set aside their differences and, with collossal effort, almost the entire city was rebuilt underground. Within mere months, however, the first animosities between the races flared up again, contracts, pacts and treaties rendered void by the darkness and scarceness of resources. Being cramped in such claustrophobic proximity, devoid of natural light, quickly led to malice and aggression. Still now, many years later, not a day passes in this dark world without some form of violence or conflict. This accumulation of hate, anger and violence brought an unspeakable evil, an evil whose very existance had long been forgotten, into the underground world of Arx: Akbaa the Lord of Destruction, who took great delight in the suffering and death of humans. According to the legends, Akbaa allied with the human high priest Iserbius and founded a cult, a cult bent on worshipping their dark master and spreading his reign of terror. Their number grew by the hour, and throughout Arx hidden temples where built and human sacrifices held at secrets altars, until finally, one of king Lunshire’s astronomers uncovered the evil-doings of the sinister high priest. Shortly before his death, which most certainly was not of natural causes, he was able to send a message to the mysterious Sybarta. The Sybarta keep the balance of power between the gods, and, so the stories tell, sent a guardian to Arx. A guardian to counter the threat of Akbaa, whose power would be able to restore the bonds that once harnessed the Lord of Destruction. To this day, however, no one has seen this guardian. No one knows where or when this mysterious saviour might appear and lead Arx out of the darkness…

Cults, destruction, evil gods, this game has it all.

 

[GaelicVigil]

My vote is Serpent In the Staglands. Pretty dark setting for sure, and hard as nails.

 

[REhorror]

Grimdark is a retarded term used by zoomers.

Just say gothic horror.

Grimdark is unironically a boomer theme.

War40K is so popular that everyone knows of it now.

 

[Jason Liang]

This thread exposing how few Codexers have played Drakengard.

that's some serious pedo shit

It's not grimdark if there are no pedos.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Grimdark is a retarded term used by zoomers.

Just say gothic horror.

[Codex Lore: CRITICAL FAILURE] Grimdark has been used on the 'dex before zoomers were even born.

 

[AwesomeButton]

My vote is Serpent In the Staglands. Pretty dark setting for sure, and hard as nails.

Pray tell, did they finally fix and complete that game? I was a backer but I kept postponing to play it because it ran badly and was buggy.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

My vote is Serpent In the Staglands. Pretty dark setting for sure, and hard as nails.

Pray tell, did they finally fix and complete that game? I was a backer but I kept postponing to play it because it ran badly and was buggy.

You sure you're not talking about copper dreams?

 

[AwesomeButton]

You sure you're not talking about copper dreams?

Yes, because I only signed up for Serpent.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

You sure you're not talking about copper dreams?

Yes, because I only signed up for Serpent.

It's not that buggy, but you might as well give it a go and have done.

 

[luj1]

Grimdark is a retarded term used by zoomers.

Just say gothic horror.

[Codex Lore: CRITICAL FAILURE] Grimdark has been used on the 'dex before zoomers were even born.

Grimdark is a retarded term used by zoomers.

Just say gothic horror.

Grimdark is unironically a boomer theme.

War40K is so popular that everyone knows of it now.

What is the difference between grimdark and gothic horror?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Grimdark is a retarded term used by zoomers.

Just say gothic horror.

[Codex Lore: CRITICAL FAILURE] Grimdark has been used on the 'dex before zoomers were even born.

Grimdark is a retarded term used by zoomers.

Just say gothic horror.

Grimdark is unironically a boomer theme.

War40K is so popular that everyone knows of it now.

What is the difference between grimdark and gothic horror?

Excess.

 

[NecroLord]

My vote is Serpent In the Staglands. Pretty dark setting for sure, and hard as nails.

Pretty nice.
This one is definitely on my To Play list.
How is the combat like?