Darkest Dungeon
Image: Steam store (© respective owners)

How do players who really played Darkest Dungeon rate it? TrueGG Rating 91.4%

Release date: Jan 19, 2016 Data as of 2026-10-19 View on Steam ↗

Players who really played rate it about the same as Steam overall. Early impressions are weaker, so the first few hours tend to decide whether it clicks.

Good for

  • Players who want to soak in the world and atmosphere

Think twice if you are

  • Players who dislike repetitive grinding
  • Players who want variety (reports that it gets monotonous)
  • Players relying on Japanese (Japanese reviews rate it lower)

A rule-based guide from review patterns (no AI). How

TrueGG RatingMethodology ↗
91.4%
± 0.2 pt
vs Steam overall

Positive among players with 20+ hours (last 180 days) · 3,473 reviews

TrueGG, all time
93.8%
Steam overall
91.6%
Japanese, all time
80.7%

Early wall

Reviews written under 2 hours: 3.3% of all reviews. Their positive share is 69.8%.

This is not a drop-off rate; it describes who wrote reviews. Refund guide: within 14 days of purchase and under 2 hours of play (Steam refund policy).

01 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Does the rating change the longer people play?

Used for TrueGG Rating (20h+)JapaneseRight: reviews
Positive share by playtimeRanges from 20 hours up are highlighted. Exact values are in the table below.0%25%50%75%100%0–1 h61%611–2 h59%562–5 h82%3925–10 h86%54810–20 h88%76120–50 h90%1,16550–100 h91%931100–200 h94%757200+ h92%620Positive share by playtime0–1 h6161%1–2 h5659%2–5 h39282%5–10 h54886%10–20 h76188%20–50 h1,16590%50–100 h93191%100–200 h75794%200+ h62092%

Positive share by playtime at the time of review (reviews from the last 180 days). Ranges under 50 reviews are pale and dashed (indicative only); “—” means no reviews.

Show chart values as a table
PlaytimePositiveJapaneseReviews
0–1 h60.7%—61
1–2 h58.9%—56
2–5 h81.9%—392
5–10 h86.1%0.0%548
10–20 h88.0%66.7%761
20–50 h89.5%100.0%1,165
50–100 h91.0%66.7%931
100–200 h93.9%100.0%757
200+ h92.4%66.7%620

How long people play: half of reviewers had played 20+ hours. 61% had 20+ hours and 19% had 100+ hours (all time).

02 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Summary

Darkest Dungeon has a TrueGG Rating of 91.4%: the positive share among 3,473 reviews written in the last 180 days by players with 20+ hours, close to Steam's overall 91.6%. Players who really play it broadly agree with the headline number (all time: 93.8%).

Reviews written under 2 hours make up 3% of the total, and only 70% of them are positive. Some players bounce off early, but those who get past the opening rate it higher. Steam accepts refund requests within 2 hours of play and 14 days of purchase.

In the last 180 days, reviews at 2–5h are 82% positive versus 92% at 200h+: the more people play, the more they like it.

Negative reviews most often mention grind, boredom, and pacing. Positive reviews praise the world and atmosphere and monetization and DLC.

Among Japanese-language reviews, the TrueGG Rating is 80.7%, 10.7 points below all languages.

Re-weighting reviews by trust signals (playtime, length, how the game was obtained) barely changes the rating (90.8% adjusted), so Steam's number is not noticeably distorted by key giveaways or throwaway reviews.

All figures come from Steam's public review counts, and topics are counted with our published dictionary (no AI). Data as of 2026-10-19.

03 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Why it is rated this way

What drives the rating

Complaints center on the game's design (Grind, Boring / repetitive, Movement & pacing). These rarely change with updates, so the rating likely reflects the game itself. Judge by whether it suits you. It is also a game many people bounce off early (early reviews are much less positive than those of players who stuck with it).

