Darkest Dungeon II Review (Iziek)
I really hate to echo what I've seen many others say about the game, but Darkest Dungeon 2 is a significant departure from many things that made the first game great.
The gameplay of this game (outside of combat) simply does not play like a game. It plays like a tedious job, where you have to tough out all the rough bits for countless hours to get to the parts you like.
As others have said, the stagecoach sections are extremely tiring and simply put, not fun. I don't dislike the slay-the-spire-esque map and layout of each area, but movement and events between each encounter is completely unnecessary and serves only to waste your time. In the unfortunate event that you are forced to undertake a repair encounter, you must prepare for extreme frustration. Need one specific character to hold off a powerful enemy or save a dying ally? Sorry, they were selected for repair duty this turn. I cannot express how bad it feels to have a party wipe on these encounters, as any fragment of hope you have left is likely to be ruined by being selected for repair duty.
While a minor complaint, my biggest issue with the stagecoach is how much time you are forced to waste watching it inbetween runs. Have a bad run and decide to say "forget it, I'm starting over!"? Well, hold on! You first have to go to the Altar of Light! Ready to spend your 3 candles you earned in the last hour? Then, let's listen to the narrator talk about your confession that you've heard a dozen times because you either suck at the game or have displeased the spirits of RNG. Honestly, losing again and again and having to restart would feel much better if the game didn't insist on wasting an additional 5 minutes of your time between attempts (not including the Valley section of each run).
It's not all bad. Again, as others have said, the artwork and animations are absolutely fantastic and they've done an incredible job moving the game to 3D. The Runaway character is a fantastic addition to the game, along with the new abilities given to every class. The paths feature takes some notorious unique trinkets from the first game and transforms them into interesting ways to play classes you may not have previously considered. I can honestly say the combat feels very satisfying and fun (when RNG doesn't decide your run has gone on too long).
As a footnote, I do really wish they brought back all the original classes from the first game. I like how the Antiquarian is an opportunist enemy, but I find myself greatly missing the Crusader and the rest of the gang. Maybe they'll be added in DLC eventually, I can only hope.
It may be masochism, but I intend to finish the game despite my not being able to recommend it in its current form. I will update this review if the developers make significant changes to the game or my completion of it changes my opinion.
Thank you for reading.
UPDATE:
After an additional 50 plus hours, I have finally beaten the game and can feel confident in adding some closing remarks.
First, wow, what a great variety of bosses this game had. Each boss, especially the act bosses, truly stood apart in unique and interesting ways. They required you to change your strategy on the fly or face your failure sooner than expected. In true Darkest Dungeon fashion, each boss possesses the ability to ruin your run with just one or two bad rounds. I have no complaints about this, as this is what we all signed up for (assuming you played the first game). That damn baby...
I'd like to especially draw attention to the Act 5 boss. Without spoiling anything, I have to mention how excellently the encounter presents itself and feels to fight. It truly feels like the culmination of all your efforts in the game leading up to a final showdown, conquering your past mistakes and pushing through to victory. I do feel that the difficulty of the Act 5 boss is somewhat less than the Act 3 boss, though it is my understanding that the Act 3 boss has been tweaked recently (I have not fought it since before it was changed, and so I cannot comment on its current difficulty). However, despite the lesser difficulty, the Act 5 boss still makes an appearance worthy of remembering.
Secondly, I unfortunately must reiterate that this game wastes a lot of your time. Having more than doubled my playtime since my initial review, I have had plenty of time to solidify my view that the stagecoach sections in this game still feel pointless and unnecessary. Wiggling your cart left and right, back and forth, just to squeeze out the occasional loot does not feel worthwhile, and these long riding sections between encounters are punctuated by the narrator telling you one of three things he told you already in the last 5 minutes. I feel the worst offender is still the sections between runs, moving from the altar of hope onward to the actual start of your run. I must also point out that this feels especially bad once you have beaten the game already and are still forced to listen to the narrator's comments about the act you've chosen to pursue. I get it, already.
I don't dislike the game overall, but I still can't recommend it based on how much time could be cut down both between and during runs. I feel if they were to cut down on the time wasters or allow you to skip them entirely, you would double the number of runs you could do in the same amount of time spent playing.
As a small footnote, I would like to say I really enjoyed the ending. It felt like a suitable reward for the hard work spent getting to the end of the journey.
Thanks again for reading.