Darkest Dungeon II (PC) Early Access Preview

Excuse me for stating the obvious: Red Hook Studios’ Darkest Dungeon is not exactly a game known for its upbeat tone and pleasant story. On the contrary, it is notorious for its grueling core gameplay loop and its bleak plot that masterfully intertwines with that gameplay loop. Additionally, it is notorious for demanding that its players meticulously micromanage multiple maddening mechanisms at every turn. Yet, I think it’s definitely safe to say I’m not the only one who adores this title not just despite those factors, but directly because of them.

To be quite honest, I don’t know why I personally feel that way about Darkest Dungeon, but I’ve never really needed to ponder that question too much. Even nearly six years after Darkest Dungeon’s release on Steam, the game continues to bask in such immense popularity that its developers have seen fit to grant its fan base a massive boon in the form of a fully-fledged sequel. Well, I suppose I shouldn’t describe Darkest Dungeon II as “fully-fledged” quite yet, now that I think about it.

You see, the game is currently in Early Access exclusively via the Epic Games Store and only has one playable chapter at the time of writing. Even so, without spoiling my thoughts right here at the beginning, let me just say that it will be my great pleasure to tell you as much as I possibly can about everything Darkest Dungeon II has to offer right now. However, if you’re unfamiliar with this title’s predecessor, I humbly present my review of it for your consideration to help bring you up to speed.

Alright, I believe that’s the entirety of my introductory spiel out of the way. As a final note before we truly dive in, however, I should establish that I will assume you’re at least somewhat accustomed to the first Darkest Dungeon title’s story and its core gameplay mechanics from this point forward. I’ve chosen to make that assumption primarily for brevity’s sake. Without further ado, let us brave the depths of the titular opaque oubliette.

Darkest Dungeon II takes place in a world that I like to describe as being in “mid-apocalypse.” That is to say, I wouldn’t quite call the game’s setting “post-apocalyptic” because it certainly appears as though its particular cataclysm is still actively wreaking havoc. I’d personally classify the setting of Darkest Dungeon II as markedly different from that of its predecessor. Although you’re faced with the task of eradicating antediluvian evils in the first game, the influence of those horrors doesn’t seem to spread too far beyond the area occupied by your ancestral home provided you’re successful in your endeavors.

However, that seems to have changed drastically in the context of this title. The catastrophe that’s begun to take place within Darkest Dungeon II affects a vastly greater swath of the world at large. As far as I’ve been able to discern up to this point, the majority of modern in-game society has fallen and has been replaced by maniacal cultists, as well as those who have pledged loyalty to them. Your primary objective in the game’s first chapter is to reach the cultists’ mountain stronghold and (presumably) put a stop to whatever nefarious deeds they’re probably plotting.

I say “presumably” because I haven’t actually managed to get anywhere near that mountain so far despite my best efforts. At this rate, I anticipate that I’ll finally conquer the cultists’ base of operations right around the time the game’s final chapter is released, but I digress. What keeps me from getting near the first chapter’s objective, you ask? Well, primarily, that’s due to what I perceive as the game’s increase in difficulty compared to its predecessor thanks to new and/or altered gameplay mechanics.

There are a few new mechanics to discuss, so I’ll essentially just arrange them based on the order they come to mind. The first new system I want to explain is the one I personally find the most interesting, and it will eventually lead me into a few other talking points. You see, not only do you have to manage your characters’ stress levels within Darkest Dungeon II; you now also have to keep a close eye on their interpersonal relationships.

If you want to stand any chance whatsoever of succeeding in your quest to keep the flame of hope alive and prevent the world from plunging into total darkness, you must strive to make sure that your characters can at least tolerate being around one another. There are several reasons you’ll need to monitor this sort of thing. I say we start with the more obvious reasons for this and work our way into the more technical factors. For starters, unless your mercenaries are engaged in combat, odds are that they’re in quite close quarters with each other within the confines of your stagecoach.