− Most mentioned complaints

  • Grind18% of negative reviews (3% of positive) · most common among 20–100h players · ongoing since launch
  • Boring / repetitive17% of negative reviews (4% of positive) · most common among 20–100h players · ongoing since launch
  • Movement & pacing9% of negative reviews (6% of positive) · most common among 2–20h players · ongoing since launch
  • Updates & developers9% of negative reviews (2% of positive) · most common among 100h+ players · less than at launch

+ What players praise

  • World & atmosphere11% of positive reviews (5% of negative)
  • Monetization & DLC8% of positive reviews (6% of negative)
＋ ダーケストダンジョン＋ insidious＋ スキン＋ バトル＋ 印象＋ 準備＋ 緊張感＋ クトゥルフ− random− point− design− tried− grinding− less− tedious− turns

Counted from 447 recent negative and 600 positive reviews in Japanese and English, using our published topic dictionary. No AI is used. Topics overlap, so shares do not add up to 100%. Sarcasm and nuance are not detected, and this does not show cause and effect.How we count

04 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Checking the numbers

Figures with a different scope, shown alongside the TrueGG Rating.

MetricPositiveScope
Official Steam rating91.6%All time, all languages · 163,297 reviews
Adjusted rating90.8%Weighted by trust (95% range 90.5%–91.1%), −0.8pt vs official
Japanese-language reviews73.3%All time, Japanese-language reviews (−18.4pt vs overall) · 550 reviews
Show the positive vs negative breakdown

Share of sampled reviews that meet each condition that lowers trust. When a condition is more common on the positive side, the adjusted rating falls below the official one.

ConditionPositive reviewsNegative reviews
Under 2 hours played at review2%8%
Very short text38%15%
Key activated outside Steam14%13%
Received for free0%1%
Owns very few games13%7%
Over 100 reviews written1%3%
Average trust (1.0 = full)0.780.87

The median total playtime of the sampled reviewers is 36.2 hours. 400 positive and 400 negative reviews analyzed · data as of 2026-10-19

05 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

When did the rating change?

Monthly positive and negative review counts since release, as published by Steam.

Reviews per month

■ Positive■ Negative
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 2015-02: +2,335 / −245 2015-03: +562 / −77 2015-04: +231 / −21 2015-05: +287 / −29 2015-06: +641 / −68 2015-07: +430 / −64 2015-08: +411 / −83 2015-09: +152 / −29 2015-10: +432 / −129 2015-11: +199 / −38 2015-12: +680 / −129 2016-01: +1,887 / −257 2016-02: +718 / −157 2016-03: +374 / −51 2016-04: +247 / −29 2016-05: +570 / −92 2016-06: +408 / −68 2016-07: +473 / −87 2016-08: +236 / −40 2016-09: +188 / −31 2016-10: +225 / −35 2016-11: +2,242 / −86 2016-12: +543 / −70 2017-01: +538 / −103 2017-02: +875 / −159 2017-03: +334 / −51 2017-04: +380 / −90 2017-05: +306 / −71 2017-06: +1,319 / −284 2017-07: +1,078 / −214 2017-08: +353 / −69 2017-09: +645 / −63 2017-10: +1,094 / −223 2017-11: +3,137 / −146 2017-12: +508 / −83 2018-01: +509 / −92 2018-02: +328 / −57 2018-03: +272 / −37 2018-04: +585 / −119 2018-05: +351 / −54 2018-06: +1,477 / −818 2018-07: +889 / −176 2018-08: +311 / −69 2018-09: +207 / −35 2018-10: +573 / −134 2018-11: +2,575 / −109 2018-12: +477 / −70 2019-01: +404 / −58 2019-02: +627 / −113 2019-03: +383 / −60 2019-04: +277 / −25 2019-05: +250 / −38 2019-06: +2,067 / −66 2019-07: +2,156 / −89 2019-08: +236 / −38 2019-09: +198 / −20 2019-10: +520 / −36 2019-11: +2,666 / −68 2019-12: +2,368 / −94 2020-01: +1,974 / −82 2020-02: +1,509 / −77 2020-03: +2,306 / −119 2020-04: +1,719 / −80 2020-05: +2,000 / −149 2020-06: +2,678 / −179 2020-07: +1,705 / −116 2020-08: +1,040 / −56 2020-09: +1,234 / −107 2020-10: +888 / −88 2020-11: +1,890 / −87 2020-12: +1,566 / −79 2021-01: +1,634 / −108 2021-02: +1,148 / −71 2021-03: +2,595 / −230 2021-04: +1,122 / −87 2021-05: +1,374 / −100 2021-06: +1,047 / −82 2021-07: +1,422 / −85 2021-08: +1,523 / −113 2021-09: +2,059 / −205 2021-10: +1,314 / −146 2021-11: +1,910 / −145 2021-12: +1,306 / −106 2022-01: +1,250 / −95 2022-02: +830 / −52 2022-03: +573 / −50 2022-04: +1,240 / −128 2022-05: +850 / −75 2022-06: +760 / −70 2022-07: +1,016 / −93 2022-08: +893 / −68 2022-09: +1,029 / −85 2022-10: +890 / −81 2022-11: +1,299 / −107 2022-12: +1,110 / −87 2023-01: +1,113 / −86 2023-02: +794 / −62 2023-03: +990 / −85 2023-04: +1,352 / −125 2023-05: +994 / −124 2023-06: +581 / −45 2023-07: +746 / −65 2023-08: +728 / −58 2023-09: +459 / −35 2023-10: +493 / −45 2023-11: +877 / −69 2023-12: +717 / −68 2024-01: +688 / −58 2024-02: +727 / −60 2024-03: +715 / −75 2024-04: +2,086 / −263 2024-05: +1,017 / −113 2024-06: +778 / −75 2024-07: +997 / −81 2024-08: +889 / −83 2024-09: +572 / −61 2024-10: +932 / −102 2024-11: +722 / −72 2024-12: +1,913 / −197 2025-01: +957 / −95 2025-02: +1,010 / −109 2025-03: +832 / −86 2025-04: +862 / −80 2025-05: +748 / −105 2025-06: +765 / −100 2025-07: +866 / −96 2025-08: +622 / −63 2025-09: +708 / −101 2025-10: +658 / −70 2025-11: +1,080 / −48 2025-12: +773 / −89 2026-01: +768 / −81 2026-02: +1,012 / −136 2026-03: +617 / −72 2026-04: +575 / −65 2026-05: +653 / −96 2026-06: +511 / −64 2026-07: +654 / −75 2026-08: +928 / −131 2026-09: +695 / −101 2026-10: +410 / −62 2015/022016/012017/012018/012019/012020/012021/012022/012023/012024/012025/012026/01

