Developer Red Hook Studios has announced that it’s working on a sequel to its brilliant but brutal Lovecraft-inspired RPG, Darkest Dungeon.
The original game released in 2016, and tasked players with exploring numerous trap-infested environs, seeking out riches, and battling – in time-honoured turn-based fashion – a relentless procession of cosmic horrors. Each encounter with the unknown would send adventurers in a party to the brink of madness, eventually lumbering them with (usually) negative quirks and making future excursions that much harder.
As a result, downtime in between missions became a game of party management, hiring fresh faces or making use of local amenities – be they the brothel or local chapel – to hopefully mitigate the adverse effects suffered by more experienced, and thus more powerful, adventurers. The balancing act between deeper exploration and hero preservation was never less than stressful.
Two major DLC instalments, The Crimson Court and The Colour of Madness, followed, and now Red Hook (speaking to PC Gamer) has revealed that it’s ready to delve into the Darkest Dungeon once more. All will not be the same in the sequel, however.
According to the developer, Darkest Dungeon 2 will “have its own creative and thematic identity”, retaining some elements, but jettisoning others. The existing combat system will, for instance, be making a return – albeit with a “significant [mechanical and presentational] tune-up” – but players can expect “a completely different metagame structure”.
Beyond that, details are thin, although Red Hook does tease that Darkest Dungeon 2 will offer players “a glimpse of the supernatural apocalypse twisting and distorting the world beyond the estate…”. Additionally, teaser art suggests that several classes – namely the Highwayman, Hellion, Grave Robber, Leper, Man-at-Arms, and Plague Doctor – will be making return.
There’s no word yet on when Darkest Dungeon 2 might arrive, but Red Hook does say that the game will, like its predecessor, enter early access on PC before receiving a wider, final release.
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