Darkest Dungeon II

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• Not recommended Posted August 8, 2025 on Steam Probably the most conflicted review I have ever written. Darkest Dungeon is one of my favorite games of all time, but Darkest Dungeon 2 is an exhausting experience. What made the first game so enjoyable was its sense of urgency and pacing. It was a thrill to explore a dungeon and leave with your party barely intact, grateful you had survived, or to dominate a run completely with loot to show for your skill. You were in, you were out, and you had a story worth telling. If you were not in the mood for an intense challenge, you could bring strong gear, keep your torch level high, and do the bare minimum for less loot. If you wanted a desperate fight for valuable materials, you could still optimize your gear but take fewer supplies, keep the torches low, and brace yourself for a run that was both punishing and fun. Either way, it was a short but exhilarating rollercoaster. It had its flaws, but the experience was powerful and rewarding when you played well and made the most of your resources. In Darkest Dungeon 2, those dynamics are gone. Runs are long and draining, with a fixed and punishing difficulty curve that can ruin you for a single mistake or a misunderstanding of your heroes’ abilities and quirks. All of your favorite characters return, but they feel weakened. Loot is no longer about the thrill of discovery; it is tied to a fixed currency-based progression or repeating the same mini-boss grind in hopes that he has the trinket you need once you reach them. The only way to influence difficulty is to choose a safer route, but you are still locked into the same drawn-out road toward the inevitable defeat that awaits at the final boss, one you are unlikely to survive if you took the safer path that only rewards you with scraps. Perhaps Red Hook wanted to capture the fatigue of a stagecoach journey through a harsh, oppressive land. But in doing so, they forgot what made the first game exciting. Difficulty and tedium do not have to coexist at the expense of fun.
• Not recommended Posted April 27, 2026 on Steam It has amazing graphics, but I feel like the soundtrack is slightly worse. The narration isn’t as clever or memorable either. The unlock system is completely annoying. Everything beyond the first boss run is nearly impossible if you don’t have all the stagecoach upgrades, which take about 20 hours to obtain. It then takes another 30 hours to gather enough candles to unlock the core combat items, trinkets, and inn items you need to have a reasonable chance past the second boss. The Confession bosses are incredibly gimmicky and feel like instant-fail encounters without prior knowledge, no matter how successful your run has been. For the third boss, if you don’t bring enough heroes with dodge tokens or invisibility, it’s basically over—two 40‑damage AOE attacks to the entire party, twice per round, while your heroes only have 30–40 health. Runs take 2+ hours to reach a boss, so if you don’t read ahead on a wiki, expect to lose no matter how well things were going. They tried to make the game seem more clever by layering on tons of buffs and debuffs called tokens, but the system ends up feeling less tactical and more like a matter of spamming as many tokens as possible while slowly needling enemies to death with attacks that also spread tokens. Enemy attacks in later runs also stop being thematic. Everything just spams blight, fire, bleed, and stress on every hit purely for difficulty’s sake, even when it makes no sense for the enemy in question thematically to do so. I hate the relationship system too. If you don’t spend all your money on alcohol, the characters end up hating each other no matter what choices you made. Negative relationships can disable vital skills or turn them into debuff triggers, which can easily end a 2+ hour run. I can’t recommend the game because the combat is too gimmicky, the unlock requirements take far too long, and some of the boss designs are just puzzle‑based nonsense that have nothing to do with the mechanics the game actually teaches. I love the first game with all my heart, but this one thrives on being obtuse, annoying, and difficult for the wrong reasons.
