Slashing claws, putrid bites, and swinging swords are common dangers in dungeon-crawling role-playing games. While these are a detriment to a character’s health in Darkest Dungeon, it turns out the most dangerous thing of all was my archer’s blood pressure levels.

You see, my entire party died in two turns against a terrible eldritch horror. Not from blood loss or poison, but because of stress-induced heart attacks. Being deep underground with only a torch to light their way was more than enough to force their hearts to explode.

It was unexpected in the best and worst way, which sums up the average Darkest Dungeon experience. Channeling a game design style like Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the goal in Darkest Dungeon isn’t just to win, but to survive another day and do a little better each time.

It’s as if H.R. Giger ran his own demented golf league.

Developed by the Canadian studio Red Hook, Darkest Dungeon tells the tale of an ancient manor and the march of a never-ending string of adventurers. While the main task is to rebuild the manor grounds with the spoilers of the darkest dungeons, the real challenge is maintaining the party’s sanity and slaying the monsters that lurk below.

Characters will gain stress while traversing the game’s many terror-filled dungeons. As the torches begin to dim, the game world goes through changes that include stronger monsters, better loot, and more stress. If a character’s stress meter maxes out they will suffer a heart attack and die. Which is bad.

Yet, having zero stress will also be a handicap. Once a character hits certain thresholds on their stress meter, the character gains positive or negative traits. These traits can manifest as everything from a propensity to steal to dealing more damage against humans or zombies. Without stress the characters never improve, making progression that much harder.

The stress and trait systems give a random twist that makes each spelunking session unique and, well, stressful. Given that characters permanently die, even a minor fight can cause shaking hands and nerves if you’re on the verge of losing a veteran character to cardiac arrest.

Terror plays well with Darkest Dungeon’s brilliant art and sound design, nailing everything wonderful and maddening in regards to its gothic horror aesthetic. A narrator who sounds as if he is from an episode of Masterpiece Theater will narrate each move, describing the agony and woe the party suffers with every step.

A small warning at the onset of the game announces that characters will die and quests will fail, which almost seems like an understatement. Traps and rigged objects will cause damage, stress, and status effects in a constant stream. Likewise, even the lowest level enemies can take a bite out of the party, causing status effects like bleed and blight.

The easiest comparison for Darkest Dungeon’s difficulty is from Software’s Dark Souls, but that is too simple of a connection. While the Souls games are known for being hard, they’re also fair. Players can learn the habits of their gigantic adversaries, picking up new skills and learning when to dodge.

In many ways the difficulty of Darkest Dungeon feels false, being hard for the sake of doing so. It’s the equivalent of smashing your head against a wall until it falls when most games would allow you to figure out a way to just walk around.

Certain kinds of players will love that level of difficulty and the challenge that comes along with the constant stream of tribulations. Just don’t be surprised to find your entire party dropping dead and starting over from square one.

Darkest Dungeon is a rare style of game in the modern era, with a difficulty and combat philosophy that would fit in well with the likes of classics such as Ultima Underworld. Few games provide such a sense of accomplishment as Darkest Dungeon.

To be safe, bring along a heart monitor and ACE inhibitors. You never know when your entire party will suffer a heart attack, leaving a new group of fresh-faced adventurers to face oblivion.

‘LEGO Marvel’s Avengers’

LEGO Dimensions should have been a turning point for longtime LEGO game developer Traveller’s Tales. Instead, the prolific developer turned in another meandering effort, skating by on the strength and fame of famous franchises like Scooby Doo and Batman.

It is clear from the start of LEGO Marvel’s Avengers that the developer has no motivation to change the formula, much to the game’s detriment. Avengers is a broken mess, using the same antiquated PlayStation 2 era design of past games but with less polish and care. While it mostly does justice to the popular Marvel films, the game is too much of a by-the-numbers affair to recommend.

If you need a Marvel fix then stick with the far superior LEGO Marvel Super Heroes.

LEGO Marvel’s Avengers is available on all current major consoles.

Contact Will Harrison at wharrison@theblade.com or on Twitter @DoubleUHarrison.

First Published February 11, 2016, 5:00 a.m.