Game file / ROGUE BY ROGUEDarkest Dungeon 2
Darkest Dungeon II is a roguelike road trip of the damned. Form a party, equip your stagecoach, and set off across the decaying landscape on a last gasp quest to avert the apocalypse. The greatest dangers you face, however, may come from within...
Why this score?
Party synergies and combat tokens provide solid strategy, while relationships add variety to expeditions. Explanations of key rules and lengthy early unlocks limit the overall experience.
Machine-translated summary. The original review and its sources are preserved below.
Original text · Simplified Chinese
队伍协同和战斗标记提供扎实策略，关系机制使远征有变化；关键规则解释与漫长的前期解锁限制整体表现。
Core gameplay
Weight 25%8.0 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
队伍站位与战斗标记把攻防变成可计划的解题过程，关系系统影响选择；长远征与马车行驶使节奏较慢。
Builds & strategy
Weight 25%8.5 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
英雄技能、饰品与队友关系需要围绕团队协同配置，资源支出也有取舍；慢解锁限制前期试验。
Replayability
Weight 20%7.5 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
地区危险、队伍关系和事件会改变远征中的应对，英雄背景解锁带来路线变化；长局重复战斗和解锁积累仍占较多时间。
Randomness & fairness
Weight 20%6.0 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
标记系统减少部分直接概率波动，经验和队伍协同能改善结果；不透明首领机制、随机怪癖与长局失败代价压低可预判性。
Polish & usability
Weight 10%6.5 / 10Original text · Simplified Chinese
动作反馈细致，但多层窗口、系统说明和战斗效果解释在快照中存在阻力；美术表现不能抵消界面学习成本。
- Reviewer
Original text · Simplified Chinese
Rogue by Rogue · AI 资料评测- Version reviewed
Original text · Simplified Chinese
具体构建未知；以所引资料描述的版本为准
Scope and limitations
Original text · Simplified Chinese
未进行试玩；分数是依据已收录评述与社区具体反馈作出的主观资料评测。旧反馈跨版本、部分原始材料为不可重开的本地快照；本次官方网页核查仅确认玩法与功能，未复测平衡、性能或报告的故障是否仍存在。 本条主要覆盖 Confessions 远征，不将尚未充分分析的 Kingdoms 模式混入分数。
Review sources 02
- 01Archived materialView archived external material ↓
Original text · Simplified Chinese
收录评论与社区资料（2026-10-01 快照）
使用 作者观点摘要 的 Tier list Part 3 (2025) 的具体优缺点，以及 玩家好评、玩家批评 与 资料核查说明；不使用旧等级、外部分数或销量反推。
- 02Web sourceView original ↗
Original text · Simplified Chinese
Darkest Dungeon 2 · Red Hook 官方介绍
2026-10-08 访问。Red Hook 官方页核对队伍远征、压力崩溃与坚定反应、不同地区及可游玩的英雄背景。未据介绍推定性能或故障已修复。
Video reviews
Reviews and deep dives from YouTube and Bilibili, in every language. Open the original video to watch.
Other voices, for reference.
Archived third-party reviews and community material may refer to different versions. External opinions and ratings are presented separately; consult the original videos for their full context.
Community discussion
A turn-based gothic-horror roguelike from Red Hook Studios in which a party of flawed heroes rides a stagecoach across a ruined land in long, permadeath-driven expeditions to stop a cosmic apocalypse.
Critics received it well (Metacritic 81, OpenCritic 81, 'Strong' tier), praising the combat puzzle, art and atmosphere, while players are more split (Steam 'Mostly Positive', about 75% of roughly 27k reviews; Metacritic user score 6.3/10). Much of the player backlash comes from the shift from the first game's hamlet-and-roster management to a roguelike with long expeditions and meta-progression, which many series fans did not want. It launched in Early Access on Epic in October 2021, hit 1.0 on Steam in May 2023, and has since received major updates, including the free Kingdoms mode and the Inhuman Bondage DLC in January 2025, plus console releases. Some recent Steam reviews (Dec 2025) still argue it feels unpolished, with classes and systems still being reworked.
