History NightmareFuel / DarkestDungeonII

* The very first cutscene of the game will immediately tip off those who managed to beat the previous game: [[CosmicHorrorStory the universe is thrown out of balance]] and [[HellOnEarth the Apocalypse is inbound,]] suggesting that the previous game's efforts to stop the Heart of Darkness [[AllForNothing were all for naught]]. The effects of the ending world also shown in detail, with people madly setting things ablaze, tearing off their own faces and slaughtering everything in sight. The situation is so dire that the physical manifestation of hope can ''fit in the palm of one hand.'' To top it all off: The source of this madness is situated on the mysterious twin peaks of ever present Mountain off in the distance, which is sure to make you question: ''just what the hell awaits you there?''

** The first phase, known as The Gut Of The Coward, is a set of sentient guts that resemble a Hydra of all things, vomiting gastric acid at those who'd dare challenge the body. Said set of guts are exposed and presented in great detail, with four loose ends each ending in a horrific skeletal face, with the implication that these may be the souls of the victims consumed by the Scholar's final ritual...which opens up a whole new can of FridgeHorror. Imagine being kidnapped by a strange man, killed without anyone knowing where you are, only to wake up later and find [[AndIMustScream that you've been transformed into the mutated gut of the towering titan, unable to do anything but spit horrible acid at your potential saviors against your own will.]]

** And finally, there's The Scholar's body, now reborn as [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Hateful God]] that the Cultists worship, sits on a stone throne consumed by warped flesh. It retains the black cloak it wore during its ritualistic learnings...but its left hand is now unrecognizable and fused with the throne in a fleshy mess, while its right hand is a melted, withered, half-attached human limb wielded to the throne by a strand of flesh that becomes visible when it attacks. All the while, a gigantic glowing manifestation of Iron Crown hovers behind it, made not out of stone, but seemingly of [[EldritchAbomination dark matter.]]
*** The Proclaimers that accompany him can easily be mistaken for simple Cherubs... until they whip out a huge sword that can remove every buff you stacked and provide Worship to the God, something no other Act boss has. And if the Hateful God gets enough worship? He unleashes the true power of the spreading stain and hits your party with a move that deals big damage, horror, and ''destroys all positive tokens.'' If you aren't ready for the fight, you'll learn to fear the Proclaimers.
*** The Hateful God himself also proves to be a terrifying RealityWarper. It can easily influences heroes' emotions, can unleash the energy of Spreading Stain itself, can ''rewrite your positive tokens into negative ones'', and summons an endless army of loyal Proclaimers, all with the simple raise of a hand. It's no wonder it's worshiped this much when it has that level of control over reality.
*** And then there's also its Trump card: ''Face Your Failures''. Being an avatar of pure hatred and loathing, the freak of reality can tap into each individual hero's suffering and can summon specters from their past for one last attempt at breaking them. Sure, this backfires if the hero manages to overcome their fears and failures, but given that [[IncreasinglyLethalEnemy the specter its self gains a scaling damage buff]] every time it attacks...the possibility of the hero being consumed by their failures still exists.
*** And the cherry atop all this? When pressing the TAB key, all other enemies/bosses give various details, such as their moves, stats, and resistances, with the first two stages of the boss being no exception. ''The Hateful God however?'' You are instead met with a chilling message, that seems to be burnt with the stain onto the very screen itself, as the camera angle shifts to have it stare ''dead at you!''

* The ending. The Body Of Work is defeated, and the Scholar seemingly sacrifices himself to banish both it and the Iron Crown, slowly reversing the effects of the apocalypse as the heroes hope to begin a normal life. But then as the camera zooms out of the Mountain, many gigantic tentacles appear in the sky, looking over the Earth, as the [[CueTheSun bright sun that peeks through the mountains]] is snuffed out like a spent torch. It's a chilling reminder that, Sure, the current apocalypse is undone, ''but worse horrors still remain.''

* Act 2 boss, Seething Sigh, is an ugly and gigantic set of lungs. Its small remnant of rotting skin is string along it, with many tears exposing tumors and barnacles. The lungs themselves are covered in strange dark crust, and its innards are clearly visible, all looking unhealthy. It hovers in place not unlike a dragon and backs this familiarity with the ability to spew out flames and utilizing other literal Breath Weapons, wildly roaring all from the rage. And there's also its charging AlphaStrike: it proceeds to actually breath in, with the lungs realistically expanding, before the Sigh lets out the loudest roar yet and strikes the whole team with powerful breath.

