Darkest Dungeon vs Darkest Dungeon 2

[Music] this year's darkest dungeon 2 was stylized and marketed as a sequel to the cult classic darkest dungeon before it but both titles are actually quite fundamentally different which may be a shock to unfamiliar players and newcomers to the series this second game makes radical changes to the gameplay loop as well as featuring a host of graphical and quality of life upgrades in this video we will compare darkest dungeon 2 against its predecessor an opportunity to discuss the various changes between the two games and come to the realization it may not really be a sequel at all this is darkest dungeon 1 versus darkest dungeon [Music] 2 loot are often darkest dungeon one can be labeled as a myriad of genres sub genres or gaming categories but if I was to describe it in a few words I'd call it a Dungeon Crawler Rog light at its most basic premise there's obviously elements of party roster management tactical turn-based battles chance based DND like mechanics with a gothic lovecraftian art style released in in 2016 after a lengthy Early Access period darkest dungeon attracted attention for its brutalist gameplay curve and unforgiving difficulty it was a masochist game the idea of stress its effect on not only in-game characters but the player as well it delivers an addictive yet Stern punch in the guts whilst engrossing in its eldrich themes and infectious narration in this first game players take control of their ancestors State an attempt to cleanse the anti- deluvian horrors erupting from the surrounds over the course of an extended campaign this is portrayed in a loop of two phases a hamlet phase where players recruit and manage their roster of Heroes upgrade their skills and Equipment treat their maladies and heal their stress before kiding them out with Trinkets and supplies the Expedition phase consists of sending groups of these Heroes out into the various locations on the estate into a Dungeon Crawl where they will combat enemies seek treasures and riches defeat bosses and hopefully return back to town in one piece darkest dungeon 2 on the other hand is a transformation into a stronger rogu likee identity releasing in 2023 after almost 2 years in Early Access this sequel of sorts is a pretty major break from its predecessor although it retains elements that made the first game addictive and recognizable such as its combat and art style darkus dungeon 2 adapts the series into a format that foros the players committal to a long-term campaign rather portraying a journey that is staggered over multiple shorter runs darkest dungeon 2 is all about singular Expeditions that sees the player guide pre-selected parties across the infected Game World in a stage coach battling through regions acquiring resources and fostering relationships before attempting to take on one of the many Final Bosses in each of these gauntlets there is no expectation to win abandoning Expeditions or being defeated simply a cruise experience uh currency and knowledge to be slightly stronger for the next run think slay the Spire or Hades where the player partakes in repeated runs to defeat an end boss but at a splash of darkest dungeon's iconic art style and its addictive combat system and you've got darkest dungeon 2 in a nutshell so what are the particular differences between both how does one progress through the stages within each iteration of the darkest dungeon well in a darkest dungeon 1 campaign players recruit heroes from a randomly generated pool at the stage coach and form parties of four with whoever they have available these heroes are sent out to one of several regions of the estate fighting against Monsters and completing certain quests whilst bringing back loot to upgrade Town buildings that in turn allow the heroes to progressively get stronger with newer skills and enhanced equipment successfully completing dungeons levels up Hero's experience allowing them to attempt more difficult Dungeons and ultimately kill more difficult bosses slaying all the bosses opens up the ability to take on the final dungeon of the game the darkest dungeon itself self all the meanwhile the player must manage their roster of Heroes for the entire campaign Heroes can get ailments attain debilitating traits or be too stressed out to continue as well as requiring constant upgrading to ensure their relevance in the later stages of the campaign so there's quite a lot of roster management Heroes can and will die permanently so hero deaths become one of the main progression blockers in darkest dungeon 1 because players may have spent so much economic time and perhaps even emotional investment into certain Heroes losing them can be a crippling blow to the entire campaign as a whole given the fact that the main fail state of the game especially on higher difficulties is a casualty limit and turn limit I.E you must clear the darkest dungeon in a set number of turns without exceeding a set number of hero deaths this requires an unforgiving command of long-term strategy and dependence a bit on luck which can be quite frustrating training for many players in a different sense darkest dungeon 2's philosophy is about eliminating that frustration in a more linear progression system based off many other Rogue likes the game is essentially split into five chapters in each one players select a party of four to fight through the entire chapter each chapter consists of four regions the party must Traverse through with players controlling the stage coach deciding on each route to take each location to visit each of their Heroes dilemas the journey in the meanwhile is where Heroes can battle monsters and optain rewards form relationships purchase items or gain Mastery of their combat skills culminating into a final mountain region where the party must take on the chapter's final boss didn't succeed well that's okay maybe your party didn't synergize too well or you got unlucky with certain quirks or items well the final boss was just too insurmountable well you can definitely try again maybe with a different composition this time maybe with a better strategy in mind but what's different is that