Darkest Dungeon 2 is an awkward sequel, but I can’t stop playing it

The worst thing you can do when playing Darkest Dungeon 2 is compare it to its beloved 2016 predecessor. Darkest Dungeon was essentially a 2D XCOM, complete with a base that you managed and upgraded over a long campaign.

Darkest Dungeon 2 is decidedly not that. Instead, it’s a roguelite.

Rather than embarking on a long campaign filled with dozens of units to manage and upgrade as you did in the first game, here, you go on one-and-done “runs” with a stable cast of characters. As you play, you collect a meta-currency to unlock new items and upgrade your characters, stats, and stagecoach between runs.

Returning is the excellent combat and unmatched gothic fantasy aesthetic from the first game. The world of Darkest Dungeon 2 is grim and brutal, with pestilent Lovecraftian horrors teaming up with horrific beasts and crazed cultists to pummel you into submission. The 2D-illustrated characters of the original have been replaced with 3D models—an excellent upgrade—but the general tone of the game is the same, just with improved visuals across the board. Voice actor Wayne June's deep, mournful narration is back and excellent as ever.

Don’t make me turn this thing around

Wait, you said something about a stagecoach? Yep.

This time, instead of delving into the famously dark dungeons of the first game, your party of four adventurers drives a stagecoach through an apocalyptic landscape that is, to be fair, still quite dark. The corruption that plagued your estate in the first game has spread over the wider kingdom, and it's up to your team to bring the "flame of hope" across several environments to reach "the Mountain," where they'll fight a boss and save the world. Ideally speaking, of course.

As your stagecoach goes down the road, you'll need to consult your map to plot out the best route.

As your stagecoach goes down the road, you'll need to consult your map to plot out the best route.

Make it to an inn to give your dog-tired heroes a rest.

Make it to an inn to give your dog-tired heroes a rest.

You can also use the inn to upgrade your stagecoach and characters.

You can also use the inn to upgrade your stagecoach and characters.

Make it to an inn to give your dog-tired heroes a rest.

You can also use the inn to upgrade your stagecoach and characters.

After a run, you can unlock new items for future runs...

And buff up your characters and other stats.

Tap the W key to set your cart bumping down the road, and you'll automatically stop at points of interest along the way. These stops include battles, of course, but also random encounters where you'll need to make decisions. Do you offer aid to the hapless denizens beseeching your kindness, or do you simply take all their stuff? Your party members all have their own ideas, and going with one over another may cause intra-group strife. As they travel, your heroes may bicker, making the whole endeavor more unpleasant for everyone.

You'll make decisions about which way to go at forks in the road, with a "scouting" stat offering you a limited preview of what's to come on the Slay the Spire-style map. I'm a sucker for this style of map in roguelites, and it's implemented excellently here. Runs can be won or lost depending on the route you take.

After making your way through an environment, you'll pull up to an inn, where you can rest up, level up, and buff your characters for the road ahead. And boy, will you need it.

Dazed, reeling, about to break

One of the most interesting aspects of Darkest Dungeon was its inclusion of a "stress" system. In addition to your characters' physical health, you also had to pay attention to their mental health. If a character built up enough stress—through, say, watching a teammate suffer a critical hit at the hand of a many-tentacled abomination—their will would be tested, and they would come out the other side with either a positive or negative trait. The focus was on individual units and their personal struggles.

Darkest Dungeon 2 is a more team-focused game, and its stress system reflects that shift. When a character reaches their stress limit in Darkest Dungeon 2, they are once again tested, and this time, they’ll either have a meltdown (80 percent chance) or become resolute (20 percent). If a character melts down, he or she will have a mid-combat outburst, lose health, gain debuffs, and, worst of all, lose standing with the rest of the group. Resolute heroes pretty much get the opposite, but again, characters are much more likely to lose their cool.

If a character gets too stressed, this will happen.

If a character gets too stressed, this will happen.

Or maybe this. But probably not.

Or maybe this. But probably not.

Don't let your characters' relationships go south.

