Darkest Dungeon

Darkest Dungeon's hook is a dungeon crawler about the psychological toll of adventuring. Ryan Clark's example contrasts 'a new dungeon crawler', which is dull, with 'a Lovecraftian dungeon crawler about the psychological toll of adventuring', which makes a catchy headline. The second framing gives people a reason to try the game or talk about it.

Clark's definition of a hook is an interesting fact about the game that makes people try it or talk about it. The test for builders is to imagine a news site covering the game and draft the headline: "If you can't write a catchy headline for your game idea, it probably doesn't have a hook."