I think people are unfairly hating on this game just because Red Hook didn't give us more of the same thing they've already given us. If you want to play the same game slightly updated then go play CoD or something. DD1 still exists, it's still great. DD2 is something different and I think for the most part in a good way. I have probably 50 or so hours on Epic before I bought the game again on Steam.

Run Length:
People complain about the lengths of the runs but you can stop literally any time? They're also conveniently forgetting that yes dungeons were shorter in DD1 but the campaign itself definitely wasn't. You could also lose that entire long ass campaign very far into it. DD2 is great for people that don't want to commit to a long drawn out campaign. Sit down after work, run through a region, if you lose oh well you only lost an hour or two not a couple dozen.

Progression:
There is a way over-exaggeration on how long it takes to unlock skills. All of my characters are completely unlocked and have been for a hot minute. I had the advantage of having played the game a lot before on Epic but I think the average person could unlock all character skills in ~20 hours. This gives you something to work for. If they gave you all the skills from the start then you'd complain that the game has nothing to work towards.
Those same hero shrines also give a lot more backstory on the characters which was really cool to see and experience.
The candles are just standard rogue-like currency. They give you a lot more than meaningless tiny stat gains depending on where and you spend them. Spending them on characters also unlocks different "Paths" for them which can drastically change how that character works more on this in a minute.

Skills:
Combat skills are influenced by potential relationships with other party members, masteries, and hero paths. The reason we don't have multiple Plague Doctors is because we don't need multiple. If you want her to be up front, hacking into people, making them bleed out then you can put her on Surgeon path. If you want her gassing enemies until their faces melt off then you can make her an Alchemist. Some paths work better in team compositions than others. You're also not hardlocked into them, you can pay a small fee (increasing with masteries spent I believe?) to change at the inn. Didn't like Ravager Hellion? No worries you can make her something else.
Masteries are upgrades to skills. More damage, longer status effect, shorter cooldown etc. You can get more mastery points by completing challenges and such.

Relationships:
Everyone complaining about the relationship mechanic falls into two camps: they just don't like the mechanic period or they suck at the game/reading. Relationships are incredibly easy to manage and only get easier the more inn items you unlock. You absolutely CAN influence relationships and very easily. I almost never go into the final boss without all positive relationships. It is worth buying the inn out of all of their whiskey to ensure everyone likes each other. Positive relationships will give skills a boost with the respective character (reduce stress/heal/etc) whereas negative will lock in that skill even if it is one you weren't using AND using that skill will have a negative effect.

Difficulty:
It's definitely easier than early game DD1 however I think people forget how easy late-game DD1 can be when you have completely kitted out heroes. Not to mention the fall back of a roster. In DD2 if your character dies that is it, you're getting a random replacement at the inn. Sure hope you weren't relying on that Man-at-Arms that just died. Different regions can feel vastly different in difficulty depending on what kind of party you're running. Some regions I'll avoid like the plague with certain party comps because I know it will be miserable. The difficulty can also be increased depending on what points on the map you interact with. Lairs, creature dens, good ol shamby can all give you great rewards or kill your party if you're not ready for them (there are also some random mini boss encounters depending on who is on your team that can be a real kick in the balls). Inn items and carriage items can also provide great buffs or even change how you play. I will say that trinkets overall are disappointing but they kind of were in DD1 as well.

TL;DR
Don't get the game if you want to play DD1, just play DD1 it's still a great game. DD2 is different and great for people that want a lower time investment but the same dark aesthetic. The game is more complex than 2 hours will tell you.

Pros:

* Fun inn and stagecoach items system. I liked tinkering with different items, compared to DD1 grab some food and bandages and go
* Riding stagecoach is immersive
* Shrines with hero stories

Cons:

* Relationship system. It just snowballs to either side. Either heroes are friendly with each other or your run becomes a torment. Its hard to come change relationships to positive if they started to spoil
* Problems with balance, espcially at launch. We don't talk about Focused Fault.
* The game felt barebones. I felt like I'm fighting the same enemies over and over again. Maybe there's just not that much diversity for amount of time I spent to beat the game.
* Chapter bosses design. Just felt boring compared to DD1

Felt fun for a bit, but then I just wanted to complete the game and be done with it. You can do better Red Hook.

Schmeckt nach Frustration 8/10