Announced via Twitter, developer Red Hook Studios promised that Darkest Dungeon 2 early access will be available on PC on October 26, 2021. Darkest Dungeon 2 will have six classes returning from the original game: Grave Robber, Leper, Man-at-Arms, Plague Doctor, Highwayman, and Hellion. The creators also briefly commented on what players can expect from gameplay, mentioning the combat system is making a return. However, the developers are giving it a significant tune-up—mechanically and in terms of presentation. The important thing about the combat system is how the studio is aiming for a new meta structure, whatever that might mean. We’ll likely find out once we get our hands on this sequel.
(Updated on July 26, 2024 – Fact-checked and fixed inconsistencies).
Red Hook’s Tyler Sigman and Chris Bourassa said:
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 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.”
They also spoke about the importance of early access feedback. As you know, one thing is testing the game internally in the company but having people play it while developing it is much better. Several other games have done this, and it has turned out great. This is a fantastic idea, and we hope it does wonders before a full release. Darkest Dungeon also had an early access launch that lasted for about a year. In it, players were able to give a lot of feedback and, well, we know how that game turned out; it was amazing. So, if you want to be a part of this, remember that Darkest Dungeon 2 kicks off its early access on October 26 for PC via the Epic Games Store.
If you want to be involved with the game as it is developed, there’s no better time than now. Even if you didn’t play the first entry, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try this one. On the contrary, we fully recommend you give it a shot. From what we’ve seen, the early access period of Darkest Dungeon 2 will be packed. So, even if it takes a while to release, you will have a lot of things to keep you occupied.