Tell me, if you were stuck riding in a rickety stagecoach on unpleasantly bumpy roads with anywhere between one and three people you couldn’t stand the sight of, what sort of mental state do you think you’d be in? That’s not even accounting for the fact that you and your adversaries/teammates quite literally have the fate of what remains of the world entrusted to you. Do you think you would be able to set your differences aside for the sake of stopping the flame of hope from being snuffed out? Would you let your pride and a petty squabble or two doom humanity?

These are just some of the questions Darkest Dungeon II forces you to ask yourself frequently as you play. As you might imagine, there are bonuses and detriments to gameplay based on how your mercenaries feel about their counterparts. For instance, if two characters have formed a strong enough positive relationship to where there at least exists mutual respect between them, one might complement the other on a well-struck blow to an enemy. This can further strengthen their bond and reduce the stress level of the other character.

On the opposite side of that coin, though, if two of your soldiers absolutely despise each other, one might refuse to heal their rival or simply skip their own turn as an act of protest. I’m sure you can see how seemingly minor events like these can turn the tide of any run in the blink of an eye. Interpersonal relationships between your mercenaries can shift equally instantaneously for little to no readily apparent reason. Due to this, I’ve yet to find any real way to predict or determine how your group will think of one another during the trials and tribulations that lie between each inn you visit.

Here are a couple of examples of what I mean by that. Firstly, suppose you’ve got two mercenaries whose relationship is so thoroughly positive that even the game outright classifies them as “inseparable.” When one of them kills an enemy in combat, there’s a chance that the other might say something to the effect of, “Stealing my thunder, eh?” or “That one should have been mine!” Things like this will cause their bond to suffer, albeit only slightly in cases like the one I’ve just described.

The same sorts of mechanics can also improve the relationships between two soldiers who dislike or even outright hate each other. One of them can take the simple step of saying, “Well done” when their rival lands a critical hit on an enemy, which can go a long way. However, this leads me to my next talking point. While stress isn’t quite as significant a factor as it was in the original Darkest Dungeon, failure to manage its levels can still wreak havoc on your plans. As far as I’ve played at the time of writing, this most prominently includes its effects on your mercenaries’ relationships among themselves.

I would almost bet we’ve all been in a situation where we’ve said something hurtful that we didn’t mean to a friend or loved one because we’re overcome by intense stress. This same scenario occurs fairly often within Darkest Dungeon II, at least in my experience thus far. When any mercenary’s stress meter fills completely, no longer will they undergo what the first game called a “test of their resolve.” Instead, they’ll have what this title calls a “breakdown.” Among a couple of other negative effects, these breakdowns will take a heavy toll on the affected mercenary’s interpersonal relationships, no matter how positive they may be.

I like to describe these events by explaining that even if the soldier who’s having a breakdown is the best of friends with one of their cohorts, their resulting mental state can ruin that mutual admiration. Think of it like this: one of your mercenaries is convinced that they’re about to die when one of these breakdowns strikes; instead of a pat on the shoulder and a comforting word, the best they can hope to receive from their comrades is a scolding for stressing out the rest of the group. These instances are just as unpleasant to experience as they sound, I assure you.

Having said all that, at least you don’t have to worry about any of your characters suffering a fatal, stress-induced heart attack anymore. However, I can’t say I would be surprised if this mechanic is reintroduced at some point down the line as Darkest Dungeon II’s development continues and further chapters are added. There is also the chance that this gameplay mechanism still exists and I just haven’t encountered it yet, but I’m not sure about that.

As I said earlier, discussing the concept of your mercenaries’ opinions of one another leads to several other talking points. More specifically, I referenced the concepts of inns and your stagecoach. There is no longer any sort of central hub town to which your soldiers return between quests as there was with Darkest Dungeon’s hamlet.

Instead ( should I say “inn-stead?”), one of the secondary goals of each journey you embark upon is to safely reach a series of inns. Though these establishments are few and far between, they offer your battle group a safe harbor within which they can take a well-earned, desperately-needed break to recover their physical strength and mental faculties. After all, I’d imagine it’s wonderful to just be able to rest after going through everything these poor souls have to experience to save the world as we know it.

