Recent reviews by LFA

Not a terrible game, but a far cry from DD1
Some serious UI/UX issue, really not polished there.
Give me back some dungeons, I don't really like riding the cart
Seriously, there are litterally no dungeons in the game.
Things that made the first game stand out are mostly gone or watered down for some reason.

Still not a terrible game, but a clear downgrade from the Darkest Dungeon 1, I'm not sure what happenned here.
I can respect trying to do things differently instead of just sticking to the formula, but it didn't work here.

Cant even launch the game because of the infamous "MSVCR100 can't be found error".
Tried every fix I could find on the internet, reinstalled the game multiple times, nothing worked.
Even did some pretty irreversable things I really didn't want to do, including but not limited to updating to windows 11.

Never had this kind of crap happen on steam before. I'm pretty mad about this one.
Refunded

After playing 1500 hours of CK2, I'm pretty disapointed by this sequel as it stands now, would definitely not recommend buying in it's current state.

LOTS of features are missing from the previous game (less succesions, no societies/orders, no papal influence system, no artifacts, much less events and event chains, can't chose a specific starting date only a few bookmarks, less intrigues and plots)
Some mechanics have basically been streamlined into oblivion even though they were relevant.
I can understand wanting to make the game more accessible, but having to manage boats and their cost, being able to raise only specific vassals' troop (in order for exemple to avoid annoying potential trouble makers), having different troops raise in their home region, all made sense to the game and added a layer of micromanagement. It took some time to get used to and learn to use effectively, but once you did, it worked just fine.
With less mechanics and content, this game feels bland and soulless compared to its predecessor.
The AI is terrible, and doesn't really have a clue what it's doing, whether it be at managing its troop, its dynasty or its realm.
UI definitely needs some improvement, map is sometimes hard to read, information is sometimes hard to find, some buttons are weirdly placed and pop up windows are way too large, sometimes you want to be able to browse the map and character panels while you process what to do about events, but it's pretty hard considering the pop up just takes most of the screen.

Couple positives things to note though, Characters all have gorgeous full sized protraits and detailed backgrounds, visually very pleasing.
Battles are more better with more factors to take into account
And the stress system, does make a characters life a bit more interesting and unique, as taking actions against a character's personality will incure stress which can have various repercussion later down the line.

Overall, there are some good ideas in this game, but too much content is missing and it seems Paradox got confused and thought streamlining just meant dumb down as much as possible....
I would recommend giving this game another year or so and taking it after it's gotten a couple of expensions and a price cut.
I'm confident it will be a solid game sometime in the future, but that's just not it right now.

Truely an outstanding game.