Red Hook Studios has been crafting a sequel to their grim and gripping RPG, Darkest Dungeon, and we’ve been eagerly waiting. Darkest Dungeon II is a promising follow-up to the original title. In October 2021, the game’s early access version for Microsoft Windows was released.
The cruel and dark themes of Darkest Dungeon 2 set it out as a controversial game about managing a bunch of misfits, their abilities, and their relationships with one another. As promising as the premise of it sounds, let’s see how the reviews hold up.
“Darkest Dungeon II is a harsh but fantastic game”: Game Informer
As impressed as they sound, Game Informer took some time to master the gameplay through brutal game sequences and setbacks.
Darkest Dungeon II is a harsh but fantastic game whose white-knuckled battles and hazard-filled exploration will trap you for hours.
Our review: https://t.co/ORHfA0RLd4 pic.twitter.com/yw9J4WDapa
— Game Informer (@gameinformer) May 8, 2023
According to them, the combat system is highly rewarding (even though tricky to master). As you understand the cast better, you enter into the exciting experience of learning who works best with whom, in what position, and against which animals. They spent hours testing different combinations to find the best ones for their playstyle. You feel terrific when you succeed with your party intact since the battles feel like riddles. However, they can also make you angry if you deliver one less damage than necessary and then get hit by an unanticipated counterattack.
Before facing your expedition’s last adversary, you traverse unsettling but wonderfully created places in addition to fighting. You drive in a Stagecoach, which is susceptible to damage from dangerous roads and unneeded conflicts. Additionally, you have the freedom to select your own route, sometimes knowing what to anticipate and other times being completely in the dark.
The reviewer cannot dispute the following fact: when a challenging struggle finishes in their favor, they often find themself shouting in relief and frantically waving their fist in the air. The risk-filled adventure and nail-biting combat in Darkest Dungeon 2 will ensnare you for hours. It’s a journey that is worthwhile to take if you’re prepared to make the necessary sacrifices.
“Another chance to wallow in the mire”: Eurogamer
Darkest Dungeon 2 is a copious and often brilliant, if not quite unmissable reworking of a powerfully grim fantasy.
Our review is here https://t.co/Ysl0OrAbTs
— Eurogamer (@eurogamer) May 8, 2023
Eurogamer claims that the game is as tough to summarize as excruciating the gameplay is. Based on their experience, Darkest Dungeon 2 follows a similar general pattern to the original game: characters and the world are leveled up through exploration and conflict, but the effects of stress and deteriorating mental or physical health are controlled. The strategy layer is slightly more deeply woven into the travel and combat because it lashes the fundamental fasteners to a new roguelike narrative framework.
The classic pop-up book dungeons have been divided and dispersed to create enormous, horrible cities, farmlands, forests, and coastal towns. The original Hellboy’s bloodied and hacked aesthetic is wrapped around animated 3D character models. The fight system has also undergone numerous improvements, becoming crisper, snappier, and more focused on teamwork amongst party members. However, this is really a game of devious rearrangements rather than additions, which slither around in their thoughts like heroes who have been knocked out of formation and challenge me to distinguish between one game and the other.
Despite its genre switch and streamlined, refocused combat, the reviewer is not sure how Darkest Dungeon 2 will fit into their life. It’s an undeniable success, a brilliant and robust reimagining that could keep you busy for at least 50 hours (and maybe much longer if you want to unlock every feature). Darkest Dungeon 2 is an opportunity to wade into the muck again, in contrast to the first game, which was a breath of nasty, abysmal air for fantasy RPGs.
“Sharp, positional, deeply tactile beats as the original”: Slant
Slant enjoys managing the game’s character’s interpersonal relationships and how events pan out based on their decisions.
