You’ve been out on the road for weeks, you stink, you’re stressed, the locals keep hassling you, and you’re frankly fed up with your traveling companions. Darkest Dungeon 2 has earned a reputation for being a dastardly tough game that takes you on the roadtrip from hell, and now developer Red Hook Studios has announced a brand new game mode that should inject fresh challenges into the mix.
Set in a land wracked by threats, Darkest Dungeon 2 sees you lead a party of adventurers in an attempt to bring salvation to a world gone wrong. Setting off in your trusty stagecoach, you battle enemies, explore areas of interest, and fight to keep your own sanity as you travel slowly toward your destination. In the fine tradition of roguelike games, it’s a game that you won’t complete in one sitting or even many sittings, restarting your adventure over and over again to inch your way towards victory.
If Darkest Dungeon 2 wasn’t challenging enough for you then, Red Hook Games has just announced a brand new game mode that should push your adventurers to their limits. Called Kingdoms, this free update pits players against the clock in a separate quest to save the Kingdom from an emerging threat. So if you didn’t have enough to worry about before, now you’ve got a ticking timer counting down, adding extra pressure to your adventure.
To help players in their quest to end this threat there’ll be a network of safe haven inns to rest in along with a new upgrade trees which can be used to upgrade both heroes and the inns themselves. Red Hook Games also promises new questlines and three new monster factions to battle against; The Coven, Beastmen, and Crimson Courtiers.
“Kingdoms is an exciting project for us. If you look at our release history, no game or DLC has ever retread ground, and we’re proud to continue that tradition here. This new mode will blend some of the permanence and roster management of the original Darkest Dungeon with the traversal and combat of Darkest Dungeon 2.” says Chris Bourassa, Co-Founder of Red Hook Studios. “Best of all, this is a massive, FREE update to DD2, packing our flagship title with even more content and value for our players. At Red Hook, we evaluate projects based on their potential to elicit surprise, delight, and despair… Kingdoms hits all three.”
There’s no release date for Darkest Dungeon 2 Kingdoms just yet other than late 2024 but in the meantime, Darkest Dungeon 2 and The Binding Blade DLC are both on sale as part of the Triple-i Initiative Steam Sale.
If you’re keen on staring into the darkness and testing your skills, why not check out our guide to the best turn-based RPG games. If taking your time and thinking strategically is your thing, we’ve got your back with the best strategy games you can play on PC.
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