Game Modes

Darkest Dungeon features different game modes to allow players to customize their playing experience.

Features of Darkest Mode
The "Normal" mode of Darkest Dungeon. Not as difficult as Stygian Mode but takes more time to complete than Radiant Mode. It is recommended for players who want a prolonged experience.

Features of Radiant Mode
Radiant Mode is meant for players who want to keep their playtime low, but it is still designed to give the player just as much challenge as Darkest Mode.

It is intended to take less time overall to complete than normal (“Darkest”) mode. The mode is still challenging — monsters have the same stats and nothing about permadeath has changed. But some gameplay rules have been flexed or altered in ways that reduce some of the more time consuming mid and late game elements. * The changes to Never Again are the following: gain 80 Stress when entering the Darkest Dungeon, decrease Virtue Chance by 25%, effectively making it a 1% Virtue Chance.

Features of Stygian Mode
Stygian is a game mode which gives you a more difficult and more challenging campaign. Unlike other modes, Stygian has instant failure conditions that, when met, will result in a "Game Over" and permanently delete your save.

Features of Bloodmoon Mode
Bloodmoon is a Stygian game mode combined with Crimson Court DLC. While all Stygian loss conditions persist in Bloodmoon, some have been adjusted to fit the new features.

Achievements
These are the achievements specifically related to the game's mode.

Trivia

 * Stygian Mode was originally New game+ and could only be unlocked after the first time you finish the game.
 * When Radiant was first introduced, there was a different hunger system in place. The random Hunger Checks did not occur and instead Food Provision cost increased to 125 and stack size decreased to 6 to compensate.
 * "Victory, such as it is..." achievement is described as "Complete the game" when in reality the player has to complete the game on Darkest difficulty or higher.
 * It has been tested on completing Stygian difficulty, that completing the game on higher difficulties also unlocks achievements from completing faster and less dangerous difficulties.
 * In Radiant Mode, Darkest Configuration settings are overall turned off, but nothing inside is changed. This prevents the player for receiving the Strict Mode achievement for playing on Radiant Difficulty.