Positive share per month

0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Monthly data overall 90.8% 2025-01: update2026-07: update2026-08: update2026-10: update 2015-02: 90.5%2015-03: 87.9%2015-04: 91.7%2015-05: 90.8%2015-06: 90.4%2015-07: 87.0%2015-08: 83.2%2015-09: 84.0%2015-10: 77.0%2015-11: 84.0%2015-12: 84.1%2016-01: 88.0%2016-02: 82.1%2016-03: 88.0%2016-04: 89.5%2016-05: 86.1%2016-06: 85.7%2016-07: 84.5%2016-08: 85.5%2016-09: 85.8%2016-10: 86.5%2016-11: 96.3%2016-12: 88.6%2017-01: 83.9%2017-02: 84.6%2017-03: 86.8%2017-04: 80.9%2017-05: 81.2%2017-06: 82.3%2017-07: 83.4%2017-08: 83.6%2017-09: 91.1%2017-10: 83.1%2017-11: 95.6%2017-12: 86.0%2018-01: 84.7%2018-02: 85.2%2018-03: 88.0%2018-04: 83.1%2018-05: 86.7%2018-06: 64.4%2018-07: 83.5%2018-08: 81.8%2018-09: 85.5%2018-10: 81.0%2018-11: 95.9%2018-12: 87.2%2019-01: 87.4%2019-02: 84.7%2019-03: 86.5%2019-04: 91.7%2019-05: 86.8%2019-06: 96.9%2019-07: 96.0%2019-08: 86.1%2019-09: 90.8%2019-10: 93.5%2019-11: 97.5%2019-12: 96.2%2020-01: 96.0%2020-02: 95.1%2020-03: 95.1%2020-04: 95.6%2020-05: 93.1%2020-06: 93.7%2020-07: 93.6%2020-08: 94.9%2020-09: 92.0%2020-10: 91.0%2020-11: 95.6%2020-12: 95.2%2021-01: 93.8%2021-02: 94.2%2021-03: 91.9%2021-04: 92.8%2021-05: 93.2%2021-06: 92.7%2021-07: 94.4%2021-08: 93.1%2021-09: 90.9%2021-10: 90.0%2021-11: 92.9%2021-12: 92.5%2022-01: 92.9%2022-02: 94.1%2022-03: 92.0%2022-04: 90.6%2022-05: 91.9%2022-06: 91.6%2022-07: 91.6%2022-08: 92.9%2022-09: 92.4%2022-10: 91.7%2022-11: 92.4%2022-12: 92.7%2023-01: 92.8%2023-02: 92.8%2023-03: 92.1%2023-04: 91.5%2023-05: 88.9%2023-06: 92.8%2023-07: 92.0%2023-08: 92.6%2023-09: 92.9%2023-10: 91.6%2023-11: 92.7%2023-12: 91.3%2024-01: 92.2%2024-02: 92.4%2024-03: 90.5%2024-04: 88.8%2024-05: 90.0%2024-06: 91.2%2024-07: 92.5%2024-08: 91.5%2024-09: 90.4%2024-10: 90.1%2024-11: 90.9%2024-12: 90.7%2025-01: 91.0%2025-02: 90.3%2025-03: 90.6%2025-04: 91.5%2025-05: 87.7%2025-06: 88.4%2025-07: 90.0%2025-08: 90.8%2025-09: 87.5%2025-10: 90.4%2025-11: 95.7%2025-12: 89.7%2026-01: 90.5%2026-02: 88.2%2026-03: 89.6%2026-04: 89.8%2026-05: 87.2%2026-06: 88.9%2026-07: 89.7%2026-08: 87.6%2026-09: 87.3%2026-10: 86.9% 2015/022016/012017/012018/012019/012020/012021/012022/012023/012024/012025/012026/01

