History YMMV / DarkestDungeonII

** "Circle of Life" sounds simple on paper; just defeat the Shambler when you have a Shambler Spawn pet equipped. In reality, it's quite the LuckBasedMission due to the Shambler Spawn hitting you with a -100% scouting modifier, meaning you can't readily scout ahead except to spot Oblivion Ingresses and Ramparts. Barring location-revealing region challenges or significant additional scouting gear, you simply have to progress blindly. Road battles have a chance to be replaced by the Shambler at low torchlight too, but it's not guaranteed and carries negative consequences to all other battles along the way too. And that's just getting ''to'' the battle, a battle in which [[MamaBear the Shambler gets a 100% damage and +4 speed boost]], making one of the hardest dobsses in the game that much more dangerous.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: ''The Binding Blade'' features two more strongly morally gray characters with less obviously clear-cut motivations added to the mix which immediately prompted heated discussion amongst the fanbase:
** Is the Duelist really just the callous, arrogant GloryHound she appears to be? Or is she merely pushing away the subconscious guilt she feels for [[spoiler:accidentally killing her mentor and lover]] so fiercely that she comes off as haughty and emotionless, and rather than searching for a WorthyOpponent is really trying to commit SuicideByCop?
** Did the Crusader [[spoiler:spare the Warlord's life]] because he believed it was genuinely the right thing to do and offered mercy in order to be the better person and retain some of his humanity? Or because it was a CruelMercy which humiliated [[spoiler:the Warlord]], did his time in the Crusade make him a SociopathicSoldier who [[spoiler:disrespected and belittled his enemy by denying him an HonorableWarriorsDeath despite knowing that's what he wanted]]? The Academic's narration when [[spoiler:he actually spares the Warlord]] would seem to indicate the former, but the fact that [[spoiler:the Warlord returns as his Specter in the Body of Work fight suggests that he regrets sparing him]] and would therefore indicate the latter.

* ItsShortSoItSucks: ''The Binding Blade'' was the subject of some discourse over the fact that it was essentially a glorified hero pack for ten dollars, effectively only adding two new heroes and a Road Battle faction[[note]]not helping matters were accusations that the basic new {{Mook}}s added were blatant asset flips of Hero Shrine enemies from the base game rather than being designed from the ground up[[/note]]. Compare that to the first game's first [=DLC=], ''The Crimson Court'', which added what is effectively a separate side campaign revolving around three giant {{Brutal Bonus Level}}s in addition to adding an entire new enemy faction with six new bosses ''and'' a new hero for the exact same price. The fact that ''The Binding Blade'' came out only six months after the full release of the game whereas ''The Crimson Court'' took over a year to come out after the release of ''Darkest Dungeon'' has led to arguments that Red Hook ChristmasRushed getting ''The Binding Blade'' released in hopes of increasing player retention (possibly due to the inclusion of the fan-favorite Crusader attracting more legacy fans) when they should have taken more time to add more content to it as a means of increasing the [=DLC=]'s overall value. Others instead compare it to the Shieldbreaker DLC, which costed around only a little under half the price with roughly half the content in the much simpler 2D engine of the first game (to the point multiple Mods far outsize it in overall content) and before the overall price hike of many games in the 2020s, with such proponents believing that for a hero pack of its size and accounting for the greater effort of making the content inside it, it's rather fairly priced.

* ItsShortSoItSucks: ''The Binding Blade'' was the subject of some discourse over the fact that it was essentially a glorified hero pack for ten dollars, effectively only adding two new heroes and a Road Battle faction[[note]]not helping matters were accusations that the basic new {{Mook}}s added were blatant asset flips of Hero Shrine enemies from the base game rather than being designed from the ground up[[/note]]. Compare that to the first game's first [=DLC=], ''The Crimson Court'', which added what is effectively a separate side campaign revolving around three giant {{Brutal Bonus Level}}s in addition to adding an entire new enemy faction with six new bosses ''and'' a new hero for the exact same price. The fact that ''The Binding Blade'' came out only six months after the full release of the game whereas ''The Crimson Court'' took over a year to come out after the release of ''Darkest Dungeon'' has led to arguments that Red Hook ChristmasRushed getting ''The Binding Blade'' released in hopes of increasing player retention (possibly due to the inclusion of the fan-favorite Crusader attracting more legacy fans) when they should have taken more time to add more content to it as a means of increasing the [=DLC=]'s overall value.

