Darkest Dungeon II Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

by Jim Smale · Published July 15, 2024 · Updated July 12, 2024

For our Darkest Dungeon II Review, we play a roguelike road trip of the damned. Form a party, equip your stagecoach, and set off across the decaying landscape on a last-gasp quest to avert the apocalypse. The greatest dangers you face, however, may come from within…

Darkest Dungeon II Review Pros:

Decent dark gothic graphics.
2.9GB download size.
Graphics settings – gamma correction slider.
Controller settings – manual steering sensitivity slider, max steering angle slider, camera shake slider, minimap scout auto-scroll, hero sheet stagecoach stop, toggle tooltips, HD rumble, and HD rumble strength slider.
Gameplay settings – tutorial pop-ups, embark reveal relationships button, hold X to embark, and subtitles.
Roguelike gameplay.
The stagecoach is where you drive it around, you can buy and upgrade parts of it and the goal is to hit bushes, etc for random loot, find objectives interact with people, etc.
Four initial characters to have in your party – plague doctor, grave robber, highwayman, and man at arms.
Traveling around on the stagecoach is 2.5D and the combat takes place in a 2D plane.
Earn loot from enemies defeated.
Turn-based combat.
The tutorial section is a text and images-based reference point and shows any tutorials you have encountered.
Encounters introduce multiple-choice questions and answers.
Very dark gothic atmosphere.
Relics is the in-game currency.
Party members will chat with each other as you play and travel around.
You can set the turn/party order.
Hover text pop-ups which is helpful with attacks and abilities in combat.
Awesome animated attack sequences.
The academic view is where you can get a real detailed look at enemies.
Stress is a huge deal here and you get it from fighting and encounters, you can lower it but if you have a meltdown then you lose loads of affinity and HP.
Death’s door is where the next hit could kill the character, it is also the state needed to do an execution kill.
Traveling around gives the game a much grander look and feel.
Affinity is the system whereby party members can like or hate each other which affects how combat plays out.
Candles of hope are what you earn from playing and are carried over from run to run.
You can end your run at any time but reaching an Inn will grant large rewards.
Three ways to end a run – victory, defeat, and abandoning.
The candles of hope are used at the Altar of Hope to unlock new characters, and items and upgrade characters.
You see how many candles of hope you get before finalizing the end-run command.
Excellent voice work in particular the narrator.
Inventory and load-out management can be done when traveling around.
Every run randomizes.
Mastery points are earned from combat and are cashed in at inns to upgrade hero skills.
Stagecoach flame goes out over time and if it goes out then the game becomes harder, you can relight it by doing encounters.
At inns, you can equip items, upgrade character skills, equip the stagecoach, and pick your next route.
Once in a region, you get a map more akin to a roguelike where you are constantly choosing your routes and you can see some events but not a lot.
You can find and take part in hero stories, you can choose which character each time.
Watchtowers are rare events that grant you the reward of uncovering all the stops on the map in the current region.
Feels like a much more streamlined approach.
In-game cutscenes mixed with character interactions.
Best played with headphones.
Performs well in both handheld and docked.

Darkest Dungeon II Review Cons:

No touchscreen support.
Cannot change or edit settings until you enter the game.
The tutorials are all pop-ups and the game clearly thinks you have played the previous game.
Long initial load time.
A lot to take in especially if it’s your first time.
Some encounters are not always clear on what to do.
Slow starter.
Healing items feel rare.
No combat speed choices.
Not always sure when the game is saving.
You have so many buffs and debuffs going on that it’s really hard to keep track of it all.