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Darkest Dungeon II

Space Satan

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Vatnik
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Space Hell
https://www.darkestdungeon.com




https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/darkest-dungeon-2/home



[Suffering intensifies]
[Pain intensifies]
[Stress intensifies]

https://www.pcgamer.com/darkest-dungeon-2-trailer/

Darkest Dungeon II is coming: exclusive first details
One of the most brutal and enjoyable RPGs of the last few years is getting a direct sequel.

Red Hook Studios is making Darkest Dungeon II, a follow-up to the wonderfully grim turn-based roguelike that was our favorite RPG of 2016.

The studio isn't announcing many details beyond the game's existence and the teaser above, but did speak to us exclusively on, saying that although Darkest Dungeon's combat system will be returning in a recognizable but "tuned-up" form, the studio is focused on creating a "completely different" structure for its metagame. Darkest Dungeon II will initially release in Early Access.

The teaser video above features six familiar character classes—the Grave Robber, Leper, Man-at-Arms, Plague Doctor, Highwayman, and Hellion—standing before a mountain range, indicating that Darkest Dungeon II's setting could take your party over dangerous, snowy passes. The video is voiced by Wayne June, signaling his likely return as the game's narrator.

C Gamer: What's interesting to you about making a direct sequel to Darkest Dungeon?

Tyler Sigman and Chris Bourassa, Red Hook Studios:
We love our dysfunctional cast of characters, our atmosphere, and our world. Horror is a fantastic space to explore interesting and unconventional ideas, and we have a lot more story we want to tell. Mechanically, we also think we have some valuable nuggets (e.g. combat) and there is more there that we’d like to explore and build on. Above all, we are committed to crafting Darkest Dungeon II to be its own experience; it will have its own creative and thematic identity.

We have grown to 14 at this point, and anticipate adding another half-dozen more in the coming 18 months.

—Tyler S and Chris B, Red Hook Studios


What gameplay and other changes are you able to talk to us about at this time?

We’re playing this pretty close to the chest! Our combat system is making a return, but we’re giving it a significant tune-up—mechanically, and in terms of presentation. Most significantly, however, we are working with a completely different metagame structure. Darkest Dungeon II is a game about enduring a gruelling journey, not cleaning up your backyard.

What's one of the major learnings you're bringing into the development of Darkest Dungeon 2?

We created a lot of Darkest Dungeon with only five people on the team. It took its toll on us physically and mentally, just like an epic Warrens clearing run. We can afford to be a bit more sensible this time around, and have been growing staff to match scope more reliably and realistically. However, the small team agility and creativity is still key, and we look to keep that. Ultimately, a game is only as good as the team you have making it. We put a lot of value on finding the right people and giving them an environment to be motivated creatively. We think it’s easier to do that while remaining somewhat small.

Darkest Dungeon's corrupted setting is an inseparable part of its appeal. Will the sequel be focused on the Estate and its surroundings, or a new location?

In Darkest Dungeon II, we’re giving players a glimpse of the supernatural apocalypse twisting and distorting the world beyond the estate... and that’s all we’re going to say about that for now.

How many people is Red Hook Studios right now, and is that size something you'd like to maintain throughout this project, or change as you continue development? How would you describe the culture of the studio?

We have grown to 14 at this point, and anticipate adding another half-dozen more in the coming 18 months. Cultural fit is extremely important to us, and we aren’t in a rush to grow. We enjoy each other’s company, share drinks and play games together, but above all, we value hard work and passion. Open, ego-less discussion and brainstorming are an important part of our process—our goal as a team is to find the best possible choice, and we enjoy challenging each other and playing devil’s advocate in pursuit of that end.



The Color of Madness (June 2018) added a new region, new enemies and bosses, and a horrifying comet.

What development structure do you expect to take? Will Early Access be a good fit for this project?

It’s no secret that we are big fans of the Early Access model, but we also are advocates for only doing Early Access if it makes sense for the specific game. Although there are some massive differences in structure between DD1 and DD2, the sequel is still very appropriate for an Early Access type approach.

The ability to get something into fans’ hands faster, kick the tires of the systems, and give those fans the opportunity to help shape the finishing of the game are both really important to us. Early Access is also really great for being able to alter your production plan depending on reception—a big reception can be a clear signal to invest even more in the project and pull in some of the wishlist items (there are always wishlist items) and turn them into reality.

You can sign up to Red Hook Studios' mailing list to get notified first for updates about Darkest Dungeon II. The original Darkest Dungeon is also available at its lowest-ever price on Steam right now: $6.24 / £4.74, or 75% off.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

The_Mask

Just like Yves, I chase tales.
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The land of ice and snow.
Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
  • My only issues with it were the extreme RNG when it came to perks. And the fact that only the defensive ones were actually any good. (except maybe the Eldritch-oriented ones)
  • The fact that when it first came out (which is when I played it) was horribly simplistic in terms of strategy - that changed, but even in the later iterations: 1 giant that crit 2 times in a row = end of.
  • Despite the love letter to Bloodborne, in terms of gameplay nothing was copied with sense, meaning you *can* lose items, and if you play against a time limit, that could mean the end of your playthrough. If you're 10 hours in, that can really suck.

The sad part is that DD is a very stream-friendly game. And it is popular on Twitch. I'm thinking this is creating the illusion to the creators of this game that their production is good. And it's really not.
 
