Darkest Dungeon II

"You were right to fear the world. It has gone mad. The gutters brim with poets, and decency lies burning in the street. But this is not a time for heroes. Look instead to those battered souls who have known fear and failure in ample portion, but rise again to reclaim a glimmer of hope from the spreading stain of the Darkest Dungeon."

- The Narrator, "A Glimmer of Hope"

Darkest Dungeon II is the upcoming sequel to Darkest Dungeon. It will debut on the Epic Games Store in early access in Q3 2021. The game was revealed on February 19, 2019 with a teaser titled "The Howling End". Although no in-depth details about the setting and story have been announced aside from Wayne June resuming his role as the Narrator, it is known that the RPG combat gameplay of Darkest Dungeon will return in a "tuned-up" form, and the metagame will feature a "completely different" structure involving a "grueling journey" instead of dungeon-delving in a single locale.

Setting
Following the events of Darkest Dungeon, the corruption defeated at the Estate is found to be only a symptom of a far greater evil that is already on the verge of ending the world. As madness consumes everyone, and apocalyptic cults and monsters spread chaos and destruction, the player and their party of heroes must journey to a distant mountain to light a beacon that will avert disaster. However, the torch they bear carries a mystical flame of hope that they must protect before it is extinguished.

Gameplay
Darkest Dungeon II was featured in the July 2021 issue of PC Gamer, which revealed important details about the gameplay.


 * The sequel will be more akin to a "...road trip, [and] a rogue-like mash-up of Darkest Dungeon and The Oregon Trail."
 * The sequel shouldn't make the previous game irrelevant, hence the different approach.
 * A smaller party of heroes are managed instead of the larger roster. "Darkest Dungeon II wants you to care more about your flawed heroes."
 * Perma-death, stress, and quirks will return.
 * An affinity system will be introduced. Heroes will have relationships that will shift player choices and battle dynamics.
 * A full stress meter won't trigger a heart attack, but rather a meltdown. The hero will fall to Death's Door, stress out other heroes, and all their relationships with other heroes will be reset.
 * Certain player actions (such as choosing who to heal) and quirks will affect relationships and potentially stress out heroes.
 * Heroes will interact more, such as sharing a drink or having a card game. This can reduce hero stress and improve relationships, or cause heroes to develop negative quirks.
 * Heroes will be 3D and look more defined compared to their cartoonish proportions in the first game. More animations will be present, such as preparatory actions.
 * Certain status effects and hero upgrades are removed to make the game more understandable and to make the game feel more like a "...puzzle to solve [rather] than a slugfest to endure."
 * Combat has changed:
 * Accuracy was a mechanic that was criticized for the lifetime of Darkest Dungeon. Percentage based statuses will change to tokens, which will determine whether an attack will hit or deal its full damage.
 * Bleed, Stun and other effects from the previous game have been converted to this token mechanic.
 * New status effects such as Blind, Immobilize, and Combo-Team Attacks are also mentioned to be part of this mechanic.
 * Enemy actions can be seen in advance. Turn order is visible for heroes and enemies.
 * Speed, hit points, and status resistances like blight will return.
 * Trinkets will affect the token mechanics, such as adding a CRIT token every time a hero misses an attack. Items can be equipped onto a hero.
 * Five skills can be used in battle instead of four.
 * Enemies have Deathblow resistance.
 * Heroes have changed:
 * Heroes skills have expanded from seven to eleven; some of these skills are unlocked through special encounters on multiple runs. This rewards the player as more time is put into the game, and it gives more flexibility for heroes as they enter regions that they may perform poorly in.
 * No duplicate heroes in each party.
 * Heroes will come pre-rolled with positive and negative quirks.
 * You can upgrade the wagon that your heroes will travel in, such as: Improved healing out-of-battle; scouting for upcoming battles; and a chance to heal stress as the party travels.
 * A run will consist of a five-act story. Four regions will be available at first.
 * Skills have been added and reworked for certain heroes. Mentioned specifically are:
 * Leper:
 * Intimidate: "Taunts an enemy and hits them with a weaken token. Ideal to use on heavy hitting baddies."
 * Ruin: "When the Leper gets hit, he gains a stacking damage buff. Pair it with a taunt and hulk out."
 * Grave Robber:
 * Glint in the Dark: "A powerful attack that ignores stealth and 20% of deathblow resistance." (This implies deathblow resistance for enemies).
 * Absinthe: "If under 25% HP, they heals [sic] for 25% and gets [sic] a speed token and three dodge tokens to avoid attacks."
 * Highwayman:
 * Highway Robbery: "Destroys any positive tokens an enemy might have on them, leaving them wide open."
 * Point Blank Shot: "Places a combo attack token for a team-up attack, but can only hit when the enemy in [sic] the front row."
 * A successful run through the game "...currently looks like it will take around four hours."
 * Heroes will navigate through encounters rather than the tile and room based movement in the first game.
 * The torch is fuelled by successful fights throughout your run. The torch represents the hope that your team carries, and when it's put out, the run is over.
 * Fights can be avoided and bosses will be optional, but this will leave your heroes underpowered when advancing into new areas.
 * Different areas will have different encounters and weaknesses. The Sprawl will have fire resistant enemies, and the Farmlands could potentially harbour random encounters.
 * Random boss encounters similar to the Collector and Shambler will return.
 * Permadeath is back. You can recruit a new hero out of battle, but this will be a one-and-done deal.
 * Healing can only be done after a battle, unlike the stalling that was possible in the first game.
 * "Mutators" will alter a run's difficulty, instead of the set difficulties in the first game.
 * Along with Bleed and Blight, Burn will be a new DoT.
 * The new Runaway hero will be introduced in early access, and more characters are planned to be released.

