Back in April, developer Red Hook Studios announced it was working on a free PvP mode for its deliciously punishing Lovecraftian strategy RPG, Darkest Dungeon. And now, two months on, Butcher's Circus, as the new DLC is known, is available to download on Steam.
Butcher's Circus is, of course, a rather dramatic departure for Darkest Dungeon; since the game's release in 2016, its punishing expeditions to the shadowy antediluvian corners of its ancient hamlet - requiring players to safely shepherd their party of broken heroes through sanity-shattering horrors - have remained staunchly solo endeavours. Now, however, there's a new multiplayer twist to that rock-solid core.
Red Hook's latest slab of DLC adds the new Butcher's Circus location to Darkest Dungeon's gloomy hamlet, and those brave enough to enter its "weathered and bloodstained pavilion tent", can embark on PvP arena battles against friends and strangers.