Early Access Trailer for Darkest Dungeon 2 Reveals 3D Graphics

Early Access Trailer for Darkest Dungeon 2 Reveals 3D Graphics.

Red Hook Studios, the creators of Darkest Dungeon 2, has published an early access trailer for the upcoming sequel, displaying the game's new 3D graphics.

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The early access trailer for Darkest Dungeon 2 has just been released, and it shows off the game's new 3D graphics. Last year, the successor to the smash hit dungeon-crawling RPG from 2016 was eventually revealed as early access exclusive on the Epic Games Store. The news came as a shock, given that developer Red Hook Studio first revealed the sequel to Darkest Dungeons almost two years ago.

Apart from its team-based, dungeon-crawling gameplay, Darkest Dungeon's Stress system was a standout feature. The system, which symbolizes the mental disturbances that the game's characters experience as they travel through the dungeon, required players to keep their heroes' stress levels in check, lest they become hampered or even bring them to their death. The Affliction system, as it's known in-game, added an extra layer of gameplay to Darkest Dungeons that proved to be emergent storytelling and character-building feature.

The early access trailer for Darkest Dungeon 2 has been released by Red Hook Studios, and it showcases the game's improved 3D aesthetics as well as some of its new gameplay mechanics. Despite the game's move from 2D to 3D visuals, it maintains its aesthetic style by using cel-shaded models rather than photorealistic ones. The upgraded visuals not only appear to improve the game's overall animation - particularly in battle - but they also let the game include entirely new gameplay aspects, such as its new roguelike travel structure, which utilizes the environment beyond the dungeons of the original game.

The game's initial roster of nine heroes was also teased in the early access clip, though players will only be able to choose four of them per run. Many of the upgrades that players can obtain will transfer over into their next roguelike run, similar to games like Hades and Slay the Spire. Hero powers, goods, and stagecoach improvements are among them. The new affinity system in Darkest Dungeon 2 builds on the Quirk and Stress features of its predecessor, allowing characters to get along or not depending on their individual decisions, which might alter how they behave in combat.

It's been a long wait to see what Darkest Dungeon 2 will look like, but based on the early access clip, it appears to be well worth the wait. Both its new 3D graphics and gameplay appear to be a new experience, balancing the ancient elements of its predecessors with a more current gaming framework. It'll be interesting to see how fans of the previous game react to the sequel now that it's only a few days away from its early access launch.

On October 26, 2021, Darkest Dungeon 2 will be released as an early access title only on the Epic Games Store.

H/S: Red Hook Studios