• Not recommended Posted December 1, 2025 on Steam Coming from Darkest Dungeon 1, I was very excited to try out the sequel. I was optimistic about the game and cautiously aware of the fact that the core gameplay loop had changed in the sequel, so I tried to keep an open mind, but unfortunately all I can conclude after playing the game myself + reading more about it afterwards is: I don't find it fun. That doesn't mean it's a bad game, it's simply that I don't enjoy it coming from the original. This review is intended primarily for folks who enjoyed the original Darkest Dungeon, detailing some differences between the original and sequel to help you decide whether the game is worth your purchase. To start off: the artwork, music, and general atmosphere is fantastic and very reminiscent of the original Darkest Dungeon. The core, turn-based strategy element of combat encounters remains the same and carries a similar, punishing weight to the original. Certain combat mechanics have changed, such as base accuracy not existing (always 100%). In fact, all combat mechanics have largely done away with base values and have been replaced by a new combat status effect system called tokens. I.e instead of a hero having "20 base Dodge" and an ability giving a "+25 Dodge" buff, base dodge is non-existent, and instead an ability can add a "Dodge" token to a character that gives a raw 50% chance to dodge the next attack, or "Dodge+" token that gives raw 75% chance to dodge the next attack. Some new tokens like Combo, Blind, Weak, Vulnerable, etc... exist that will be unfamiliar to players coming from DD1. All tokens are represented by an icon below the health bar, which take some time to learn and get familiarized with, but the information is readily available in a menu by pressing C. I personally think this token system is a shining jewel of DD2. It makes combat modifiers much easier to understand and digest, while avoiding the problem present in late game DD1 of soft requiring accuracy buffing trinkets on all heroes in order to land any attacks on monsters in high level dungeons. My main gripe with the game is it's near complete removal of linear progression. There's no Hamlet, consequently there are no Hamlet buildings to upgrade, there's no resolve XP or levels on your heroes, trinkets all disappear at the end of mission, money disappears at the end of a mission, there's no upgrading a hero's weapon, there's no upgrading a hero's armor, there's no upgrading a hero's skills (you can upgrade them 1 level during a mission, then they're reset afterwards), there are no heirlooms (because there's nothing to spend them on), stress is reset to 0 at the end of every mission for all characters which completely removes the aspect of end of mission stress management that's so integral to DDI. The game feels like a mini DDI campaign that would normally consist of weeks of meticulous planning, gold and heirloom management, varied roster building, calculated risk taking for trinket hunting, multiple ups and downs that all play their part in a grand story, all crammed into a 1-2 hour long, rouge like experience. Once you complete that experience, you run it back. If you're someone who enjoyed the long-term planning associated with DD1, just know that that virtually doesn't exist here. I say "virtually" above because there are some aspects of the game that do persist. E.g new skills can be unlocked for a hero via a "Shrine of Reflection", and those skills will remain unlocked in future runs. These shrines are nodes that will randomly spawn during a mission, and you'll choose one hero to complete a sort of combat mini-game (for some reason? the mini games are trivially easy and more of a chore than a challenge, which contrasts oddly with the typical, high-difficulty identify of Darkest Dungeon) or sometimes simply go through a bit of narration in order to unlock a new skill. The intended narrative aspect here is that the hero is "confronting their past memories" to unlock new skills in their kit, which may be enjoyable for some, but to me feels like an annoying "jump through this hoop" way of getting your hero equipped with the skills you want. It's far different than DD1's take the hero to the guild and spend 800 gold to unlock your desired skill system. While it still allows for full hero skill tree unlocks and consequent skill loadout flexibility in the long run, it takes multiple hours to unlock all skills for a single hero, which puts you 1-dimensional, restricting position of feeling like you should be using the same 4 heroes that you've already spent time unlocking skills for if you want to have a synergistic lineup. There are some other persistent unlocks, such as relics, stagecoach upgrades, and content from the Altar of Hope, but these are more-so improving the baseline of subsequent runs in simple ways as opposed to giving a true feeling of progressing through the game. The stagecoach driving system feels very clunky. Navigating left and right across the path feels like an unresponsive, subway surfer esque mechanic randomly inserted into larger game for no apparent reason. If you're someone coming from DD1, I'd recommend you come into this game with the mindset that this isn't Darkest Dungeon. It's a game with a punishing, turn based strategy combat system similar to DD1 with similar design and atmosphere, but at it's core is a rouge like consisting of multiple 1-2 hour experiences, not one over-arching campaign. The game is largely great when viewed in its own light, just don't expect a general, upgraded version of the original Darkest Dungeon.
• Not recommended Posted August 4, 2025 on Steam It's a complete slot machine for the first thirty hours. After that, it becomes a slot machine that you can influence. It's dice-rolls on top of dice-rolls on top of dice-rolls and they call it game design, then slap a disclaimer that "oh, it's hard." on top of it to excuse the complete lack of balance. This game does not respect your time. A group that works perfectly fine for an entire run will just get completely wiped out due to a boss or random fight with the right enemy team that you can't overcome, simply because you didn't choose the right team members at the beginning. That's fine in most rouge-lites, but the problem here is that each run takes *HOURS*. After about fifty hours, I feel like an abused spouse that keeps coming back because I think it'll be different this time around. I feel like *this* time, I'll finally get whatever it is that isn't clicking in my brain about the mechanics that will make this haphazard, "just stack RNG and call it a day" design make sense. It never does. There are only a handful of viable team comps that will get you across the finish line, and even then, you have to spend tens of hours unlocking the skills that even make them viable in the first place. If this game were a restaurant, it would have a burger that looks like it's the best burger in the world. When they set it on the table, they then say that you're not allowed to eat it until every member of staff gets to take turns kicking you as hard as they can in your balls. And once you've suffered through that, they toss the burger into the air and there's a 50/50 chance that it lands back on the plate or in a gutter full of hobo piss. If you like CBT, this might be for you. For everyone else, it's a matroyshka doll of RNG masquerading as game design.
