Discard All Hope

About Discard All Hope

Discard All Hope is a role-playing game with twin-stick shooter mechanics set in a Lovecraftian town besieged by cultists and eldritch horrors. Jameson Wilkins developed it for PC, releasing it on December 31, 2026. You play a cursed sorcerer-bodyguard investigating an apocalyptic threat in the coastal town of Brein. The game blends spell management, combat against grotesque enemies, and base-building elements as you recover from a century-long hiatus. It’s a grind-heavy RPG with tactical combat, appealing to players who enjoy resource management and escalating threats.

Gameplay

Combat revolves around twin-stick aiming and a radial menu for casting spells, with upgrades unlocked via scavenged research. Each session involves navigating procedurally generated zones, battling cultists, biomechanical hybrids, and twisted creatures. You balance mana costs, spell synergies, and weapon swaps mid-fight. Between missions, you reinforce your base, assign agents to gather resources, and research new abilities. The learning curve is steep, early spells feel underpowered compared to late-game nukes. Boss fights require memorizing attack patterns while managing a squad of AI-controlled allies. Sessions last 2, 4 hours, with permadeath risks for unprepared players.

What Players Think

PlayPile users rate it 4.5/5, with 89% completing the main story in 18 hours on average. Community moods lean determined (62%) and focused (31%), reflecting its grind-heavy nature. Only 1 vote marks it as "strategic," but 78% of players spend over 20 hours mastering spell combos. Critics praise its escalating difficulty but note repetitive side quests. One user wrote, "The helmet’s audio logs make the lore feel alive, even if the combat AI occasionally teleports through walls." Achievement completion is 82%, with 45 total trophies rewarding spell diversity and boss clears.

PlayPile's Take

Discard All Hope is a 40-hour commitment for fans of tactical RPGs and cosmic horror. Priced at $39.99, it offers replay value through randomized zones and spell builds. The 45 achievements incentivize experimentation but don’t pad the experience. Skip if you dislike resource crunching or permadeath, this isn’t a casual pick-up. For those who enjoy optimizing spell synergies and grim story beats, it’s a solid but demanding choice. The cursed helmet’s lore bits alone are worth the price for genre enthusiasts.

Storyline

The Institute has been proclaimed an enemy of the state. Its research confiscated, institutions sacked, and agents assassinated. But it is also resourceful, given time it has recovered from worse. A pity the apocalypse won’t be waiting. You are the Director’s personal bodyguard. A deadly sorcerer with a brain so melted by cosmic forces that only a cursed helmet can keep it from leaking out. You haven’t done field work in the better part of a century, but a senior researcher in the sea town of Brein has convinced the Institute to send whoever they can.