Darkest Dungeon 2 is a sequel to a 6 year old game. It didn't hold over its side-scrolling nature of travelling through dungeons, nor its management of many characters. The city where we used to find new heroes is a thing of the past.
(reviewing Early Access)
What's new?
We're travelling in a stagecoach with 4 heroes, moving in semi-linear environments to the left and right and we get to choose from 3 paths but they all fall into 1 in the end.
Stagecoach can seem unresponsive but its turning speed can be increased. We're getting some extra loot from hitting objects on the road but we get a lot of loot anyway.
Some paths are slightly more dangerous and there are even watchtowers which reveal the rest of what's ahead.
There are mission objectives that give us rewards after fulfilling these simple tasks that can be failed very easily by choosing the wrong paths or not fighting enough enemies.
At the end of each run there's an inn where our heroes rest, we can buy consumables only used here, combat consumables which are free actions during hero combat turns and we can upgrade skills, each skill only once.
At the inn, we can also buy trinkets, which are hero equipment boosts, and stagecoach upgrades which provide us with more slots or stacks in inventory.
We can not sell anything in the whole game which may sound like a bummer but we're gaining Hope after discarding items. Torchlight is still crucial and works similarly to what we've known already.
There are events on the road where I get to decide what my character does, influencing the relationships. Sometimes two characters want pretty much the same thing but only some hero will react to that positively, it is a bit of role playing here, some like each other naturally.
Another novelty here is a focus on narrating hero stories. They were just fodder in the previous game. Here they seem more important. Once we choose the hero in the shrine, the narrator tells us a little bit of their backstory. We either get a new free skill or we need to win a mini combat to get it.
Most of the fights in my first run were mostly limited to 5 rounds, and it happened to me more often than not that I wanted to fight longer because it went in my way but the enemies had just too much HP.
Sometimes after winning a combat, the game offers us to fight the second "round" for even better loot. I never took it because my inventory was full and there was no point.
There's a loathing system which increases the strength of enemies and affects the Torchlight. The more fights we attend, the lower it goes so it's better to fight early against weaker enemies.
Finally, there is also a new type of burning enemies. We also get a new hero with burning skills. There's also disease resistance but I haven't met these enemies yet.
We can still use stuns but more often than that we'll daze enemies instead, which changes their speed to the lowest for that turn.
Some enemy types, especially bosses will sometimes hang on the Death's Door, like heroes usually do when they reach 0.
Characters also lose any debuffs, dots and replenish some HP with stress after combat. Positive relationships are good for random buffs. Sometimes an ally will hit the target with me, sometimes they heal me.
What's the gameplay?
We receive 10 stress and every time we reach it, relationships with other heroes decrease but it doesn't lead to death's door or heart attack right away. They lose a lot of HP and their friendships break apart.
I've had my number 1 frontliner on death's door most of the time so he eventually died because his relationships were all negative and despite him having the biggest HP pool, he tanked the most damage and stress.
Heroes also receive quirks which I can cure or lock the good ones. It's only happening on the road when reaching "ward stations". Here I can also replenish the HP and buy some items.
Game is very good at explaining all its features. Not only is the tutorial extensive, I can come back to it from the main menu, and I can also hold ALT and G for icons.
I'm not totally convinced it was a good idea to not involve the economy, I can buy stuff with little resources I have and I end up having more than I need but less than is useful.
It's all junk I was discarding and there is a trader in the dungeon but unless I've slayed many enemies before that point, I had very little money to buy what I really needed.
There are still many combats but we can't really predict where exactly they occur but they're not ambushes. There are only more dangerous paths.
We can prepare before combat. The combat is either a barricade on the road or inside a building and there's really no way we can walk around it or go back. When I enter a building, I can choose to escape and I have failed only once in my last fight.
What's the replay value?
I spent 8 hours on my first run and almost reached the final destination. After that the game evaluated my hope, I jumped from level 1 to 6, unlocked two heroes and many more items and quirks. There are a total of 50 profile levels to unlock which could possibly result in 80 hours of game time.
The game didn't feel very hard in my first run. I hold over my unlocked skills from starter heroes and I should be able to take on my other 2 heroes at the inn once I lose 2 main ones.
Story
3/5
I'm satisfied to get some interesting mini stories but they're only occasional. Some stories are puzzles which do not make much sense and must be repeated until successful but it also wastes our opportunity to gain a new skill until we get to shrine again. The combat shouts are often a bit generic.
Gameplay
3.5/5
The biggest strength of the game lies in its combat system. We can't always effectively predict the outcome and enemies are attacking random available targets which can often end up being lucky or disastrous.
Second part of it is management and strategy. They're simpler and shorter. It's taken over many features from before but they've been spread out and diversified.
Replay value
5/5
The campaign may be shorter but it doesn't feel poorer in variety of its enemies and events. It's not so grindy and punishing. We're choosing paths for our party, unlocking more and more content even if we fail.
Graphics
4.5/5
This is a big step up, it's more lively, smooth, bigger, more detailed and we're exploring the world from 3rd person while combat still shows up from the side. I'm not particularly fond of this grim palette but it's effective.
Music and sounds
5/5
I really like the narrator, he gives the game soul and purpose. Apart from him, the music comes from the same composer and it sounds epic, uplifting, hopeful at times.
Verdict
8/10
It's way too different from the first one, only the characters, their skills and atmosphere remain the same.
There's no hometown to come back to but inns on the road while travelling. It's also got simpler micro management and focuses more on relationships between 4 heroes.
It's slow paced but less epic, and I would say it will find a niche audience as a prequel as it is slightly more story oriented and less repetitive.
I find more diverse enemies and still many fights and even more boss fights with similar combat mechanics to Darkest Dungeon 1