Dark Venture is a retro, story-based, adventure card game where players construct a twisting narrative to explore a dystopian future with their heroes, completing quests to win the game. Pursue your destiny through the ravaged wilds of Darkgrange where magically-mutated creatures prowl the grounds of every seemingly abandoned building and stretch of dilapidated roadway.

Players maintain a hand of Location, Item and Character cards, playing them on their turn by spending Action Points. Locations are played and attached to the map, then descriptive story entries are read that set up actions to be triggered and decisions to be made. Items, including weapons, magical artifacts, armor and potions, can be placed from a player's hand into their heroes inventory for them to use. Players may want to play other Characters from their hand to complete a quest or thwart an enemy.

A player's goal in the Competitive game mode is to gain the most Quest Points over the course of a day, 6 game rounds in a short game or 12 game rounds in a long game, tracked on a Quest Track, which can take about 20-30 or 60-90 minutes to play.

In the Cooperative mode, players work, fight, move and complete their quests together to each get a set number of quest points before the end of the day, in 6 or 12 game rounds.

In the Solo mode, players can choose to play a short game of 6 game rounds, attempting to get a set number of quest points before lunch, or a full game of 12 game rounds, attempting to get even more quest points before the end of the day.