Heroes

 * Grave Robber
 * Hellion
 * Highwayman
 * Jester
 * Leper
 * Man-at-Arms
 * Occultist
 * Plague Doctor
 * Runaway

Enemies
The game will feature various new and returning enemies. Each region that the party ventures through features a different enemy faction, such as the Plague Eaters, who are found in the Farmlands. Enemies are also randomly encountered during road travel sequences, where unique encounters can occur.

Development
"In the howling darkness of the end, men will become monsters. But hope will ride with those courageous enough to carry the flame."

- The Narrator, "The Howling End"

Darkest Dungeon II was first announced as a direct sequel to Darkest Dungeon with a teaser trailer narrated by Wayne June in his role as the Narrator on February 19, 2019. Eight hero classes from the original game were confirmed to be returning: Grave Robber, Hellion, Highwayman, Leper, Man-at-Arms, Occultist, Jester, and Plague Doctor, as well as a new introduced ninth hero: the Runaway. Red Hook Studios also revealed that whereas Darkest Dungeon had taken place at one main location, the Narrator's Estate, the sequel would involve a "grueling journey" in which players would get to see the "supernatural apocalypse twisting and distorting the world beyond the estate".

For its work on Darkest Dungeon II, Red Hook Studios expanded considerably from the 5 full-time developers who created Darkest Dungeon. At the time of the sequel's announcement in February 2019, Red Hook had increased to 14 employees, and had plans to hire another 6 over the next 18 months. The studio also confirmed that it would likely launch the game through Steam Early Access. The reception of the game early on would determine how much additional resources and features Red Hook would put into the project.

Red Hook Studios remained silent about the game until March 5, 2020, when they confirmed via Twitter that they had been making substantial progress with Darkest Dungeon II, and more news would be shared "when the stars are right".

On October 21, 2020, Red Hook Studios announced that Darkest Dungeon II would be releasing in early access in 2021 on the Epic Game Store. The announcement was accompanied by the reveal of the game's logo, a second teaser titled "A Glimmer of Hope", and confirmation that characters in the game would be rendered in 3D models using the Unity engine.

Trivia

 * The Crusader's helmet can be found on the cover of the article, implying that the hero won't return for the second game. It was later confirmed that the Crusader would not be one of the game's initial set of 9 Heroes.