failing in darkest dungeon 2 is not nearly as punishing as it was in the first game because at the end of every run you gain candles a resource that is invested into permanent unlocks that persist into every Future run across all chapters such as unlocking different Heroes unlocking better trinkets or it or just Buffs and modifiers to make the game slightly easier this essentially means that early runs are often Bare Bones and lack many of the heroes skills and tools necessary for victory but trying and trying again will slowly build up the players profile and the player's [Music] potential the first darkest dungeon was built on the developers Red Hook studios's own proprietary Engine with basically 2D Sprites and meshes animated in a sort of frame by frame stop motion comic style darkest dungeon 2 on the other hand is handled with the unity engine and as such all of its assets are upgraded into 3D with full motion animations this creates a more visceral feeling especially in combat but is an improvement all around that assists in storytelling and the game sense of Adventure whilst retaining all the flavor and dark gritty atmosphere the first game was renowned for the Cinematic experience as a result is entirely elevated with this Improvement in the graphical Department darkest dungeon 1 has much more of an indie field and as such does have issues on presenting maybe too many numbers information and can be confusing or downright daunting for unfamiliar players with darkest dungeon 2 there has been major strides to clean up the UI in a more professional manner in some sense fit for console or mobile play but alongside certain gameplay decisions as we'll explore later it just makes this second game so much more accessible to the general public in other aspects darkest dungeon 2 relishes in the dark Gothic atmosphere of the first game by reprising Wayne jun's role as narrator and letting lead artists Chris barasa pour more of his Unique Style into the game there is definitely a shift however from the more medieval fantasy setting that is plagued by hellish creatures of the first darkest dungeon this now morphs into an almost science fiction Cosmic horror theme featuring Transcendent monsters with alien almost humanoid likenesses darkest dungeon 2's bluish tinge and Cosmic motifs are somewhat reminiscent of the tone portrayed in the color of Madness Dy speaking of motifs the iconic iron Crown is now a centerpiece symbol of the story players of the first game will recognize it as the infamous representation of stress but there is a deeper narrative element surrounding the crown that is slowly uncovered in darkest dungeon [Music] 2 darkest dungeon 1 features 16 Heroes with two more available in DLC darkest dungeon 2 in comparison only features 12 so some fan favorites in the Crusader for instance were left out others such as the antiquarian reappear now as mini boss encounters whilst an entirely new hero joins the roster in The Runaway Heroes come with a variety of skills that determine their optimal location in the party formation some are frontliners some are backliners and others can Shuffle or a flexible everywhere in darkest dungeon one four combat skills can be chosen out of the seven available for each hero in darkest dungeon 2 heroes have access to five skills from a whopping pool of 11 many of these updated and reworked from the prequel whilst others offer completely new ways to Pilot a character in darkest dungeon 1 however pretty much all heroes are available at the beginning of a campaign you'll always start with a crusader and high wom for the story reasons but every other hero from the stage coach is randomly generated you could receive a leper this week or an AR the week after you never really know what you're going to get and that adds real dynamism a bit of Randomness and strategic variety to each campaign in darkest dungeon 2's Rogue likee progression players must first invest candles into unlocking each hero as a result there's less Randomness and more player agency in deciding which Heroes get to form a party there is a greater amount of tactical Nuance given the newer combat skills and reworked combat system so although the variety of party composition positions is reduced in this newer game each hero can bring to the table new tactics or offer new avenues of supporting the party there's also just a greater sense of characterization in darkest dungeon 1 Heroes were often seen as silent protagonists with obscure backstories the ancestor and his estate is given the greater narrative Drive in darkest dungeon 2 Hero Stories are expanded and directly tied to progression mechanics it often allows for a deeper and more emotional connection outlining their often depressing or traumatic backgrounds and their motivations in the game World in support of this is the introduction of the relationship system adding a sort of chemistry system that incentivizes players to Foster cohesion and cooperation Heroes that bond together fight better and are more resilient against the horrors across their Journey the relationship system has gone through many iterations over early accd ESS but upon the game's release it is now a great balance of effort versus [Music] reward darkest dungeon 2 has also re-envisioned the combat system like a similar rebrush of other topics covered before the developers have agreed that combat in the first game although complex and deep in its own right was too convoluted especially For Less patient audiences combat in darkest dungeon 1 revolved a lot around RNG an enemy's Dodge was deducted from a hero's accuracy to calculate hit chance this made simply initiating an attack a dice roll furthermore there were too many Dodge chances crit chances attack damage percentages or resistance multipliers that just clogged up the UI and made the maps too straining darkest dungeon 2 has mostly remove moove this system in favor of a more concise token system instead of Buffs lasting for certain amount of turns tokens appear as counters that are consumed by combat abilities damage ups are replaced by strength tokens crits can still be lucky shots but they can also be guaranteed