Simplicity and Readability in the Darkest Dungeon: How the Token System of DD2 Displays Information in Combat

This study serves to examine player experience and opinion with the shift from the accuracy and dodge statistics and general UI of Darkest Dungeon 1 to the token system of Darkest Dungeon 2.  With a survey conducted over three weeks, 205 participants answered a series of multiple-choice and open-ended questions that served as the data for a Qualitative analysis.  Overall, more than 77% of participants believed that the change to DD2’s system was an improvement over the mechanics of the original game, with “clarity above all” summarizing both the praise and criticism of the token mechanic.  Supporters of DD2 cited the ease of reading information from the token system, a decrease in unwanted RNG effects, and the removal of accuracy as a positive for teambuilding and item variety.  The minority of players preferring DD1 and its mechanics reported that they enjoyed the more complex calculations for hit chances, that the number of tokens in DD2 was overwhelming, and that the simplicity of the tokens took away strategic elements of the game they enjoyed.  RNG and simplicity were both key words used in feedback from supporters of both titles, demonstrating the subjective nature of these categories in determining personal fulfillment from a game.  In terms of readability and accessing information during gameplay, tokens in DD2 are reported as making it easier for most players to understand conditions. 

Background

Earlier this year, Darkest Dungeon 2 (DD2) was officially released on PC, the sequel to the 2016 original.  In the last two months, Red Hook Studios, the studio responsible for the series, has released its first two major update patches to DD2, adding new enemy encounters, some moderate balance changes to certain heroes and bosses, and changing combat mechanics.  This is not the first mechanical change in the franchise, however, as the evolution from Darkest Dungeon 1 (DD1) to DD2 saw several changes to gameplay that saw the two even being classified as different genres.  One of the biggest alterations going into DD2 has to be the token system.  Tokens are icons that appear during combat that indicate a specific condition or effect on a player’s hero or an enemy character, appearing above or below that character’s life bar.  Examples include a Block token that looks like a shield, which makes the next attack that character takes deal 50% less damage, or the Dodge token that shows any attack towards the affected character has a 50% chance to miss.  Attacks in this game have a 100% chance of landing until impacted by a token like Dodge.  A visual of these tokens in gameplay can be seen below.    

 This is a change from the system coming from the original Darkest Dungeon 1 that relied on percentage increases and decreases to statistics or resistances.  Similar to DD2, information affecting a character is shown above or below their health bar, except in DD1 all buffs or debuffs are shown through an arrow pointing up or down to show the impact.  This means that a single arrow can mean that multiple statistics are being altered at the same time, rather than having a different icon for each separate effect.  Another drastic change came to the way that hit chances for attacks are calculated.  Instead of tokens altering a flat 100% hit rate in the sequel, every hero and enemy character in DD1 has a unique accuracy (ACC) and dodge stat, and these stats, alongside individual attack’s chances to hit, determine if an attack lands or not.  The result of this is that every hero has a varying probability to land any of their abilities throughout the game, slowly increasing throughout the game as the player levels up their heroes and unlocks more powerful items. 

This study is concerned with the introduction of the token system to DD2 and the removal of the accuracy/dodge mechanics of DD1.  While there are obvious impacts these have on gameplay itself, another important effect of these changes is how players read and understand information surrounding combat conditions during play.  As such, this study has one research objective:  to analyze Darkest Dungeon players’ experience with the introduction of the token system and the removal of accuracy/dodge statistics in terms of readability and simplicity of information. 

Sample and Methods

For this study, a Qualtrics survey was used for data collection over the course of three weeks, featuring nine multiple-choice questions and seven open-ended questions provided to give participants space to provide the reasoning behind their answers and offer additional feedback.  For sampling, this survey was advertising in three digital spaces to find participants with the criteria of having played the DD games:  the official Darkest Dungeon Discord channel; the Darkest Dungeon subreddit r/darkestdungeon; and the Discord channel Grave Raptors, belonging to the DD Twitch streamer Shuffle.  All together, there were 205 responses to the survey.        