Don't let your characters' relationships go south.

Or maybe this. But probably not.

Don't let your characters' relationships go south.

Every character has a relationship meter with every other character during a run, and if you can keep a relationship mostly positive, there's a chance it will evolve into some sort of friendship. If it does, the two involved characters will get a random combat buff—for instance, when one character uses a certain skill, their friend will get a buff or join in on the attack. If, on the other hand, you let a relationship go sour, the opposite will happen. For example, your plague doctor may become jealous of your highwayman's combat prowess and become stressed whenever he uses a particular skill. Relationship management is a hugely important part of the game—let your guard down, and your team will become a group of angry, spiteful misanthropes who refuse to get along.

It's an extremely cool way to marry mechanics with theme, and I love it.

Slowly, gently, this is how a life is taken

Darkest Dungeon’s tactical combat was the game's highlight, and it’s even better here. In both games, your four heroes square up against up to four enemies. Your team stands in a line, and the abilities they can use are dependent on where they are in the formation. Turns are determined by a speed stat, and the two sides brutalize each other until one side is dead.

Well, this is grotesque.

Well, this is grotesque.

Each attack triggers a stylish animation.

Each attack triggers a stylish animation.

See those little icons under the characters? Those are tokens, and you'll be seeing a lot of them.

See those little icons under the characters? Those are tokens, and you'll be seeing a lot of them.

Each attack triggers a stylish animation.

See those little icons under the characters? Those are tokens, and you'll be seeing a lot of them.

Perhaps the best change in Darkest Dungeon 2 is that percentage-based accuracy is no longer a thing. Darkest Dungeon was uncompromisingly brutal, yes, but it was also maddeningly capricious. Because attacks were based on a percentage to hit, you could often find yourself in a situation where you whiffed on a shot with an almost certain chance to hit (you can see the parallels to XCOM again here). Now, unless they're afflicted by some sort of status effect, characters (and enemies) in Darkest Dungeon 2 have a 100 percent chance to hit their targets. Status effects can affect your chance to hit, but there are usually ways to work around these penalties. Your skills have a range of damage they can inflict, which keeps things exciting, but overall, combat is much more predictable.

Status effects (other than damage-over-time effects) are now represented by “tokens,” which are essentially icons that sit beneath characters and enemies and interact in interesting ways. There are quite a few tokens in the game, most of which can be referenced by pressing CTRL. Bizarrely, though, I came across several that were not on that list, leaving me dumbfounded about what they represented (in general, I have some complaints about the UI and tutorialization, though they've eased as I've played).

The tokens are baked into the combat system, with most attacks inflicting or erasing them, and there's something weirdly compelling about managing these little icons. Once you're familiar with them, they give you a helpful at-a-glance view of the state of the battle.

This expedition, at least, promises success

One of the hallmarks of the first game was the way it made you sweat. It autosaved after every action you made—and after every tragedy that befell you. In XCOM terms, it was forced ironman. So when a character you spent hours upgrading over countless runs was one hit away from death, the tension was almost unbearable.

Darkest Dungeon 2 loses a great deal of this dread, and whether that’s a good or bad thing is up to you. Combat is still very difficult in Darkest Dungeon 2, but when you lose a character, it's gone for the rest of the run (though you can pick up a replacement if you make it to the next inn). If that death causes your team to spiral and everyone dies… well, you start over. The most you can possibly lose, if you’re doing one of the longer runs, is a few hours of your time—and you’ll still come out the other side with resources to buff up later runs.

This is, of course, how roguelites work, but it’s difficult to not feel that something fundamental about the game has been lost with this shift. For many fans of the original game, it will be enough to turn them off entirely. It could be that the people most enthusiastic about the previous game are the ones most likely to be turned off by the sequel.

Personally, though, I kind of love that I can boot up the game, engage in its excellent combat, and not have to worry so much. If I lose—ah, well, better luck next time. I don’t have to train up a new recruit from scratch—a somewhat exhausting affair—or put another one of my veterans in harm’s way.