The main thing is to keep a cool head. As in its predecessor, the role-playing game “Darkest Dungeon 2” from the Canadian Red Hook Studios is not just about smashing monsters. In addition, players must always have an eye on their state of mind. If you let yourself be shocked by the horrible opponents here, you will quickly have a nervous breakdown and drag the whole team into the abyss.
Who rides so late through night and wind …
Darkness, distorted landscapes and gruesome background noise – this is how “Darkest Dungeon 2” begins. Players awaken in a surreal world and must take a carriage to reach a mountain where they hope to find salvation. In between there are always skirmishes with large and small hordes of opponents. Only inns offer shelter in this dark, surreal world. Once the group of adventurers has been defeated along the way, the mission starts over.
Why, why, why? Much remains mysterious in this mix of role-playing game and roguelite. The strange landscape, which is reminiscent of films like “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” and the mysterious narrator known from the predecessor – all this makes little sense at first. Only when the past of the individual heroes is revealed at shrines does some light come into this dark nightmare. With this idiosyncratic narrative style and the visual design, the development studio succeeds in creating an original atmosphere mix of expressionism, surrealism and the “cosmic horror” of HP Lovecraft.
Small but mighty
Nobody should expect an epic RPG. Rather, it’s all about reaching the mountain in different game runs on increasing levels of difficulty. After each failure you have to start from the beginning, but thanks to gained experience points, here called candles, the players can improve their fighters before each game run. That doesn’t make it easy. Once chosen the wrong path and the squad ends up in front of a nearly invincible monster. In contrast to the predecessor, there is no permadeath, but the fighters are revived on the next run. Essential character values are retained. This makes the adventure a little easier than its predecessor.
Still, Darkest Dungeon 2 is an RPG roguelite that has little sympathy for the players. Unlike in the predecessor, when the players simply moved from vault to vault, you are now traveling in a carriage. This moves automatically, but players can avoid obstacles by making small lateral movements. The carriage often comes to a fork in the road where the players have to choose a direction. If you have previously discovered a watchtower, the players can already guess what awaits them: great treasures, dark monster caves or a few survivors who can help the adventurers.
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On the verge of a nervous breakdown
As is typical for the genre, there is a lot to discover. All kinds of enemies lurk in vaults or monster caves, from simple bandits to skeletons to slimy monsters. The fight takes place in rounds in the 2D view. The opponents face each other and carry out their actions one after the other like in a classic JRPG. Not every game character is suitable for every position. Knights and barbarians belong at the front, while ranged fighters, healers or occultists tend to attack from the background. Corpses don’t just vanish, they limit attack range. Adventurers often have to get rid of these remnants before they can attack effectively.
In addition to their life points, players have to pay attention to something else: their stress level. Each spooky encounter and some attacks cause stress. Even if a character misses an action or another team member suffers a defeat, it affects your own state of mind. If the stress reaches a critical point, a nervous breakdown often follows with the corresponding loss of life. Only in rare moments does a fighter show steadfastness and resist evil.
So that the adventure doesn’t end too quickly, the team can equip themselves with items in the inn that deal more damage, better healing or higher resistance. During the rest, the team can also treat themselves to a full meal, improve their skills with a master or upgrade the carriage. It tends to break on the bumpy ride. A touch of social sim is also added if envy or even hatred develops among the team members on the journey.
It will take some time for the players to internalize all game mechanics and interactions between fights, stress levels and bonuses. Despite the tutorial, it’s not just the story that remains puzzling. It’s a pity that Red Hook doesn’t better guide new players who don’t know the first part and explain some game functions in more detail. This affects the flow of the game. But if you bite into it and aren’t afraid of a bit of stress, you can look forward to one of the most original role-playing concepts of recent years.
interim conclusion
In “Darkest Dungeon 2” development studio Red Hook strains the nerves of the players. Although it has become a bit lighter than its predecessor, the changed roguelite principle will split the players’ spirits. Genre fans shouldn’t care, as they can expect an atmospherically dense nightmare adventure in which they can look forward to exciting fights and unusual game ideas. The mix of classic role-playing game, social sim and horror trip once again develops a motivating pull that can be incredibly frustrating and fun.
Red Hook Studios’ Darkest Dungeon 2 has been released for Windows. It costs around €40. USK not checked. For our allusion we traveled a few hours from inn to inn.
(dahe)