Analysis

Overall, the data gathered is consistent that most players seem to prefer the token system in Darkest Dungeon 2 over the percentages and accuracy/dodge mechanics of DD1.  What is the most impressive is not the consistency of players’ answers, but the near-identical percentages of players choosing the sequel over the original.  As the table below shows, when questioned on which game was the most readable, the most simple, and their overall preference for showing buffs/debuffs, the answers received were within 3.29 percentage points of one another, showing great consistency amongst participant perceptions and preference of the visual readability and simplicity offered by Darkest Dungeon 2 compared to Darkest Dungeon 1. 

This is the most noteworthy finding in data collection, but it is not the only one demonstrating a wide-spread preference for the token system in Darkest Dungeon 2.  When asked about general satisfaction with Darkest Dungeon 1’s percentages-based system, participant answers were evenly-spread across the spectrum, with a “Somewhat Satisfied” receiving the most votes at 29.89%.  That distribution can be seen here.

Looking at feedback offered on the reasoning behind their answer, most participants agreed about the basics of the mechanic, that it was another level of RNG (random number generation, or how the game creates a ‘random’ effect within a spectrum of possible outcomes) added to combat, similar to many other similar turn-based games or RPGs; but beyond this, opinions were as polazing as the graph above suggests.  Players disagreed on the nature of the RNG added by accuracy and dodge, with some seeing it as just another random element while others found it to be too much variance in a game already full of it.  For those who disliked the system, multiple people described accuracy as less of a mechanic to engage with and more of a “a tax stat which you need to pay in order to even do any offensive action,” or that it was “garbage that you have to make a stat investment to make your characters functional.”  Some found that the game put “too much emphasis on accuracy trinkets.”  Others found that the system overall was not as easy to understand as it should have been, claiming that “it was very unclear why my attacks did or didn’t hit.”  Between positive and negative feedback, however, a constant was people reacting to the randomness of the system, for good or bad.  Plenty of participants noted their excitement when they landed a hit that had less than a 50% to work,“but if I do go out of my way to try [to] turn the odds in my favour and then rng still screws me, it feels like shit.” 

To me, there appears to be a diverse reaction to the accuracy and miss mechanics in DD1’s mechanics, but it is quickly apparent that participants are more satisfied with Darkest Dungeon 2’s system when only about ⅙ of players were anything other than Satisfied at the system, demonstrating an overwhelmingly positive reception to Red Hook’s new design.   

The main feedback seen, both as a positive or a negative, is that the token system is easier to read and understand than the many different numbers and statistics at play in DD1.  One supporter of the system remarked that “I really enjoy the token system. DD1 was a tough game to get into because of all the small numbers, and the way they simplified it feels really satisfying to play,” while others said that “the token system is clear, [concise], and incredibly simple. I know why everything does what it does” and that it makes “combat situations more easy to read contextually.”  Countering this, there were comments that argued that this system of “clarity above all” meant that clarity was put above complexity, or that it was “too streamlined.”  Some expressed their frustrations at having such a simple mechanic have such a great impact on the game, with the nuance of DD1 being stripped away or how specific tokens like dodge “capping at 50 or 75% flat makes it inconsistent as a defensive action. It indirectly reinforces the current face-tanking/damage race meta.”

While I have seen discussion on the number of tokens in the game, especially “niche tokens” from specific bosses, can be overwhelming, there is a definite trend that most respondents find the new system to be “more consistent” and “more interactive” than Darkest Dungeon 1.  The majority of the player base who took part in this survey seem to prefer the readability of the tokens, even at the cost of simplifying aspects of the in-game mechanics.  Many also seem to prefer the way that tokens such as Dodge and Blind add a flat 50% or 75% to accuracy, rather than having multiple stats between player and enemies determining hit rates; perhaps it is merely a preference for learning a handful of icons and their meaning over DD1 and its “huge ass wall of text.”  Again, it seems to go back to the comment “clarity above all” as a guiding principle behind the change and players’ perceptions of it.  The speed in which one could understand the token system and their impact on a fight, compared to having to calculate percentages, also looked to be a popular reason for the positive reaction to tokens; although some did say the opposite of this, citing the great number of tokens in the game or that the UI could become “clunky” with too many tokens on the field at once.      

