On Monday, May 8, RPS will be closed to observe the Bank Holiday observed in the United Kingdom. That means I won’t be around to tell you about how a stagecoach traveled across a deteriorating area, and I’m sorry about that. I am talking about Darkest Dungeon 2 reaching version 1.0 and making its debut on Steam for the first time.
Instead, I’m going to tell you this right now. There is a launch trailer, and Red Hook has provided some information regarding their plans after the game was released.
Darkest Dungeon 2 has been available for early access on Epic Games since 2021. It grimly continues in the tradition of the first game in the series. You assemble a group of adventurers, lead them into turn-based conflicts that are traumatic for them emotionally, and then try to comfort and improve them to the point where they can withstand increasingly challenging adversaries. The information on the Steam page regarding the stagecoach and the deteriorating land was taken directly from there.
Red Hook has announced in a news post about its upcoming debut that version 1.0 would include “12 playable characters with a complete narrative featuring 5 acts.” This last edition introduces a brand-new character and two new acts that close out the story.
Except it’s not a final release. The same announcement post explains that, like the first game, Darkest Dungeon 2 will be supported after its initial release with “many free updates… that range from content to quality-of-life.” The current plans call for additional monsters, new skins, mod support, and tuning for the game’s balance.
At its launch, Brendy examined the early access version of Darkest Dungeon 2 and determined it was off to a rocky start. Since then, I have not heard much about it, and I need to determine whether or not this is a positive development. The original Darkest Dungeon received a lot of negative feedback from players due to the significant design modifications implemented during early access. It is for the best that the sequel is having a quieter time in the Epic Games Store cul-de-sac.
