DARKEST DUNGEON 2
Red Hook’s brilliantly blighted dungeon crawler hits the road
Developer/ publisher Red Hook Studios
Format PC
Origin Canada
Release TBA
The first Darkest Dungeon made heroes disposable commodities, shipped to your hamlet by the carriage-load like pigs to an abattoir. In the sequel, now playable in Early Access, they’re closer to companions – the difference being that the carriage is now the centre of the universe. The original game’s perspective has been wrenched on its side, transforming a world of scrolling pop-up-book sets into a road winding through sylvan ruins and fields of festering meat.
The aim is still to defeat the evil lurking in the Darkest Dungeon, a double-horned peak on the horizon, but there’s no putting different squads through the mincer till one traumatised team finally has the XP to reach the summit. What was once a town-and-dungeon RPG has become an apocalyptic Roguelike starring one party of four, who befriend and bicker with each other as they fend off demon woodcutters and creatures with mouths for elbows. It’s a more intimate descent, with stripped-back management elements and a fresh incarnation of Red Hook’s legendary stress system.