Months with under 30 reviews are omitted from the rate.

Updates and ratings before and after

DateAnnouncement2 months before → after
2026-10-06 Darkest Dungeon: The Original Canon Graphic Novel, now live on BackerKit —
2026-08-18 Darkest Dungeon - The Fire’s Edge - DLC Release —
2026-07-21 The Fire's Edge, new Darkest Dungeon DLC, releases August 18th 88% → 87% (−0.4pt)
2025-01-27 Darkest Dungeon II - Kingdoms Game Mode + Inhuman Bondage DLC Available Now 91% → 90% (−0.3pt)

Picked automatically from the titles of Steam announcements by the developer (one per month, last 3 years, up to 10). The dotted lines mark those months. Before and after are the positive rates of the two months before and after (excluding the month itself); shown as "—" under 50 reviews or when the two months after are not complete. An update is not necessarily the cause of a change.

Reviews per day, last 30 days

0 20 40 60 2026-09-20: +31 / −9 2026-09-21: +25 / −2 2026-09-22: +20 / −2 2026-09-23: +14 / −4 2026-09-24: +13 / −4 2026-09-25: +19 / −2 2026-09-26: +26 / −2 2026-09-27: +21 / −2 2026-09-28: +16 / −1 2026-09-29: +19 / −2 2026-09-30: +13 / −2 2026-10-01: +13 / −1 2026-10-02: +15 / −0 2026-10-03: +20 / −4 2026-10-04: +17 / −5 2026-10-05: +22 / −3 2026-10-06: +24 / −1 2026-10-07: +18 / −1 2026-10-08: +26 / −1 2026-10-09: +24 / −2 2026-10-10: +24 / −7 2026-10-11: +37 / −7 2026-10-12: +33 / −4 2026-10-13: +17 / −4 2026-10-14: +23 / −7 2026-10-15: +19 / −5 2026-10-16: +29 / −4 2026-10-17: +20 / −2 2026-10-18: +28 / −4 2026-10-19: +1 / −0 09/2009/2710/0410/1110/18
Show monthly data as a table
MonthPositiveNegativePositive
2015-022,33524590.5%
2015-035627787.9%
2015-042312191.7%
2015-052872990.8%
2015-066416890.4%
2015-074306487.0%
2015-084118383.2%
2015-091522984.0%
2015-1043212977.0%
2015-111993884.0%
2015-1268012984.1%
2016-011,88725788.0%
2016-0271815782.1%
2016-033745188.0%
2016-042472989.5%
2016-055709286.1%
2016-064086885.7%
2016-074738784.5%
2016-082364085.5%
2016-091883185.8%
2016-102253586.5%
2016-112,2428696.3%
2016-125437088.6%
2017-0153810383.9%
2017-0287515984.6%
2017-033345186.8%
2017-043809080.9%
2017-053067181.2%
2017-061,31928482.3%
2017-071,07821483.4%
2017-083536983.6%
2017-096456391.1%
2017-101,09422383.1%
2017-113,13714695.6%
2017-125088386.0%
2018-015099284.7%
2018-023285785.2%
2018-032723788.0%
2018-0458511983.1%
2018-053515486.7%
2018-061,47781864.4%
2018-0788917683.5%
2018-083116981.8%
2018-092073585.5%
2018-1057313481.0%
2018-112,57510995.9%
2018-124777087.2%
2019-014045887.4%
2019-0262711384.7%
2019-033836086.5%
2019-042772591.7%
2019-052503886.8%
2019-062,0676696.9%
2019-072,1568996.0%
2019-082363886.1%
2019-091982090.8%
