Things get a bit less harrowing in a well-balanced

In extraction game fashion, you'll fight and loot AI enemies like skeletons, spiders, and mummies as you explore its two current maps, competing with other players to escape through exfil portals as a circle of "dark swarm" closes in around the dungeon. You can queue up for Dark And Darker Gold solos in the Goblin Cave map, take a party of up to three into the Forgotten Castle, or pay a 100 gold ante for the high risk, high loot version of the castle.

As the fighter class, I'll start most rounds with the default sword, shield, and torch, loot a nearby chest in hopes of some boots or a helmet, and then get on with killing the closest AI baddies. If I'm lucky, I'll amass a small handful of gold trinkets and miscellaneous weaponry to jam in my inventory Tetris-ed pockets. If I die I lose it all, but if I manage to worm my way through the oppressively narrow corridors, floor spike traps, and other players I have a shot at locating a glowing blue stone on the floor that will open an exit portal. (Be aware, co-op folks; these things admit one person only, not the whole squad, which seems quite stingy for a game best played with pals.) You can also take a red glowing portal to head deeper into the dungeon for further challenges and rewards, but I've not gotten that brave yet.

Things get a bit less harrowing in a well-balanced trio of Fighter, Cleric, and Wizard, (or Barbarian, Rogue, or Ranger) but even so, death is only a couple missteps away in Dark and Darker's classically claustrophobic dungeons, which make me miss the open air of other PvPvE romps.

If I do escape, I immediately sell all my loot in the merchant menu and shove the gold coins in my stash while I take on the next run wearing only what I brought out on my back. This is where Dark and Darker is most similar to Escape From Tarkov; buying incrementally better gear from merchants and working towards permanent class upgrades is a familiar grind. I'm not one to Dark And Darker Gold for sale throw around the word "Sisyphean" but the threat of my loot boulder tumbling down the hill seems even greater than other extraction games. Instead, I strive towards level-gated perk slot upgrades and swapping my active skills for the Fighter and Rogue characters I'm levelling.