Your heroes are mostly disposable, you can always replace them if they die with level zero units (not ideal but better than game over), yet, you'll almost inevitably find yourself getting attached to the poor fucks that have made it through more than a handful of quests, and when they die, boy is it a harrowing experience. So yeah, on top making sure your characters are in tip-top shape for combat, you also gotta try to manage their sanity coupled with all the other mechanics and hurdles this game throws, this makes for a stupidly fun and engaging experience. If stress levels reach 200, they have a heart-attack and die immediately.

Afflictions are mental states (Masochistic, Hopeless, Fearful, etc.) that will compel them to take self-destructive actions, sowing even more stress among your crew. While your party makes it's way through dungeons, they will accumulate stress due to a variety of factors (light-level, traps, hunger, enemies, etc.), if the stress level of a character reaches 100 their resolve will be tested and if your are lucky they will come out virtuous, but more often than not they will end up afflicted. Probably the most nobel thing the game introduces is stress as a numerical value to measure the mental health of the poor saps you keep sending to cleanse the land from monstrous evils.

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