Prerelease:Darkest Dungeon

This page details prerelease information and/or media for Darkest Dungeon.

Through its demo builds and Kickstarter campaign, there had been a lot of unused pre-release content in Darkest Dungeon. In fact, most of it is still referenced in-game, but without the assets posted in this page.

Base Game

Enemy Concepts

Warrens

Most of these concepts in particular are taken from the Darker Dungeon archived developer streams! The large carrion eater is taken from a post on Chris Bourassa (the lead artist)'s Twitter account, and the small one is from Darkest Dungeon's original Kickstarter.

Unnamed Swine holding a macuahuitl.
Another version of the macuahuitl swine, holding a different weapon.
An unnamed swine that seems to have similarities to the Swine Reaver from the final game.
Swine Slasher, ver 1. The concept of "a vestigial thumb" ended up being used on the Swinetaur's hoof finger.
Swine Slasher, ver 2. This version was where the blade arms were added.
Swine Slasher, ver 3. Blades replaced with Hooks.
Swine Slasher, ver 4. Legs have been made longer in order to be less similar to the Swine Wretch.
Swine Slasher, ver 5. A viewer on the stream suggested the headpiece which is an actual medieval torture device (Scold's Bridle). Main difference between this version and the in-game one is that in-game the Slasher has received eyeholes.
Swine Drummer concept art.
Swine Reaver concept art.
Swinetaur concept art 1.
Swinetaur concept art 2, depicting a helmet and a different weapon.
Swinetaur concept art 3, depicting a different helmet.
Swine Prince concept art, and Wilbur. Ver 1.
Swine Prince concept art ver 2. Since he's not a very mobile character and the artist thought it was a cool concept, he replaced his two functional legs with a pile of guts and gore.
Swine Prince concept art ver 3. His arms were further damaged on this iteration.
A concept for a Large Carrion Eater posted on social media alongside the speech bubble shown here.
A concept for the Carrion Eater posted alongside the original Kickstarter, showing even a few more things than just the enemy.

Misc. Enemy Concepts

These are found from all kinds of sources and aren't really tied together in any way.

An unnamed Knight monster posted on Twitter by Chris Bourassa. This seems to be a skeleton due to the limbs below the armor and the general aesthetic. Potentially a concept for Bone Bearer though it is unclear.
A few concepts shown on Redhook's official site.
A promo from the Kickstarter updates that depicts a Pelagic Pirannah and Pelagic Shaman. The Shaman's design and colors are different than the final version.
A variety of monster designs and hero designs. Noteable, are the old designs for Leper, Man at Arms, Bounty Hunter, Graverobber (the hooded lady with daggers), Occultist, Houndmaster (Bow and arrow wielding class, seems to have become the Arbalest while the person themselves became the Houndmaster), and Hellion and Musketeer at the far right. On the enemy side of things, the feminine monster with the long tongue and fan appears to have eventually become Countess as they share a number of similarities in design. The "ogre" above her is an early version of a Ghoul as the artbook confirms.
Among the recognizable monster designs in the concept are the hooded figures which appear to be Cultists (The one wielding a club isn't present in the game but a staff wielding female cultist and a melee cultist did make it in), an early Crone, Gargoyle, a draft of a Pelagic monster and a draft of a Swine.
Another concept off of the official Red Hook site. Noteable are a worm enemy and a Bone Captain.

Hero Concepts

Graverobber's old design, snagged from a developer stream.
Occultist's old design, taken from another stream. Another iteration exists.
Another iteration of Occultist's design.
The advertisement for the artbook, featuring old designs for heroes yet again.
Concepts of various heroes.
Concepts of the Flagellant, posted by Bourassa on Twitter.

UI and Demo Content

A Kickstarter image, displaying the old obstacle interface, the pickaxe used before the introduction of the shovel, and some additional loot and inventory items.
Another Kickstarter image, depicting the Votive Table, a curio still present in the localization of the game.
A camping image from the Kickstarter too.
Concept art of the Hamlet.
A polished concept of the Hamlet.
Concept art of town events in the Hamlet.
Concept art of the estate map from the Kickstarter page.
Official concepts shown on Redhook's site, with text telling the studio's story attached to it.
Concept art of the Nomad Wagon, posted on the Kickstarter.
Concept art posted on Bourassa's Twitter.
More concepts posted on his Twitter account, focusing on the Weald mostly.
The text depicted here was presented on every character's guild screen in the demo it is from. The icons are also old and different than those in-game currently.
The way the Abbey looked in the demos, featuring a different NPC too.
This screenshot features the old Book of Holy Healing, unique in its restrictions and effects, and the sprite for the Rope provision. Its localization is still present in the game today.
The screenshot features a placeholder sprite for the Arcane Lectern, a curio that lies unused in the game nowadays. Additionally, it shows food being called "Provisions", explaining that being its debug name.
Screenshot from the demo, depicting the Musty Tome curio, which lies unused in the game today.
Ancestor's Portrait as shown in the demo. This item is still left in the localization in the current game.
Camping concepts shown at the end of a developer stream.
Concept art showing a possible game view.
More combat/game view concept art, from the post-mortem video from GDC.
More concept art, also depicting concepts of monsters and heroes.
Another group of concept arts shown during the post-mortem panel.