* Act 2 boss, Seething Sigh, is an ugly and gigantic set of lungs. Its small remnant of rotting skin is string along it, with many tears exposing tumors and barnacles. The lungs themselves are covered in strange dark crust, and its innards are clearly visible, all looking unhealthy. It hovers in place not unlike a dragon and backs this familiarity with the ability to spew out flames and utilizing other literal BreathWeapons, wildly roaring all from the rage. And there's also its charging AlphaStrike: it proceeds to actually breath in, with the lungs realistically expanding, before the Sigh lets out the loudest roar yet and strikes the whole team with powerful breath.

Despite the more hope-filled atmosphere compared to the [[VideoGame/DarkestDungeon first game]], the Apocalypse is inbound, and so the horrors are aplenty. Spoilers are unmarked!

** Leviathan, the entity behind the Fisherfolk's current predicament, is a terrifying fish monstrosity, its head alone towering even the biggest of Shroud enemies. Its breath can produce fog, its gaze is inescapable and it can drag the front-row heroes underwater to drown, not too dissimilar to the Hag from the first game. It is not exactly known if he really is some sea God or is just [[GodGuise pretending to be one]], but he is a very powerful and terror-inducing creature regardless.

** Its death animation is somewhat horrifying too, with it dropping to the ground and futilely trying to stop itself from being sucked into the void, [[DraggedOffToHell not unlike a sinner trying to escape from being taken to Hell]].
* Act 4 is a huge WhamEpisode because it reveals a lot about the nature of both the Scholar and the Academic: As ambition began to take hold, the Scholar practically forced his friend to partake in more horrifying experiments with the power of the Crown, one time leaving them both bleeding from ears and with various injuries in other cases. And just when the Academic decides to leave, the Scholar leads him to the basement with the recreation of the Ancestor's experiment, but only four victims. The Scholar then [[InTheBack stabs the Academic with ritual knife]], [[DeadAllAlong using himself as a final sacrifice]]. This is a ''huge'' gut punch for every player, especially since it turns out that [[TomatoInTheMirror we are basically responsible for everything that transpired]].
* The beginning of Act 5 lets you know the last part of Scholar's backstory. Basically, the ritual unbalanced the fundamental laws of reality, leading to the current state of the world, and the Scholar has been chosen as a conduit for Iron the Crown, whose manifestation is at the strongest. The act bosses we fought before were manifestations of Scholar's failures. Suddenly the tagline applies not only to heroes, but the player themselves. The whole world, gone to hell because of one man's wrongdoings.

** The nature of this monstrosity. Once again, it is Scholar's failures made manifest, but this time ''combined'' into an utterly horrific and grotesque titan that spreads the influence of Iron Crown.
** The first phase, Gut Of The Coward, is a set of sentient guts that resemble the Hydra from Greek Mythology, spitting gastric acid at those who'd dare challenge the body. Said set of guts is exposed and presented in great detail, with four loose ends each ending in a horrific skeletal face, meaning that these may be the souls of the victims of Scholar's ritual. Imagine being kidnapped by a strange man, killed without anyone knowing where you are, only to wake up later and find [[AndIMustScream that you are part of the gut of a towering titan, unable to do anything but spit horrible acid at your potential saviours against your own will.]] A terrible fate to receive.
** The second phase is no slouch either. It is a fight against the remnants of Focused Fault embedded in the chest, now complete with a grotesque mouth, piercing reality itself with loud screeching. The eye itself isn't even the main threat, but it marks targets for insanely strong punches that ''seemingly shake reality itself''.
** The Scholar's body, a new God that Cultists worship, sits on the stone throne. It retains the black cloak, but its left hand is now unrecognizable and fused with the throne in a fleshy mess, while its right hand is human, but withered and half-attached to the throne by a strand of flesh that becomes visible when it attacks. All the while, a gigantic glowing manifestation of Iron Crown hovers behind it, made not out of stone, but seemingly of [[EldritchAbomination dark matter.]]
*** The Proclaimers that accompany him can easily be mistaken for simple Cherubs... until they whip out a huge sword that can remove every buff you stacked and provide Worship to the God, something no other Act boss has. If you aren't ready for the fight, you'll learn to fear them.
*** Hateful God proves to be a terrifying RealityWarper. It influences heroes' emotions, can attack with the energy of Spreading Stain itself, can ''rewrite your positive tokens into negative ones'', and summons an endless army of loyal Proclaimers, all with the raise of a hand. It's no wonder it's worshiped this much when it has that level of control over reality.
*** And then there's also its Trump card: ''Face Your Failures''. Being an avatar of misery, this freak of reality knows the heroes' suffering and can summon specters from their past for one last attempt at breaking them. Sure, this backfires if the hero manages to overcome their fears and failures, but the possibility of them dominating still exists.
* The ending. The Body is defeated, and the Scholar seemingly sacrifices himself to banish both it and the Iron Crown, slowly reversing the effects of the apocalypse as the heroes hope to begin a normal life. But then you remember that the Heart Of Darkness, destined to destroy humanity, is still out there, and then, as the camera zooms out of the Mountain, many gigantic tentacles appear in the sky, looking over the Earth. Sure, the apocalypse is undone, ''but the horror still remains.''

