Darkest dungeon II

 What is darkest dungeon?

Darkest Dungeon II is the sequel to Darkest Dungeon. The game was revealed on February 19, 2019 with the teaser titles 'The Howling End'. It was launched on epic games in early access on October 26, 2021.

The player is tasked by their mentor, The Academic, with traveling to The Mountain and defeating the source of evil there. This journey takes the player and a party of four heroes across a kingdom fallen to and chaos. The party's means of transport is The Stagecoach, and they are protected from the evil presence by The Flame, which must be kept lit. Certain actions and encounters, such as winning a battle, can cause The Flame to wax or wane, affecting the party's safety and sanity. Once it is extinguished, the party is attacked by a group of deadly cultists. Surviving the cultist ambush will restore The Flame to its weakest state, giving the party one last chance to finish the journey.

The journey itself is divided into multiple routes, always beginning with The Valley, a tutorial segment, and always ending with The Mountain. The regions that the party travels in between can be chosen by the player at The Inn, the safe haven that marks the endpoint of each route. Random modifiers, layouts, and goals mean that no trip through a region is exactly the same. For example, during one passage of The Sprawl, the party may be granted extra rewards, while during another, they may be required to avoid a specific encounter, such as a mini-boss, or suffer severe consequences. It is possible to avoid combat situations, but this can leave the party unprepared for the final boss.

Heroes

Heroes, or Adventurers, in Darkest Dungeons II are characters used by the player when assembling their party for the journey to The Mountain. They are divided into several classes, specializations that define their appearance and abilities. Each character has different skills and can fill different roles in combat. Darkest Dungeon II will have 9 Heroes available initially, but more are planned for future updates.

At the beginning of each run, the player chooses four of their unlocked heroes to begin the run with at The Crossroads. The player's party is limited to four Heroes. At first, only four Hero classes are available to choose from, but as the player progresses through the game they will increase their Profile Level, which will unlock new classes. In the event that a player loses one or more heroes, but reaches an Inn, a randomly generated hero will join the party as a replacement.

Heroes' abilities are now dependent on skills instead of armour and weapons. Skills can be upgraded by the Mastery Trainer at every Inn.

In battle, gameplay no longer includes any Accuracy component, but turn order, speed, HP, and status effects remain. Hits are guaranteed unless the enemy has a special trait token that allows them to dodge or block. Dodgy enemies can avoid attacks, while blocking enemies will still be hit, but receive only half damage. 

Heroes must equip Provisions outside of combat in order to use them. Trinkets can still be collected, but are not persistent across playthroughs, meaning any Trinkets obtained are lost upon party death or playthrough victory.

Stats

Each character has number of different stats, normally determined by their class and their equipment. Stats are also influenced by quirks and diseases, either positively or negatively, and it is possible to acquire temporary effects influencing a hero's stats as a side effect of a relationship. Stats can also be given temporary buffs through the use of certain Inn or Combat Items. In combat buffs and debuffs do not directly affect the hero's stats, simply adding an additional layer of calculation to attacks/skills. Stats are also used by monsters.