What players praise
- Combat plays like a tactical puzzle: party composition, positioning and the token system reward planning and cut some of the first game's pure RNG
- Gothic/Lovecraftian art direction, improved 3D-style animation and atmosphere are praised as top tier
- Narrator (Wayne June) and atmosphere carry the dread and tone, though some players find the soundtrack and narration less memorable than the first game
- Hero backstories and the affinity/relationship system between party members add personality and strategic complexity
- Varied regions and hazards make each expedition feel distinct and tense
- Runs are more compartmentalised and experimental than the first game's endless roster grind, so some find it less of a slog
- High-stakes, white-knuckle difficulty feels cathartic and rewarding once it clicks
- Post-launch support has been substantial: new heroes, Kingdoms mode, balance reworks and console ports
- Fresh take on the DD formula: some players prefer it to a near-copy of DD1 and like its more synergy-focused party building and avoidance of DD1's snowballing party-wipe problem
What players criticize
- Too different from Darkest Dungeon 1 for many fans: no hamlet, no persistent loot, and characters reset after each run
- Poor onboarding: mechanics are opaque, tutorials thin, and success can depend on wiki knowledge
- Early runs lean heavily on RNG, with long 2-3 hour Confessions expeditions that can be lost to bad luck or a single mistake
- Meta-progression unlocks (stagecoach upgrades, candles for items, trinkets and inn items) are slow and feel like a prerequisite grind
- Some boss gimmicks feel like instant-fail encounters without prior knowledge, for example the Confession 5 mirror mechanic when the copy is stuck in an unreachable position
- Stuns need two hits, healing is conditional and on cooldown, and reliable damage/stress mitigation was removed, so incoming damage feels overwhelming and difficulty feels 'fake' or RNG-driven
- Random quirk replacement and the lack of a separate fixed character for re-specs annoy players
- Combat math and buffs feel inconsistent (e.g. a 50% damage-reduction buff cutting far less than half), undermining trust in planning
Distinctive features
- Sequel that turns a dungeon-crawl roster game into a roguelike road trip with a stagecoach as a mobile base
- Mental-health stress/meltdown system where heroes can crack and turn on the party
- Affinity and relationship system between heroes that affects combat and story
- Two modes: long Confessions expeditions and the free Kingdoms campaign-style mode
- Token-based combat and positioning puzzle layered over the original's turn-based formula
- Lovecraftian tone with a narrator voice as a signature feature
Divided opinions
- Whether it should be judged as a sequel to DD1 or as its own roguelike; reviewers who do the latter tend to rate it higher
- Paid DLC heroes are seen as greedy by some and as fair value by others
- Difficulty and RNG: hardcore roguelike fans find it rewarding, while DD1 loyalists find it unfun and punishing
- Roguelike structure itself: some see it as hiding a lack of content behind a linear grind, others prefer it to DD1's roster grind
Repetition and friction
- Unlock grind: reviewers report roughly 20 hours to gather stagecoach upgrades, then many more hours for other unlocks, before later bosses feel viable
- Long runs of 2-3 hours with no checkpoints make failures costly
- Grinding candles and stagecoach upgrades to reach a viable power level for later bosses
- Slow stagecoach travel and repetitive battles, though the developers reduced battle counts from Early Access
- Constant reliance on outside guides because of unclear mechanics
Hoped-for improvements
- Better tutorials and in-game explanation of systems so the wiki is not required
- More shortcuts, checkpoints or ways to soften the loss of a failed 2-3 hour run
- Faster, less grindy meta-progression and unlock pacing
- Replace quirks in a predictable order (oldest first) rather than randomly
- Fix frustrating boss gimmicks, especially Confession 5 mirroring and unreachable copies
- Further polish and balance of classes and mechanics that are still being reworked
Early Access began in October 2021 on the Epic Games Store; 1.0 launched on Steam on May 8, 2023 with strong critic scores but a notably mixed player response driven by comparisons to the first game and accusations of review bombing versus real design disappointment. Since then: the Binding Blade DLC, then in January 2025 the free Kingdoms mode (with the Hunger of the Beast Clan module) and the Inhuman Bondage DLC with The Abomination hero, which reached PS5 and other consoles later in 2025. Available on PC, Mac, Switch, PS4/PS5 and Xbox. Third-party estimates (steam-revenue-calculator, Boxleiter method, not audited) put Steam gross revenue near $41M, with SteamSpy owners at 1-2 million. Steam price $39.99.
Community sources
- Top helpful positive and negative English Steam reviews (local file) ↗
- Local Steam store data: review counts, SteamSpy owners, revenue estimate ↗
- Metacritic critic score 81 (55 reviews) and user score 6.3 (271 ratings) ↗
- OpenCritic average 81, 82% recommend, Strong tier, review snippets ↗
- Game Informer 8.5/10 review: praise for combat, criticism of punishing runs and onboarding ↗
- Aggregated Steam player sentiment: praise, criticisms and divisive points ↗
- Forum discussion, Early Access context and comparisons to DD1 grind ↗
- Steam community discussions on grind, meta-progression and design complaints (via search) ↗
- Official news on Kingdoms mode and Inhuman Bondage DLC release ↗
- Kingdoms mode arriving on PS5 ↗
- Estimated Steam revenue (Boxleiter method) ↗
Archived creator commentary 1
Third-party summaries based on automatic captions may contain transcription or interpretation errors.
Tier list Part 3 (2025)
Darkest Dungeon 2 is the sequel to the gothic turn-based party roguelike, and it drops the hardcore persistent-roster mechanic in favor of a more traditional run-by-run structure with meta progression. He feels the game was unfairly judged against the first one, since the combat is still solid and the content is deep. The carriage-based travel is more minimalistic than dungeon crawling, and the UI and tutorial are clunky. He thinks that judged on its own it is a really good roguelike and gives it a very solid A tier.
What the creator praises
- Combat gameplay is essentially the same solid core as the first game, with new abilities and enemies
- Animations are some of the best he has seen in any roguelike, with 2D sprites attacking in 3D environments
- Visual style is distinct and immersive, improved over the first game, and the music is still fantastic
- Lots of unique events and content, and each run feels different depending on what you find
- More lore per character, with quests that unlock abilities via little puzzle minigames
- A relationship system between characters adds depth
- Large amount of meta progression to unlock
Issues raised by the creator
- Removing the hardcore mechanic makes boss deaths feel less stressful and intense than in the first game
- Carriage travel is minimalistic and gives less sense of control than dungeon crawling, and can feel wonky
- More complicated than the first game, with a very long tutorial and a slow learning curve
- UI control is awkward, such as escape not closing windows and multiple stacked windows
- Single shared currency for unlocking new items and for power upgrades forces a choice between more variety and stronger characters
- Characters are harder to get attached to because they are not persistent
Design observations
- Carriage on a road replaces dungeon crawling, letting you pick direction and encounters
- Character relationship system that changes based on what happens, which he says could have suited the first game
- Character-specific story quests with small puzzle minigames that permanently unlock abilities
- Design lesson: ditching a beloved signature mechanic can hurt reception even when the game is good
