At times, Darkest Dungeon 2 is hard to love. Just like its heroes being crammed into an armoured coach and sent rolling into oblivion, negative feelings are inevitable. When your party falls apart as a result of crits. Or when you arrive at the mountain after four regions to face a final boss you’re not prepared for. Myriad perils can ruin a run, sending you back to the shadowy edges of the map. As with its predecessor, love and hate spin on the same strange axis. And you ultimately decide if the eventual triumph is worth the tribulation.
Rather than a sequel, it’s a complete redesign of the original. In each roguelite region, you’ll balance risk and reward to earn trinkets, baubles, and ensure you reach the mountain in hale and hearty heroes. When you fail, you must spend your candles to unlock upgrades and heroes to make your next run easier. It usually takes you two hours to complete a run of Darkest Dungeon 2. Each region has its own unique animation, whether it’s the wheel-cracking cobblestones of The Sprawl, the volley of arrows in The Tangle, or the ‘loathing’ that boosts the final boss’s health if it reaches max. By grabbing trinkets, removing negative quirks at hospitals, and acquiring new abilities from shrines of reflection, you strengthen heroes. You can reach the mountain by defeating the lair bosses in each region.
Darkest Dungeon 2 wants you to reach a point where you have every character, ability, and path unlocked, and I bet it’s a lot of fun to randomise your party and experiment with roles and ranks, or just pick whoever has the best quirks at the start of a run and go from there. As always, the boss and enemy design is on point. And you’ll find a big bad waiting at the mountain after each confession guaranteed to surprise, and most likely kill you. You can finish runs more easily if you know how to cope with each boss. It doesn’t matter how many battles and enemies you face, there are plenty of nasty surprises waiting in each region and on the road. This ruined world is characterised by the Antiquarian and her brigands, or the lair bosses—each with its own visual storytelling.
Nevertheless, Darkest Dungeon 2 is an enjoyable gloomy road trip with impressive combat and art design in a dying world. There’s a lot of fun to be had exploring each region. Fighting battles tooth and nail, and enjoying the nightmarish scenery and mood. Even though I feel it feels a bit conflicted in terms of wanting players to experiment. It requires substantial progress to achieve it. There’s certainly not as much obsession as in the first game, but there’s still plenty to enjoy.
