Darkest Dungeon 2 - Interview @Gamingbolt

Something that you've hinted at before in terms of improvements the sequel is looking to make is the combat system- are those improvements that you're ready to shed more light on?

Returning players will absolutely feel at home in DD2's combat. However, we wanted to move away from small/incremental buffs and status effects, towards something chunkier, and ultimately more strategic. Many of DD1 effects have been converted to 'Tokens' which have larger, more predictable results and counters in combat.

Visually, the characters have varied idle and anticipation animations, and the resulting experience is more fluid and exciting!

Darkest Dungeon's palpable atmosphere was one of its biggest strengths- how much emphasis are you placing on ensuring that the sequel doesn't stray from that, and that any new locations players visit maintain that same strong sense of place and identity?

Atmosphere is a harmonious synthesis of art, audio, music. We're preserving the art style, working with the same audio production team (Power Up Audio), same composer (Stuart Chatwood), and same narrator (Wayne June). This gives us the same creative DNA. From a content perspective, we're visiting locations that are aligned with the thematic pillars of the first game,

What are the most important bits of feedback from audiences and critics for the first game that you've focused on for Darkest Dungeon 2's development?

Two main things: First, we wanted to shave down some of the grind that afflicted the middle hours of a Darkest Dungeon campaign, and secondly, make the combat buffs and effects chunkier and more impactful.

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