** The Lost Battalion, local villainous faction, are in fact those soldiers, reanimated by an unknown force as another kind of zombies, still keeping their cohesion and combat tactics behind the grave. Soldiers dragging their swords, arbalests keeping their aim, drummers shouting orders - but now not in the name of the Light, but against it.

** Leviathan, entity behind the Fisherfolk's current predicament, is a terrifying fish monstrosity, it's head alone towering even the biggest of Shroud enemies. It's breath can produce fog, it's gaze is inescapable and it can drag the front-row heroes underwater to drown not too dissimilar to the Hag from the first game. It is not exactly known if he really is some sea God or is just [[GodGuise pretending to be one]], but he is a very powerful and terror-inducing creature regardless.

** Wilbur, of all Swinefolk, is back, and stronger than ever. He's now as big and strong as his king once was, smashing heroes with brutality seemingly in vengeance for his previous defeats. To think that he would develop into such a monstrosity from an almost harmless pig is fearful development.

* Brigands return as wandering Pillager enemies, and they are no less fearful than they were before. Using the chaos unfolding, they ambush the travellers and rob them of their riches, and with their terrifying weaponry and attack dogs can easily surprise the new players. Truly terrifying ones, however, are the bosses of the faction: the Implication and the Antiquarian. The former is because it is essentially the Pounder from the first game, packing as much power while being ''autonomous with no explanation'', and the latter not only because she [[HeelFaceTurn betrayed her previous comrades]] and joined the bandits, but also because now she's actually competent, with huge amount of buffing and team-wide poison attack. And no matter how much you strike her down, she always escapes, always ready to continue her menace.

** Thanks to the move to 3d and other graphics upgrades, the appearance of both Collector and his Heads is much more detailed, showing many fleshy bits and heads compiling the Collector as they silently scream. The fightable heads are no slouch either, having received much more impressive specter models, groaning with each attack.
** The Collector is a bit more expressive, grinning evily throughout the fight, eager to add your trophies and your heroes' heads to his ever growing collection. Whenever he is not attacking, he spends some time looking at [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou where the player would be]], seemingly thinking about adding the ''player's '' head to his own.
** Defeat the Collector x and he will simply retreat through the same portal, ready to menace your heroes next time. Sure, you're safe for the rest of the region, but there is no guarantee he won't appear in the next one.
** Just like in previous game, he can drop unique head Trinkets, related to your Man-at-arms, Highwayman and Vestal. And this time, thanks to the game's GenreShift to run-baaed rogue like, the theory about those beings the heads from other realities ''is more than plausible''.
** The scariest thing? There is still no information on this guy! Even the Academic, detailing the origins of various enemies found throughout the game, has nothing to say besides a commentary on his looks. One thing is for certain, however: previously, he was limited to wandering the lands of the Hamlet. Now, with so much pain, misery and heads to collect, ''he's free to roam the whole world. '' And just how many heads he could or will take that were not the ones of the heroes?