Insights

Reviewing the data collected from this survey, it is clear that most participants (more engaged players of the DD franchise that frequent digital communities about the games) enjoy the newer token system for showing combat information and hit chance over the accuracy and dodge statistics of the original game.  That being said, there are a variety of reasons why players enjoy the token system.  Perhaps the most consistent opinion seen in feedback was referring to the accuracy/dodge system as a “tax” that had to be paid.  Few players, even fans of DD1, spoke about the mechanic as a positive, but rather a weakness of hero characters that could be fixed with enough time and certain items.  Most feedback, however, pointed out how the existence of accuracy as a stat was either an annoying piece of RNG at best, or a limiting factor in team composition and item management at worst.  Another common praise for the token system was the “readability” of the tokens, or how easy it is to quickly gather information on battle conditions by looking at the game’s UI.  Most agreed that it was much easier to understand and plan out combat when compared to the several different numbers and calculations necessary in DD1.  As one comment phrased so poetically, tokens “only requires a glance, does not require math.”  

A final reason given for the preference towards the token system is an overall simplicity of the game.  Many seem to prefer having the tokens impact the static 100% compared to every attack having varied chances to hit depending on several variables.  Discussing simplicity as a gameplay trait, however, brings up an important aspect of this study to remember:  the game franchise being examined.  At its core, Darkest Dungeon is a series where difficulty is an established element of its brand, similar to how the Souls franchise (Demon Souls, Dark Souls, Elden Ring) gained notoriety for its high skill curve.  In most cases, making a system simpler and more stream-lined would be a positive, but this is a specific case where that can not be taken as an immediate truth.  Clearly, participants are somewhat split on how they feel about the simplicity of the token system compared to the multiple mechanics and stats that determine hit percentages in DD1.  Simplicity seems to be the main reason given by participants who did not prefer the token system, falling in line with the identity Darkest Dungeon has as a difficult, complex strategy series.  Players preferring the accuracy/dodge mechanics of the original enjoyed having multiple stats that needed balancing, or preferring the more complex hit calculations over the simplistic 50% Dodge tokens of DD2.  Even some supporters of tokens discussed that the 50% or 75% miss rates on tokens, while easy to remember as flat numbers, were too high and limited combat options. While more players believed that Darkest Dungeon 2 had the better system for a variety of reasons, the fans of DD1 are consistent in their reasoning behind their preference. 

Overall, it is clear that the vast majority of participants, more than 77%, prefer Darkest Dungeon 2’s token system for tracking the hit chance of attacks over the accuracy/dodge statistics from Darkest Dungeon 1.  With eye-catching consistency, players responded that DD2’s system was more satisfying, more readable, simpler overall, and that most believed the change to tokens was an improvement for the series.  The biggest criticism of DD1’s system was the “accuracy tax,” seeing the mechanic less as a feature of gameplay and more of an annoyance that had to be dealt with to properly engage with the game.  There was debate over whether certain traits, such as RNG and simplicity, were positives; fans of both games cited these factors as being the reason for their preference, showing that it is subjective whether a player prefers more or less of each in their gameplay.  Regardless, it is undeniable that this single change going into Red Hook’s sequel was a popular one with its player base, even if only to do away with checking accuracy and dodge rates before every attack.  

To everyone that made it to the end, thank you for your time and interest in this study. To see the full report, or a PDF with graphs showing the data collected by the survey, click the buttons below.

My name is Dr. Jules, and have a nice day!