2019-105203693.5%
2019-112,6666897.5%
2019-122,3689496.2%
2020-011,9748296.0%
2020-021,5097795.1%
2020-032,30611995.1%
2020-041,7198095.6%
2020-052,00014993.1%
2020-062,67817993.7%
2020-071,70511693.6%
2020-081,0405694.9%
2020-091,23410792.0%
2020-108888891.0%
2020-111,8908795.6%
2020-121,5667995.2%
2021-011,63410893.8%
2021-021,1487194.2%
2021-032,59523091.9%
2021-041,1228792.8%
2021-051,37410093.2%
2021-061,0478292.7%
2021-071,4228594.4%
2021-081,52311393.1%
2021-092,05920590.9%
2021-101,31414690.0%
2021-111,91014592.9%
2021-121,30610692.5%
2022-011,2509592.9%
2022-028305294.1%
2022-035735092.0%
2022-041,24012890.6%
2022-058507591.9%
2022-067607091.6%
2022-071,0169391.6%
2022-088936892.9%
2022-091,0298592.4%
2022-108908191.7%
2022-111,29910792.4%
2022-121,1108792.7%
2023-011,1138692.8%
2023-027946292.8%
2023-039908592.1%
2023-041,35212591.5%
2023-0599412488.9%
2023-065814592.8%
2023-077466592.0%
2023-087285892.6%
2023-094593592.9%
2023-104934591.6%
2023-118776992.7%
2023-127176891.3%
2024-016885892.2%
2024-027276092.4%
2024-037157590.5%
2024-042,08626388.8%
2024-051,01711390.0%
2024-067787591.2%
2024-079978192.5%
2024-088898391.5%
2024-095726190.4%
2024-1093210290.1%
2024-117227290.9%
2024-121,91319790.7%
2025-019579591.0%
2025-021,01010990.3%
2025-038328690.6%
2025-048628091.5%
2025-0574810587.7%
2025-0676510088.4%
2025-078669690.0%
2025-086226390.8%
2025-0970810187.5%
2025-106587090.4%
2025-111,0804895.7%
2025-127738989.7%
2026-017688190.5%
2026-021,01213688.2%
2026-036177289.6%
2026-045756589.8%
2026-056539687.2%
2026-065116488.9%
2026-076547589.7%
2026-0892813187.6%
2026-0969510187.3%
2026-104106286.9%
Show daily data as a table
DayPositiveNegative
2026-09-20319
2026-09-21252
2026-09-22202
2026-09-23144
2026-09-24134
2026-09-25192
2026-09-26262
2026-09-27212
2026-09-28161
2026-09-29192
2026-09-30132
2026-10-01131
2026-10-02150
2026-10-03204
2026-10-04175
2026-10-05223
2026-10-06241
2026-10-07181
2026-10-08261
2026-10-09242
2026-10-10247
2026-10-11377
2026-10-12334
2026-10-13174
2026-10-14237
2026-10-15195
2026-10-16294
2026-10-17202
2026-10-18284
2026-10-1910
06 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Recent sentiment

PeriodPositiveReviews
Last 30 days88.2%875
Last 180 days89.0%5,287
All time91.6%163,297
Japanese, last 180 days72.2%18
08 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

About this verdict

Every figure is computed from review data that Steam makes public. No AI estimation is used.

Review text is never stored or republished. Read the actual reviews on Steam.

If you disagree with this verdict, please reach us via the contact on the About page. About

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