* The Cultists. ''Good Lord. '' those are not the same Cultists from the first game. Meager Mooks no more, they have received many blessings from their eldritch God, gaining tentacles instead of legs, deformed heads shaped like bagpipes, wings, extra arms, multiple swellings, all doned in black garments and silver platings. The kicker? They have gained so much eldritch power they are effectively no longer counted as humans, gaining Cosmic enemy type.
** Exemplars stand out the most, being de-facto boss enemies. They look like a highly deformed centaur, lower body being a masked quadruple creature with the mix of actual limbs and tentacles, while the upper half is a headless humanoid figure, fused to the rest of the body, with visible spine protruding out and ArcSymbol above their head. If you're not prepared, they shall dominate the battlefield with constant combo attacks. Thankfully, they only spawn in region 3 and only starting Act 3, but every battle is a decisive test of skill whether you're gonna prevail or fall.
* Once you finally reach the Mountain and defeat the Cultists guarding it, you get face to face with the first Confession boss: Shackles of Denial. While they not as scary or grotesque as the bosses that follow, being a simple set of sentient locks, it is seemingly commanded by the chained Great Denier, ''a giant floating semi-sentient brain. '' According to the Academic, it's a manifestation of the world's collective psyche, chained by its own accord. Just think about it: the end of the world is such a huge scale it creates manifestations of misery and pain as powerful monstrosities that further spread the corruption. And this brain with chains is the ''weakest'' out of these abominations.

* Act 2 boss, Seething Sigh, is a gigantic set of lungs and an ugly one. It's small remnant of rotting skin is string along it, with many tears exposing tumors and barnacles. The lungs themselves are covered in strange dark crust and it's innards are clearly visible, all looking unhealthy. It hovers in place not unlike a dragon and backs the familiarity with spewing out flames and utilizing other literal BreathWeapons, wildly roaring all from the rage. And there's also it charging AlphaStrike: it proceeds to actually breath in, with the lungs realistically expanding, before the Sigh lets out the loaded roar yet and strikes the whole team with powerful breath. Turns out breathing can be scary indeed.
** Act 2 story tells about the Academic and Scholar furthering their research, but soon facing a problem of people finding their research fradulent without actual proof of Iron Crown's danger. And while the Academic points this out and tells his assistant to keep quiet about it the Scholar is seething silently in rage that his own colleague refuses to go on with the research he himself began. Relatively small, but this where the StartOfDarkness of our hero begins.

** And then there's the Focused Fault itself. The biggest colony of eyes there is, with a huge main eye seemingly in its mouth and tons more surrounding it. Not only can it use the Seen tokens from the first phase to hit you with [[ThatOneAttack Limericence]], but can apply them yourself. It would be wise to take advantage of DrawAggro mechanics to use its obsession against itself but if you somehow don't have hem, you're forced to watch as your party is vaporized by horrific eyes, gazing forevermore.

** The ending is no better, since our duo finds themselves awaken at the meeting with no memory of what happened, with other visitors ''slaughtered with no one remaining'', Ancestor nowhere seen and a particularly terrifying aftermath of the experiment: five corpses string along the points of giant Iron Crown replica, not unlike what the Fanatics will eventually be making as offerings. The duo [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere promptly decide to leave]], but the Scholar leaves with a new vision of the world, eager to try and recreate the experiment. And so an obsession is born.
* Act 4 boss is Ravenous Reach, an absolutely horrifying entity [[BodyOfBodies comprised of many hands]], all grasping for power. It has three phases, even the first one resembling horrifying biblically accurate angel and getting worse as the fight progresses. The Reach opens up more and more, revealinvorw of many hands that comprise it, even ''it's tongue'' being a freakishly long arm it can counter attack with. And if you don't overwhelm it quickly, it will sure overwhelm you!
** It's death animation is somewhat horrifying too, with it dropping to the ground and futilely trying to stop itself from being sucked into the void, [[DraggedOffToHell not unlike the sinner trying to escape from being taken to Hell]].
* Act 4 is a huge WhamEpisode because it reveals a lot about the nature of both Scholar and Academic at the current moment. As ambition began to take hold, Scholar practically forced his friend to partake in more horrifying experiments with the power of the Crown, one time leaving them both bleeding from ears and with various injuries in other cases. And just when Academic decides to leave, the Scholar leads him to the basement with the recreation of the Ancestor's experiment, but only four victims. The Scholar then [[InTheBack stabs the Academic with ritual knife]], [[DeadAllAlong using himself as a final sacrifice]]. This is a ''huge'' gut punch for every player, especially since it turns out that [[TomatoInTheMirror we are basically responsible for everything that transpired]].
* The beginning of Act 5 lets you know the last part of Scholar's backstory. Basically, the ritual essentially disbalanced the fundamental laws of reality, which is why the whole reality is drunk horribly. Not only that, but the Scholar has been chosen as a conduit for Iron Crown, it's manifestation at the strongest. The act bosses we fought before were also created from this, being manifestations of Scholar's failures. Suddenly the tagline applies not only to heroes, but the player himself. The whole world gone to hell because of one man's wrongdoings.

