It's difficult to top one of the best rogue-lite games ever made. In what way might you surpass the Darkest Dungeon? by giving it a darker tone? Already, it was sinfully threatening. Updating the bestiary and adding new biomes and bosses? More is expected of fans than that. Perhaps by clarifying a few fundamental ideas and simplifying the gameplay?

They chose the last option. Streamlining, which is usually used to refer to compromise in order to appeal to a wider audience, is a bad term in my opinion when it comes to the highly anticipated sequels of hard-core games. For instance, contrast Everspace's genius with Everspace 2's dull, uninteresting accessibility. Examine it and cry.

Red Hook Studios made the game's flow more efficient. They eliminated the base camp and the oversight of many dozen explorers in favor of concentrating on a specific group that you choose at the outset. It's still very challenging, but the lengthy campaign and "economy" component are no longer present. The economy is still there, but now you just have to take care of four people instead of forty or more, saving you stress, money, and battle improvements.

Trail of Oregon

You may now move your base around. In an attempt to get to the enigmatic mountain, your group of intrepid travelers will traverse perilous terrain, arid desert, and burning cities while riding a stagecoach. The only way to save yourself from the evil your ancestor unearthed from under your family's land is to carry the flame of hope all the way to the source of the issue.

In wayside inns, you will rest and recover, utilizing consumables to heal, decompress, and apply your hard-earned mastery points to the talents you choose. After that, you'll keep going, choosing the next biome to traverse and pulling your wagon ahead continuously. There are many options for you to choose from at crossroads in each biome. One may lead to tactical encounters, another to a merchant selling trinkets and consumables, a field hospital in the third, a watchtower that you could use to scan ahead and uncover the mystery nodes in the fourth, etc.

Do or die, emper fi. Go, Gung Ho.

Once one commits to a certain biome, there's no going back. Either you make it to the next inn, or you'll perish trying. In contrast to this binary choice of results, Darkest Dungeon provided players with the option to quit a run, which increased tension while protecting players' lives. Right now, it's "do or die," which isn't my favorite situation. Hope, the XP-like money you accumulated throughout the run, is added to your account level when you die, which you will undoubtedly perish. Compared to the four basic adventures, you have additional beginning choices thanks to the meta progression that unlocks different classes. Additionally, higher levels open up greater possible treasure, wagon improvements, etc.

Darkest Dungeon 2's Early Access edition only has the first of the game's six chapters available at this time. Plague Doctor, Grave Robber, Highwayman, and Man-at-Arms are the first heroes. Hellion, Jester, Leper, Occultist, and Runaway become available as you level up. In this preliminary version, the final one is a unique new class. Among other things, Runaway is a debuffer that has scorching DoT, the capacity to conceal from injury, and the ability to reveal stealth adversaries. When it comes to its tactical slot, it isn't as valuable as Highwayman or Hellion, in my opinion. Unlike in the original game, you are unable to utilize more than one hero of the same kind in the group.

Runaway Train

With the exception of beautiful 3D models rather than 2D papercuts of heroes and monsters, tactical warfare is much the same. Red Hook Studios chose to use Unity rather than their own engine, which allowed them to achieve a whole new degree of refinement. The idle animations, sways, and swings that add life to every scene are the finest new feature. Heroes now have preparation poses that appear when the ability is selected. It seems amazing and absolutely ominous.

The backstory of every suicide squad member is a fantastic new element. It appears as a tactical node that you may or may not encounter on the journey, and after you finish each chapter, you'll be able to access a fun new skill. Bonnie the fugitive, whose narrative starts with a cunning battle with the cruel mother superior, is, indeed, a fugitive from the rigorous religious convent. Put all those nights you spent kneeling on corn behind you and steal three keys from her while you're hiding from her whip. These tales aid in concentrating attention on a select group of heroes.

Excessively Capricious

Speaking of sharper attention, a system of affinity and antagonism strengthens bonds amongst team members. Right now, it happens at random and makes me experience primarily unconnected emotions. As the adventure progresses, one hero will grow to appreciate or loathe another for unknown reasons. Higher degrees of hate are harmful since they often block certain abilities and halt tactical warfare. I once had a game where Man-at-Arms and the Plague doctor hated each other so much that Man-at-Arms kept refusing to be cured by Doctor Paracelsus because he thought the doctor was up to something evil.

Stress builds up more quickly than it did before, and when a hero reaches a breaking point, their HP is reduced and their relationships are somewhat reset. The success of your run is further dependent on the ruthless RNG due to that reset's randomness and lack of transparency. To be clear, there was a lot of randomness in Darkest Dungeon, but the events and triggers made more sense.

Early Conclusion

This new direction for the Darkest Dungeon series is something I'm not sure I like. The first game was a big, high-stakes event where you might lose badly after spending thirty hours on a single try. I sort of like the constant feeling of fear it brought on. It provided a priceless, unvarnished connection between ability and result, danger and reward, and good fortune and bad luck. I dreamed about it. I even thought about getting a tattoo (shhhh).

You may bet for a maximum of many hours in Darkest Dungeon 2. It won't feel like you're a part of a dangerous, grand adventure. With meta growth, even an unsuccessful run is still worth something, and there's always one click away from the next attempt. I understand that this point of view may seem like nonsense to some fetishist who is addicted to suffering. But true devotees of Darkest Dungeon will understand.

My Steam collection consists of just two flawless games: Darkest Dungeon and FTL. I really doubt that the third will be Darkest Dungeon 2. Not until Red Hook starts from scratch once again.