They have to be cleared out if melee characters can’t reach the enemies in the back, by way of skills or simply hacking at the corpses until they’re gone. Additionally, when most enemies are killed they’ll leave behind corpses, which are nothing more than obstacles in the way of other enemies. Ranged and melee skills can only be used from certain positions, and your positioning getting mixed up as a result of skills or whatever else can mess up your ability to do damage and heal. Allies and enemies are lined up on a 2D field, and positioning is very important. In terms of combat, Darkest Dungeon is a turn-based RPG, with turn order determined by character speed. For example, there’s not much of a use for skills that inflict bleeding if you’re fighting mostly undead enemies, but if you’re in an area with mostly human enemies, then bleeding and causing blight can be the difference between a successful battle and a grueling one. You have to intimately understand each of the areas, with the enemies you’ll fight and the obstacles you’ll come across, and prepare accordingly. You have to pick your four-man spelunking party with care and make sure to take enough supplies to last the entire trip, even if that means you can’t carry as much loot back. Darkest Dungeon, first and foremost, is a game about management and difficult decisions.

Darkest dungeon hamlet narrator