** The first phase, Gut Of The Coward, is a set of sentient guts that resemble Hydra from Greek Mythology, spitting gastric acid at those who'd dare challenge the body. Said set of guts is exposed and presented in great detail, with four loose ends ending with a horrific skeletal face. There is exactly four of them, meaning that those may be the souls of the victims of Scholar's ritual. Imagine being kidnapped by strange man, killed without anyone knowing where you are, only to wake up later to find [[AndIMustScream that you became a part of a gut of a towering titan, unable to do anything and even scream, but only spit horrible acid at your potential saviours against your own will. ]] A terrible fate to receive.
** Second phase is no slouch either. It is a fight against the remnants of Focused Fault, embedded in the chest, now complete with a grotesque mouth, piercing reality itself with loud screeching. The eye itself isn't even the main threat, but it marks targets for insanely strong punches that ''seemingly shake reality itself''.
** The Scholar's body, a new God that Cultists worship, sits on the stone throne. It retains the black cloak, but it's left hand is now unrecognizable and fused with the throne in a fleshy mess, while its right hand is human, but withered and half-attached to the throne by strand of flesh, visible when it attacks. All the while a gigantic glowing manifestation of Iron Crown hovers behind it, made not out of stone, but seemingly of dark matter, establishing how this is also Iron Crown made manifest. An EldritchAbomination to top them all.
*** Proclaimers that accompany him are suddenly scary Cherubs. You may confuse them with simple Cherubs, and then they whip out a huge sword that can remove every buff you stacked and provide Worship to final boss, something no other Act boss has. If you aren't ready for the fight, you'll learn to fear them.
*** Hateful God proves to be a terrifying RealityWarper. It influences heroes' emotions, can attack with the energy of Spreading Stain itself, straight up ''rewrite your positive tokens into negative ones'' and summon an endless army of loyal Proclaimers, all at the raise of a hand. It's no wonder it's worshipped this much when it has control over every equation of reality.
*** And then there's also it's Trump card: ''Face Your Failures''. Being an avatar of misery, this freak of reality knows the heroes' suffering and can summon specters from their past for one last attempt at breaking them. Sure, this backfires if the hero manages to overcome their fears and failures, but the possibility of them dominating still exists.
* The ending. The Body is defeated, Scholar seemingly sacrifices himself to banish both it and Iron Crown, the effects of apocalypse are slowly being undone and heroes begin a normal life. But then you remember that the Heart Of Darkness, destined to destroy humanity, is still out there, and then, as the camera zooms out of the Mountain, many gigantic tentacles appear in the sky, looking over the Earth. Sure, apocalypse is undone, ''but the horror still remains. ''