#DarkestDungeonII is invested in joyously showing how dire circumstances affect your heroes’ relationships. Read @mitchdemorest's review.https://t.co/0xc2d1eIJp
— Slant (@Slant_Magazine) May 8, 2023
According to their review, the grandiose stylings are the first thing you’ll notice when Darkest Dungeon 2 starts up. The game pops off the screen in a way that the 2016 version never did since there is so much animation, music, and life on display throughout. This has the additional benefit of somewhat changing the tone—not to the point of parody or comedy, but just enough to avoid the depressing self-seriousness that was a hindrance in the original game. Naturally, the familiar reactive narration reappears, and the one-sided chat certainly makes the journey more entertaining.
Compared to the original title, Darkest Dungeon 2 is more interested in demonstrating how difficult conditions influence your heroes’ relationships. It focuses on the physical and emotional toll that a life of bloodshed takes. For instance, a conflict between two heroes over how to deal with some locals can cause their relationship (represented as a score from zero to 20, with ten being neutral) to worsen.
Darkest Dungeon 2’s focus on interpersonal relationships is appropriate for a game that plays more like a road trip than a dungeon crawler. But it also makes it a noticeably more optimistic experience than the first one, because it leaves the possibility open for your adventuring party to face seemingly insurmountable odds and emerge from the experience stronger. Despite how terrifying all those creatures may look, the knowledge that your main issue is getting your motley crew of rascals to quit quarreling and get along adds to the comedy and pure fun.
“A fearless alteration of a well-known formula”: Dexerto
While playing Darkest Dungeon 2, the reviewers at Dexerto became aware that two hours had passed during a particular session, with them making little progress through the game’s five acts. The never-ending cycle of getting by, failing, and trying again made them sigh in relief whenever a brief respite occurred.
The sequel does away with the persistent universe of the first game, so players won’t have to plan and hire mercenaries in the hopes that they will live long enough to explore dungeons again. There is no town to run or retreat to. You must now pull a wagon from one end to the other. Darkest Dungeon 2 circumvents this by dividing the game into focused acts with plots based on the five stages of grief.
Although, much of what made the original so distinctive among its rivals feels sidelined by this forging ahead and primarily story-focused group bonding. Managing your crew’s various oddities, mental health issues, and stress-related conditions felt like it was part of the larger story being developed for the mechanics-heavy game- a story about surviving in a society that aggressively purged your ranks.
“A familiar bleakness”: Distractify
Distractify certainly enjoyed elements from the original game along with new twists and additions to the already solid formula.
Based on their review, eldritch powers are returning to fill the realm with pyre-obsessed monsters and vicious humanoid fishermen. Once more, Wayne June’s eerie narration hangs over the players, laced with words of consolation and the unwavering warning that all may end in disaster.
'Darkest Dungeon II' Review: One Hell of a Road Trip for the Books https://t.co/558EXam7Cj
— Distractify (@Distractify) May 8, 2023
After spending the night at the inn checkpoints, relationships between various characters could develop, adding new advantages to battle skills like healing diseases or lowering tension.
The advantages of a relationship might be hit-or-miss depending on a hero’s build. For instance, a hero with a ranged attack specialty may benefit from a relationship in terms of melee skills. They wished there were ways to optimize the advantages so heroes would have a greater influence on their runs as a reward for maintaining good relations.
Players will feel like they’ve seen everything in Darkest Dungeon 2 after around 40+ hours of upgrading and unlocking, yet there is still a dynamic range of diversity across runs. Additionally, players may manually increase the difficulty by using the Infernal Flame to weaken heroes so they can accumulate more candles.
The latest installment stays true to its foundation of excruciating difficulty, but it’s far from unfair. Players can prepare for it by taking care of the Altar of Hope. It’s a careful balance peppered with moments of victory and heartbreaking lows. A nerve-wracking ride on a rollercoaster that rewards success despite setbacks and quick thinking in the face of overwhelming odds.
The Good and the Bad: What does the game deliver?
Positives
- A great theme and an interesting lore
- Well-designed characters with gripping relationships
- Solid narration and world-building
- Stronger gameplay elements inspired by the first game
Negatives
- It may feel repetitive at certain points
- A punishing gameplay loop for inexperienced players
Are you going to try Darkest Dungeon 2? Tell us in the comments below!
