Darkest Dungeon II
Once more unto the breach for further punishment
Riding in a stagecoach at sunset, charging through piles of leaves, and even finding the odd palmful of coins, we can’t rest easy. As everything is bathed in the dying light, there’s no ignoring that something red is coming for us; ruin has found us once more.
The first Darkest Dungeon saw you plumbing the depths of a cursed family estate. You’d assemble parties from drifters and odd job men passing through town, tempting them with coin before looking on as they spent ever longer either in the cloister or down the pub after each expedition. Some would never make it back from the estate, and you’d forget their names in time.
This sequel has those same desperate vibes along with arresting Mike Mignolainspired art direction, though at a much grander scale. For a start, rather than exploring one mouldering estate you’re on the road with a rag-tag crew with the aim of averting the apocalypse, and the gorgeous 2D art is now punctuated by 3D character models and environments.
DEAD AND WELL
Rather than aiming for a crumbling pile of bricks, your final destination is a mountain harbouring the root of the ruin that grips the world. Of course getting there is far from easy, and this is a roguelike so you’ll have to attempt it more than once, but the end of each expedition leaves you with hope for the next. We don’t just mean that figuratively; on the road you’ll collect an assortment of resources, including candles that you can light at the Altar Of Hope, burning for a brighter tomorrow.
Faced with an advancing apocalypse, the wider world is understandably bleak. Before heading into the literally-on-fire Sprawl during our hands-on, our party is accosted by a starving crowd. We have a choice: share our meagre supplies with them or offer nowt but the cold shoulder. We look to our party and it’s far from unanimous, with gains and losses of Affinity points no matter the choice. It’s always worth keeping an ear open as a party whose members can’t stand each other is seldom an effective one.
But it’s not just in-party fisticuffs you’ve got to watch out for. Like in the first game, party formation can spell victory or defeat in the turn-based fights, and the opposition has plenty of moves to throw your adventurers off balance. As the world burns, foes become increasingly eldritch and horrifying, stressing out your party to the point of a spiralling meltdown. Conversely even the most anxious adventurer may surprise you, becoming an unexpected bastion of morale under pressure. However, one party member giving into despair with the rest quickly following suit, hurling insults at each other all the way down, is much more likely – at least, that’s how our hands-on ends.
Compared to its predecessor, the sequel gives you more opportunity to reflect on who your party were before seeing Death’s Door slam shut on them. On the road you’ll encounter playable flashbacks that can permanently unlock skill upgrades for future forays into the doomed world by filling in the gaps in your party’s backstory. In our hands-on, it’s revealed our grave robber was once unhappily married to a man of means. She wanted for nothing except freedom, and occupied every waking moment plotting how she’d make her exit – now she flings blades daubed in who-knowswhat from the shadows on our behalf.
We note that she and our plague doctor, always busying themself with their noxious lotions and potions, seem close. As we explore the dire environs of the smouldering Sprawl, they turn to each other, sharing supportive words of wisdom with one another on the road… or it could be a coded plot to bring about our downfall, but perhaps that’s just the stress talking.
DUNGEON MASTERS
In our hands-on, a highwayman and a man-at-arms round out our party. The roster overall has been whittled down to 11 heroes, a selection of familiar faces alongside new offerings such as the incendiary runaway. The aforementioned man-at-arms is our frontline fighter, boasting devastating blows alongside complementary defensive abilities. A shield bash or knife slash is always punctuated by a close up on a familiar splash of 2D art, but the use of 3D assets allows for subtler flourishes. After our man-atarms has given the business to a group of shambling husks, the camera pulls back to capture the heavy followthrough of the blow; sparks fly as his mace makes contact with the battlefield, leaving a flashing trail as he drags it back and readies for another blow.
Unfortunately, even a mace proves as useful as a splintered toothpick in the face of the eldritch horrors waiting for us later in our hands-on. The other side’s devastating, Death’s-Door-dealing blows are surprisingly not the worst of it – it’s the fleshy jellyfish that keeps healing them. Ruin has found us again.
IMPRESSIONS
The turn-based combat is as solid as ever, and all the additional flourishes draw us in for just one more run – but is Red Hook Studios reinventing its very successful wheel? Time will tell.
“FLASHBACKS CAN PERMANENTLY UNLOCK SKILL UPGRADES AND
FILL IN YOUR PARTY’S BACKSTORY.”