* The very first cutscene of the game can immediately tip off those who beat the previous game: [[CosmicHorrorStory the universe is thrown out of balance]], the Apocalypse is full scale, suggesting that the previous game's efforts to stop the Heart of Darkness [[AllForNothing were indeed in vain]]. The effects are also shown, with people madly setting things on fire, tearing off their own faces and hacking everything in sight. The situation is so dire that a manifestation of hope can fit in the palm of one hand. And whatever it is its happening because of, it's situated on the mysterious twin Peaks of the Mountain and makes you question: ''just what the hell awaits you there? ''
* The Valley, the very first zone of the game, is much more tame than what follows, but still scary in its own right. A land of stagnation and slow death, where nature is so tainted by Apocalypse it is in state of constant decay, with leaves falling, never to grow back. And this is ''just the beginning''.
** The Prologue, which takes place solely in said location, introduces wandering [[OurZombiesAreDifferent Gaunts]], showing one of the many effects the end of the world has on it. Stumbling and decaying, with various deformities and grey skin, they chomp into the flesh of the heroes, stress them out or hack to pieces. Even scarier, it's [[AmbiguousSituation ambiguous]] if they have indeed [[DeathOfPersonality lost their humanity]] or are [[AndIMustScream aware of their condition]]. What's worse, the attacks of Woodsman enemy impy that they indeed have some memories of their humanity, with him thinking he is chopping down trees, carving toys for children or protecting them. It makes it all more sad.
* The Sprawl was once a bustling city, dedicated to the preservation of knowledge. Now, with the coming Apocalypse, it has been filled with burning books and buildings, with denizens gone mad in their zealotry to the fire. Various corpses are strung along the streets as offerings to the end of the world, and more dead bodies litter the street. Just the thought of the whole town simultaneously and unanimously devoting themselves to such atrocities can send shivers down the spine.
** The denizens themselves can be nightmarish due to the sheer amount of BodyHorror: their limbs are often missing, replaced with serrated blades, stilts and flails, their flesh melting and becoming red like candle wax, rendering many seemingly blind, faces covered with black cloths, and in case of one enemy making him TheBlank. They have contacted the fire so often they can ''heal and even instrengthen themselves'' should they ignite, putting it into a question of whether they have indeed transcended their humanity to gain such abilities or simply got them due to getting burned so often. Both possibilities are scary.
** Their leader, the Librarian, is an antithesis to what he once was. A peaceful keeper of the Great Library in times before the end, he's now dedicated his life to destroying his treasured knowledge. He inhabits the worst case of BodyHorror out of them all. Scrolls cover his eyes, his skin is melted to the point of it hanging on the visible bones, his mouth is contorted into a permanent grin. Madly riding around on his ladder, he went into contact with the flames so often, he is ''outright immune'' to the Burn status effect where other Fanatics had only a higher resistance to it. He can throw his burning books as projectiles or create smoke clouds to make heroes miss. What's worse, he personally burns the books even while fighting the heroes, mercilessly burning them alive should he succeed.
* The Tangle is a forest with a perpetual raining, muddy roads and anomalous plant life. It was once supposed to be a great battleground against the forces of Apocalypse, still filled with trenches, settlements, battle structures and traps. Except the battle never happened: as soon as the legion stationed there saw what they were dealing with, all will to fight back was lost and soldiers quickly surrendered. The entire trained garrison ''gave up fighting'' when they saw the sheer power of their opponent, that's how hopeless the situation is.

** ''The Hateful God. '' The Scholar's body, a new God that Cultists worship, sits on the stone throne. It retains the black cloak, but it's left hand is now unrecognizable and fused with the throne in a fleshy mess, while right hand is human, but withered and half-attached to the throne by strandd of flesh, visible when it attacks. All the while a gigantic glowing manifestation of Iron Crown hovers behind it, made not out of stone, but seemingly of dark matter, establishing how this is also Iron Crown made manifest. An EldritchAbomination to top them all.

** Wilbur, of all Swinefolk, is back, and stronger than ever. He's now as big and string as his king once was, smashing heroes with brutality seemingly in vengeance for his previous defeats. To think that he would develop into such a monstrosity from an almost harmless pig is fearful development.

** The Harvest Child, local boss, further proves the horrors that hit the land. Born to a mother who's already gone mad with the hunger, it grew huge and monstrous, having fused with Cornucopia horn and gained monstrous jaws that can tear into flesh, eager to eat the unlucky fellows who wander into it's territory as much as everyone else, constantly wailing and spitting bile. The eponymous meat accompanies it in the fight and proves just how dire the situation is: should the heroes be hit with the scent, they will do everything possible to rea h forward and take a bite out of it. Yes, even ''the seasoned fighters who have gone through some terrible stuff in their lives'', can't resist the temptation of the damn meat. What's to say of the more common folk than? And if you destroy the meat to rid yourself of temptations, it goes berserk, going straight to mauling protagonists with it's jaws. A terrifying child.