There are several useful things you can do and NPCs with whom you can interact at each inn you visit. In fact, most of what I’m about to mention can only be done while resting at an inn. With these facts in mind, I suspect you may find it useful to make yourself a sort of “inn checklist” in order to ensure you don’t forget to do anything or talk to anyone while you’re there. I know I certainly consider this strategy quite handy indeed.

What all can you do at an inn, then? Well, firstly, you can use what are pointedly referred to as “Inn Items.” That is, items that provide beneficial effects to your battle group, but cannot be used in combat or aboard the stagecoach. For instance, you can have one of your mercenaries apply a poultice that increases their resistance to Bleed and/or Blight status effects until you reach the next inn. There are also Inn Items that serve to strengthen the relationships between your characters.

As an example, if you happen to have a dartboard in your possession, you can have two of them play a friendly game of darts and see if they can’t bury the metaphorical hatchet while doing so. Bear in mind, Inn Items like these can also backfire in a sense because they can instead have detrimental effects on the bond between two of your soldiers. Thankfully, the game is kind enough to tell you approximately how likely such items are to prove helpful rather than not.

That brings us to the various handy NPCs whose services you can employ while your battle group recuperates at an inn. There are three main NPCs you’ll find at each inn you visit: the Provisioner, the Wainwright, and the Mastery Trainer. The Provisioner is fairly straightforward: you visit them to purchase combat items such as bandages, antivenom, and the like, as well as trinkets and inn items. You know, things that constitute provisions for your journey, just like you’d buy in the first Darkest Dungeon before each time you embarked.

I should mention at this point that gold does not exist as a currency in Darkest Dungeon II as it did within this title’s predecessor. In its place, provisions are traded in exchange for so-called “Relics,” which appear to be sentimental items that people once held dear before the apparent collapse of society. Then there’s the Wainwright, who serves as the game’s only means of installing and removing upgrades for your stagecoach that you’ll collect over the course of your travels.

Visiting the Provisioner and the Wainwright are the two things I most often forget to do each time I manage to reach an inn. This is one reason I suggested getting in the habit of making a sort of mental “inn checklist” earlier. Last, but certainly not least, we’ve got the inn’s Mastery Trainer. Mastery Trainers allow you to spend skill points that you can accumulate through means such as looting them from a combat encounter. Skill points basically do what they say on the tin: they can be spent to improve your heroes’ abilities.

There are two caveats when spending skill points, however. Firstly, each of any hero’s skills can only be upgraded once, no matter how many points you have. Secondly, skill points are shared throughout the entire party. That is to say, if you have five skill points and you spend four to upgrade your healer’s abilities (for example), you’ll only have one remaining point to use on any of your other mercenaries. I could easily be wrong about this, but my gut tells me the first of those caveats may be changed as the game’s development continues.

I’m not classifying this article as a full Early Access review or anything of that sort. Even so, I think it’s high time I switched gears so that I can tell you what I like most about Darkest Dungeon II in its current state. First and foremost, I really like the new 3D art style in which all of your mercenaries and their foes are drawn. On that same token, I think the small animations each hero performs before using one of their combat skills, like the Highwayman raising his pistol before you activate an ability using it, are quite a nice touch as well.

I said earlier that I feel Darkest Dungeon II may be more challenging than the original title due to certain new mechanics. I would ordinarily take issue with that perceived difficulty spike, but to be honest, it actually just makes me more determined to conquer the titular Darkest Dungeon. That causes me to enjoy this title all the more. I want to be able to say I climbed that mountain and cleared out those cultists through sheer force of will in spite of the game’s difficulty. The question of exactly when I’ll manage that is another matter entirely, but that’s neither here nor there.

Suffice it to say I consider myself exceedingly fortunate because I’m able to write about this title in this capacity. I’m most assuredly looking forward to new updates and story chapters as they’re released. If this keeps up, I would confidently say Red Hook Studios knocked it out of the park on this one. On a final note, if you want to see Darkest Dungeon II in action to aid in your consideration before you buy the game, it just so happens that I’ve made a video on the game as it was just a few days after it was released in Early Access. You can check that out right here if you’re so inclined!

A PC review key for Darkest Dungeon II was provided by Red Hook Studios for this article.