Darkest Dungeon 2 is a roguelite that overhauls a massive part of the meta-game of the original Darkest Dungeon while also tweaking the battle system to go along with these new changes. The new art direction is a perfect continuation of the original's and the 3d/2d style works (almost) perfectly, especially in the animation department DD2 surpasses the original.

The issue however is one (and it is a big one). With the meta-game overhauled the stakes of each run have changed towards a very peculiar direction. In DD2 losing a hero or getting a party wipe does't represent a problem you have to work around (i.e build up a new team, equip them, level them up etc like in DD1, losing a team felt like a personal challenge, the game directly slapping you and asking you what you are gonna do about it) but rather it just represents lost time. Feeling like you wasted hours upon hours on a run because you messed up is an infinitely more grading feeling. The memory system also piles up on this annoyance by multiplying said lost time. As a result the game gets repetitive and stale. The meta-game currency is incapable of fixing that issue.

As a personal anecdote. I could play DD1 for 12 hours straight and not get bored for a second. With DD2 I can go through 1 maybe 2 runs before I throw the towel for the day because I just can't bring myself to go through the grinder again.

That said I am a big fan of the new combat system, obviously heavily inspired by the Butcher's Circus add-on to DD1. The RNG has been heavily reduced by replacing many stats such as Accuracy and Dodge with tokens. Your character will hit 100% of the time but if he has a blind token or the enemy has a dodge token that % goes down to 50% or even 25%. I do enjoy this new system since it fixes one of the most frustrating aspects of DD1. That being the accuracy system.

All that said I think DD2 has a lot of potential. If the Meta-Game is fixed and more variety is added I think it can reach hights close to the original. Also I respect the devs a lot for deciding to make an actually new game based on DD1 and not just recycle the same formula with new graphics. This is a level of risk that should be rewarded by fans on top of the fact that Red Hook still releases updates and DLCs for DD2.

All and all. Good game with a lot of potential but some really upsetting issues that can be resolved.

Darkest Dungeon 2 is a roguelite that overhauls a massive part of the meta-game of the original Darkest Dungeon while also tweaking the battle system to go along with these new changes. The new art direction is a perfect continuation of the original's and the 3d/2d style works (almost) perfectly, especially in the animation department DD2 surpasses the original. The issue however is one (and it is a big one). With the meta-game overhauled the stakes of each run have changed towards a very peculiar direction. In DD2 losing a hero or getting a party wipe does't represent a problem you have to work around (i.e build up a new team, equip them, level them up etc like in DD1, losing a team felt like a personal challenge, the game directly slapping you and asking you what you are gonna do about it) but rather it just represents lost time. Feeling like you wasted hours upon hours on a run because you messed up is an infinitely more grading feeling. The memory system also piles up on this annoyance by multiplying said lost time. As a result the game gets repetitive and stale. The meta-game currency is incapable of fixing that issue. As a personal anecdote. I could play DD1 for 12 hours straight and not get bored for a second. With DD2 I can go through 1 maybe 2 runs before I throw the towel for the day because I just can't bring myself to go through the grinder again. That said I am a big fan of the new combat system, obviously heavily inspired by the Butcher's Circus add-on to DD1. The RNG has been heavily reduced by replacing many stats such as Accuracy and Dodge with tokens. Your character will hit 100% of the time but if he has a blind token or the enemy has a dodge token that % goes down to 50% or even 25%. I do enjoy this new system since it fixes one of the most frustrating aspects of DD1. That being the accuracy system. All that said I think DD2 has a lot of potential. If the Meta-Game is fixed and more variety is added I think it can reach hights close to the original. Also I respect the devs a lot for deciding to make an actually new game based on DD1 and not just recycle the same formula with new graphics. This is a level of risk that should be rewarded by fans on top of the fact that Red Hook still releases updates and DLCs for DD2. All and all. Good game with a lot of potential but some really upsetting issues that can be resolved.