* Act 4 is a huge WhamEpisode because it reveals a lot about the nature of both Scholar and Academic at the current moment. As ambition began to take hold, Scholar practically forced his friend to partake in more horrifying experiments with the power of the Crown, one time leaving them both bleeding from ears and with various injuries in other cases. And just when Academic decides to leave, the Scholar leads him to the basement with the recreation of the Ancestor's experiment, but only four victims. The Scholar then [[InTheBack stabs the Academic with ritual knife]], [[DeadAllAlong using himself as a final sacrifice]]. This is a ''huge'' gut punch for every player, especially since it turns out that [[TomatoInTheMirror we are basically responsible for everything that transpired]].

** The ending is no better, since our duo finds themselves awaken at the meeting with no memory of what happened, with other visitors ''slaughtered with no one remaining'', Ancestor nowhere seen and a particularly terrifying aftermath of the experiment: five corpses string along the points of giant Iron Crown replica, not unlike what the Fanatics will eventually be making as offerings. The duo [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere promptly decide to leave]], but the Scholar leaves with a new vision of the world, eager to try and recreate the experiment. And so an obsession is born.

* Act 2 boss, Seething Sigh, is a gigantic set of lungs and an ugly one. It's small remnant of rotting skin is string along it, with many tears exposing tumors and barnacles. The lungs themselves are covered in strange dark crust and it's innards are clearly visible, all looking unhealthy. It hovers in place not unlike a dragon and backs the familiarity with spewing out flames and utilizing other literal BreathWeapons, wildly roaring all from the rage. And there's also it charging AlphaStrike: it proceeds to actually breath in, with the lungs realistically expanding, before the Sigh lets out the loaded roar yet and strikes the whole team with powerful breath. Turns out breathing can be scary indeed.

* Long before the Collector made his return, there was a Shambler. The same infamous HeroKiller is back, inhabiting the great cosmos, summoned by an altar found in the Studies. And he, too, got himself a visual upgrade. His power level is still impressive, with his low-torch effects, party surprise, tentacles hitting heroes into onblivion and intrusive attacks. He can provide much needed Mastery and unique Trinkets, but if you're not ready, ''prepare for a doomed run. ''

Despite the more hope-filled atmosphere compared to the [[DarkestDungeon first game]], the Apocalypse is inbound, and so the horrors are aplenty. Spoilers are unmarked!

** Exemplars stand out the most, being de-facto boss enemies. They look like a highly deformed centaur, lower body being a masked quadruple creature with the mix of actual limbs and tentacles, while the upper half is a headless humanoid figure, fused to the rest of the body, with visible spine protruding out and ArcSymbol above their head. If you're not prepared, they shall dominate the battlefield with constant combo attacks. Thankfully, they only spawn in region 3 and only starting Act 3, but every battle is a decisive test of skill whether you're gonna prevail or fall.

* Speaking of Studies, they are Nightmare Fuel: The Node. Abandoned laboratories of Academic and Scholar, they house many strange and terrifying experiments. Among the more timid ones, like an old clock, book stack or even Ancestor's Portrait, there is also a caged bird that does not look like one in the slightest, an aforementioned Shambler Altar and a strange shut doorway, which may not seem like much, [[Foreshadowing but houses terrible implications for later story]].

** Wilbur, of all Swinefolk, is back, and stronger than ever. He's now as big and string as his king once was, smashing heroes with brutality seemingly in vengeance for his previous defeats. To think that he would develop into such a monstrosity from an almost harmless pig is fearful development.

** The Prologue, which takes place solely in said location, introduces wandering[[OurZombiesAreDifferent Gaunts]], showing one of the many effects the end of the world has on it. Stumbling and decaying, with various deformities and grey skin, they chomp into the flesh of the heroes, stress them out or hack to pieces. Even scarier, it's [[AmbiguousSituation ambiguous]] if they have indeed [[DeathOfPersonality lost their humanity]] or are [[AndIMustScream aware of their condition]]. What's worse, the attacks of Woodsman enemy impy that they indeed have some memories of their humanity, with him thinking he is chopping down trees, carving toys for children or protecting them. It makes it all more sad.