by the crit token whilst block tokens have mostly replaced the protection system of the first game there's also a whole subset of combo abilities that play similar to but are a general Improvement on darkest dungeon 1's Mark system enabling Combos and taking advantage of them it opens up even more new ways to Pilot Heroes an entire glossery of positive negative and miscellaneous tokens are provided in a sense the token SLC counter system makes combat much easier to grasp and anticipate without shedding its challenging nature more features that have been reworked include the iconic stress system and the ability to use combat items as as a bonus action darkest dungeon 2 just brings the entire combat system into a modern clean and concise fashion but there's still room for the dopamine inducing heroic moments and instances of adrenaline and Euphoria darkest dungeon one was renowned fored you to your bless anded you in a dream of as a result of the nature of Rogue likes darkest dungeon 2's combat can be quite difficult for early profiles meeting new bosses for the first time acts as a skill and progression check ensuring that the player doesn't Advance too far past their intended Point bosses and even Elite enemies feature death store mechanics unique gimmicks and creative move sets that can be challenging to certain party compositions whilst completely trivial to others whereas there was a sense you could Brute Force the combat to some degree in darkest dungeon 1 with any semi flexible party you can't really do that in darkest dungeon 2 as the game encourages learning in failure and experience in defeat if darkest dungeon 2 is a true sequel to darkest dungeon 1 in any way then it's at least a true continuation of the story after clearing out the bowels of the estate the horrors that the Player encountered in the dungeons of the first game are on the Rampage in the greater World At Large Heroes and player protagonists have returned for another round of eldrich cleansing although that's the premise The Narrative is actually quite a lot deeper and more personal than the first game World building and anecdotal information was presented in darkest dungeon 1 in the form of vague Journal notes and ambiguous narration which made the law kind of open-ended and imaginative for the player but at the same time still grounded in a Core lovecraftian theme in darkest dungeon 2 The Cinematic nature allows for more robust storytelling no longer playing as the ancestors Heir the perspective switches to the academic and his Protege which the player takes the point of view of and how the Protegé has dabbled in the occult and caused the outbreak of this new apocalypse almost like what the ancestor did in the first game over the course of five confessions which acts as chapters explaining the protege's downfall the player will metaphorically Journey Through the mind and subsequent reasoning of the Protegé whilst the academic his presumed teacher and Mentor narrates the chronological timeline whereas in darkest dungeon 1 where the story is about defeating each of the ancestors Unleashed monstrosities around the estate before launching an assault on the final darkest dungeon itself darkest dungeon 2 is more about repenting these five confessions each confession a story act and absolving them through defeating monsters representing the Protege sins fighting these bosses occur in the mountain a constantly alluded to dark region which I guess is symbolic of the subconscious as a result the bosses themselves are not necessarily thematically lovecraftian or Spawn from anti- Delian Origins that was suggested in the first game but more fig ative of the human condition as such the story is almost an allegory of traveling through one's psyche in an attempt to absolve oneself of their own crimes this is mimicked into the examination of the individual Heroes as well each of them featuring their own five chapters that conveys their own mental struggles and origin stories that can be accessed at The Shrine of reflection darkest dungeon 2 is therefore not the typical dungeon expunging boss killer in light against the darkness Narrative of hope that was present in the first game but a more atypical psychological analysis on the huus of man in his doomed Pursuit for forbidden [Music] knowledge darkest dungeon 1 and darkest dungeon 2 offers two sides of the same coin two different game experiences inside a shared universe as a result one does not necessarily replace the other but rather both complement each other with each appealing to a different subset of players darkest dungeon one is for the Strategic campaigners those who want to commit to an extended playthrough role play more of a manager and feel a sense of slow slow steady progression make calculated long-term decisions and Foster their own emergent narratives darkest dungeon 2 is for these story mode adventurers those who want a chaptered but conclusive narrative experience with bite-sized chunks of rogu likee gameplay that doesn't unnecessarily punish their time for failing although replayability is ultimately limited it offers a more casual and forgiving approach to the darkest dungeon concept however those who are after The Full Experience to enjoy the entire world building storytelling the complete arcs of both protagonist and heroes as well as the developers creative foray into two different genres well there's plenty of content between them in the darkest [Music] dungeons if you've enjoyed this brief comparison but want a more complete istic review of darkest dungeon 2 be sure to subscribe and check out our upcoming year in review where we analyze the game one year after its release with all of its patches and DLCs if you want to support the channel further and F more analytical content like this consider subscribing on our patreon for as little as a dollar a month

Channel: ReviewGen

Views: 28,778

Keywords: reviewgen, darkest dungeon, darkest dungeon ii, darkest dungeon 1 vs darkest dungeon 2, darkest dungeon vs darkest dungeon 2, red hook studios

Id: hhutcqzX8Bs

Length: 21min 19sec (1279 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 12 2023