Joined
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Messages
50,754
Codex Year of the Donut
This is one of those games where the RNG is too extreme for me like battle brothers. I wanted to like it and played it a few times but never finished.

Probably because I don't like losing characters and both it and battle brothers are about accepting losses.
 

Jaedar

Arcane
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Messages
9,837
Project: Eternity Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pathfinder: Kingmaker
Don't forget
[Spite balancing]
[Senseless grind]
[Black people]
intensifying.

Sorry to piss on the parade before it even started but DD wasn't very good.
DD was really good for a few hours(mostly due to the atmosphere), but then the senseless grind sets in, and bad luck/poor play will easily see you lose hours of progress.

I somehow doubt the sequel will fix it, since the masses don't seem to care.
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
I liked DD. Of course grind sets in, among other problems, but for an indie game that came out of nowhere & was priced accordingly, DD was a fantastic addition.

Any game that is actually built around your characters having wounds, traumas and other flaws, instead of walking XP vacuums - and having those flaws be manifest as a central gameplay mechanic - is a small contribution to incline in my book.
 

Rahdulan

Omnibus
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I kinda want to see what they can add without changing the formula too much. When you think about Darkest Dungeon its selling points were basically the art style, narrator and RNG difficulty. What can they add that couldn't have been introduced with DLC like they did already?
 

The_Mask

Just like Yves, I chase tales.
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Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
When you think about Darkest Dungeon its selling points were basically the art style, narrator

This.

The narrator is *really* good. Actually the whole sound design and special effects are really good.
You get immersed and feel the visceral effects of the things happening on the screen much more than they are simply because of the very good sound work.

However, this can only fool you for so long. I've clocked in over 500 hours in DD, and I honestly can't say I'm proud - after a while you learn the sounds, and lines, by heart and eventually you shut them off due to their repetitiveness. You put your favourite music in the background - and when that happens, the illusion is gone.



I like lovecraftian-themed games, and I want(ed) to like this game, but eventually it all falls apart. :(



For those that want to look into the narrator: his name is Wayne June. Twitter account: https://twitter.com/wayne_june
 

Darth Canoli

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Perched on a tree
I kinda want to see what they can add without changing the formula too much. When you think about Darkest Dungeon its selling points were basically the art style, narrator and RNG difficulty. What can they add that couldn't have been introduced with DLC like they did already?

It would be amazing if they kept the ambient of the first one and built a real game around it with some depth, not this rinse and repeat ailments manager.

The best part of the game was the intro, not that i didn't enjoy it for a while but the actual content is quite low.
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
When you think about Darkest Dungeon its selling points were basically the art style, narrator

This.

The narrator is *really* good. Actually the whole sound design and special effects are really good.
You get immersed and feel the visceral effects of the things happening on the screen much more than they are simply because of the very good sound work.

However, this can only fool you for so long. I've clocked in over 500 hours in DD, and I honestly can't say I'm proud - after a while you learn the sounds, and lines, by heart and eventually you shut them off due to their repetitiveness. You put your favourite music in the background - and when that happens, the illusion is gone.



I like lovecraftian-themed games, and I want(ed) to like this game, but eventually it all falls apart. :(



For those that want to look into the narrator: his name is Wayne June. Twitter account: https://twitter.com/wayne_june

Sorry, but if you thought the art style & narrator was good, but the gameplay was shit, and you got fooled for 500 hours, then you're just a flaming moron

Or, much more likely, the game was pretty good and you enjoyed it for five hundred fucking hours and, you know, because you can't play it forever, you finally did get sick of it.
 

eXalted

Arcane
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Dec 16, 2014
Messages
1,213
Seriously, what's with all the "I want to play this game forever. This game sucks, there aren't even 999999 hours of more content after I beat the game." happening in games for the last 5 years.
 

The_Mask

Just like Yves, I chase tales.
Patron
Joined
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Messages
5,898
Location
The land of ice and snow.
Strap Yourselves In Codex Year of the Donut Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
Sorry, but if you thought the art style & narrator was good, but the gameplay was shit, and you got fooled for 500 hours, then you're just a flaming moron

Or, much more likely, the game was pretty good and you enjoyed it for five hundred fucking hours and, you know, because you can't play it forever, you finally did get sick of it.

I never said the gameplay was shit. Don't put words in my mouth and then use the words "flaming moron", sir. Otherwise things might backfire. ^__^

I said that the gameplay is flawed due to extreme RNG and predictable strategies (at first).



I like that monocle you have. Keep not reading things properly, and it might come off soon. ^__^
 

Martyr

Arcane
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Bavaria
No. Just no. DD is still my worst purchase on Steam.
21124.jpg
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
Sorry, but if you thought the art style & narrator was good, but the gameplay was shit, and you got fooled for 500 hours, then you're just a flaming moron

Or, much more likely, the game was pretty good and you enjoyed it for five hundred fucking hours and, you know, because you can't play it forever, you finally did get sick of it.

I never said the gameplay was shit. Don't put words in my mouth and then use the words "flaming moron", sir. Otherwise things might backfire. ^__^

I said that the gameplay is flawed due to extreme RNG and predictable strategies (at first).



I like that monocle you have. Keep not reading things properly, and it might come off soon. ^__^

^__^
 

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