• Recommended Posted May 13, 2026 on Steam If its not obvious by my playtime and pfp, I adore this game unlike much else. This game is hard. Brutal. Unforgiving. And especially while you are new and currently unlocking things, it can feel frustrating. This game has LONG runs, like 2-3 hours long, and things can feel unfair before you start to truly understand what the game expects from you. Its very difficult to get into. Even someone that loves this game as much as me, it didn't "click" until I was already more than 100 hours in, where I was able to beat the game on its easiest difficulty. These sound like things that would turn away most people. But I would recommend this game in a heartbeat, without any hesitation. This game looks and *sounds* absolutely incredible. People often undervalue sound design until they play a game that REALLY makes them think about it, and for many I bet this will be that game. Its characters are fantastic, and the music is absolutely sublime. You know how in many jrpgs the final boss theme is often 6-8 minutes long? Yeah every song in this game is like that. The sense of scale is jaw dropping. But as a roguelike, obviously what keeps me coming back is the gameplay. A large cast of characters, each also split into 4 variants of themselves thanks to the games Path system (minus Bounty Hunter who is just goat). Just from that alone, gameplay variety is among some of the highest in any game I've played. 4 hero slots, each of those 4 can be 4 different playstyles, I'm bad at math but that's a seriously big number before everything has been tried. And yet, each one has a multitude of different playstyles and synergies to even further increase gameplay variety. I am over 1k hours in, and I STILL feel like there is so much I have yet to try, or yet to master. From the dopamine rushes of Soloist Jester's Finale's, to the unkillable havoc of Carcass Hellion, to the crit machine of Tempest Leper, to the riposte master of Rogue Highwayman, to the supportive lass in Physician Plague Doctor, the shadowy stealths of Orphan Runaway, the enthralling damage of Warlock Occultist, and so so so so so so so so so much more ways that each playstyle just FEELS incredible to use. Not just in isolation, but together. This game truly feels incredible to learn, and feels rewarding to discover new synergies and gameplay loves even 1000 hours later. On top of that, this game is an assault on your senses, and I mean that in the best way possible. The visuals and sounds have a *heaviness* to them, that takes up a lot more of your mindspace compared to other games I've played. Oftentimes after a play session I feel a sense of fatigue, like I had just come back from a long journey, realizing how much of my head and thoughts were absorbed into this world. It demanded my attention, and when it got it, I was payed back in turn with a sense of relief at a job well done, or a sense of despair after a grueling loss. If you don't get what I mean, play this game with headphones at a not quiet (but not blaring) volume and you'll see what I mean. And on top of ALL of that...I've just been talking about Confessions! This game has an entire notha GAME within it, called Kingdoms. No more roguelike nature, now its more like a campaign style game, but everything changes with it in a unique way. New enemies, new travel, new contextualization of the games world, new ways to lose, but only one way to win. If the confessions grind ever begins to feel overbearing, Kingdoms is there to have something more familiar, and less time investing per play session than something that requires 2-3 hours of your time to finish a run. Course, while Kingdoms is friendlier to shorter play sessions, you'll probably find yourself playing for longer. Its addictive, and the day by day system has me going "One more day one more day" similar to how I would playing Persona 3 back in the day. The limited time gives a new sense of urgency, and gives every action a cost to it. Its a different kind of tension, but one that really makes you think, especially on higher difficulties. At this point this game is another home to me. I play multiple days a week for almost 2 years now, and hearing The Winding Valley gives me a sense of comfort, in a weird sort of way. I love seeing these characters and trying them out in new ways, again, and again, and again. The new player experience is rough, intimidating, and can oftentimes feel cruel. But trust your gut, don't give into despair, and keep on going. Once things click, you'll find that you won't even want to stop, even after doing everything there is to do. You were bold once. Be bold once more.
• Not recommended Posted March 19, 2026 on Steam It feels like the Devs decided to make the game as un-fun as possible. Anything that was viable in the last game does not work now. Stuns? Takes two stunning attacks, to actually stun the target. Healing is painful, you can only heal if the target is below a threshold of HP, and the heals are on cooldowns. Who needs properly balanced encounters when you just kneecap the players ability to sustain? Corpses spawn no matter how the enemy is killed, and even if you clear them those squishy backline guys can still nuke your team with high damage attacks. Boss fights are frustrating, unless you have the wiki pulled up on the other monitor. Their mechanics are not explained and it is draining to lose to a boss 3hrs into a run because you didn't know the bop-it order. 90% of the items you unlock are straight garbage. Enemies have high resistances across the board. The relationship system is leaned towards screwing you over. The wonderful balancing and tense battles of the first game are gone. The nail biting moments as your favorite hero is hit while on death's door, the difficult choice of pushing forward or falling back is all gone, the chariot traveling through the zones takes way too long. It is a needless, unfun slog through a game that does not deserve to share the name with it's predecessor.