* AwardSnub: As much of a ContestedSequel as Darkest Dungeon II is, one part of it that netted unanimous praise was [[SugarWiki/AwesomeArt how flawlessly it translated the first game's iconic art style into 3D.]] Thus, when the game lost the Platform/{{Steam}} Awards' Outstanding Visual Style Award to ''VideoGame/AtomicHeart'', quite a few were displeased.

* AwardSnub: As much of a ContestedSequel as Darkest Dungeon II is, one part of it that netted unanimous praise was [[SugarWiki/AwesomeArt how flawlessly it translated the first game's iconic art style into 3D.]] Thus, when the game lost the Platform/{{Steam}} Awards' Outstanding Visual Style Award to VideoGame/AtomicHeart, quite a few were displeased.

* AwardSnub: As much of a ContestedSequel as Darkest Dungeon II is, one part of it that netted unanimous praise was [[SugarWiki/AwesomeArt how flawlessly it translated the first game's iconic art style into 3D.]] Thus, when the game lost the Outstanding Visual Style Award to VideoGame/AtomicHeart, quite a few were displeased.

* AwardSnub: As much of a ContestedSequel as Darkest Dungeon II is, one part of it that netted unanimous praise was [[AwesomeArt how flawlessly it translated the first game's iconic art style into 3D.]] Thus, when the game lost the Outstanding Visual Style Award to VideoGame/AtomicHeart, quite a few were displeased.

* ItsShortSoItSucks: ''The Binding Blade'' was the subject of some discourse over the fact that it was essentially a glorified hero pack for ten dollars, effectively only adding two new heroes and a Road Battle faction[[note]]not helping matters were accusations that the basic new {{Mook}}s added were blatant asset flips of Hero Shrine enemies from the base game rather than being designed from the ground up[[/note]]. Compare that to the first game's first [=DLC=], ''The Crimson Court'', which added what is effectively a separate side campaign revolving around three giant {{Brutal Bonus Level}}s in addition to adding an entire new enemy faction with five new bosses ''and'' a new hero for the exact same price. The fact that ''The Binding Blade'' came out only six months after the full release of the game whereas ''The Crimson Court'' took over a year to come out after the release of ''Darkest Dungeon'' has led to arguments that Red Hook ChristmasRushed getting ''The Binding Blade'' released in hopes of increasing player retention (possibly due to the inclusion of the fan-favorite Crusader attracting more legacy fans) when they should have taken more time to add more content to it as a means of increasing the [=DLC=]'s overall value.

** With the addition of [[Characters/DarkestDungeonMonsters the Collector]] to the game, carrying a Trophy and encountering a Road Battle will make you sweat bullets, especially if you're starting to feel the attrition of a region, since the Collector has a flat five percent chance to spawn in one while you have a Trophy. That may not sound like much, but picture a d20 rolling every single time you encounter a Road Battle. If it hits a nat 20 and you're not prepared, you ''have'' to fight ThatOneBoss. There is no escape for you.

** On a smaller scale, Gaunt and Pillager road battles are designed to be this, especially compared to regional faction road battles. Most of the enemies you can encounter aren't capable of putting up much of a fight and only really exist to potentially increase your Stress and be a minor speed bump during travel. Key word here being ''most'', as there are still a handful of enemy compositions that can be dangerous(having to fight a [[DemonicSpiders Woodsman and Ghoul]] at the same time, Implication, [[GoddamnedBoss The Antiquarian]], etc.), but these are few and far between.

** Knights are absolutely ''terrifying'' {{Smash Mook}}s with loads of health, the ability to do lots of damage and inflict bleed(which allows them to in turn do ''more'' damage thanks to a special buff they have) and can give themselves Riposte to make themselves that much harder to kill. It only gets worse if they're paired with a Drummer(see above), who will continuously allow them to decimate your frontline with [[ThatOneAttack Flashing Blade]]. Oh, and they get ''[[CriticalStatusBuff stronger]]'' upon reaching Death's Door and get a big speed boost, meaning getting them there is actually counter-intuitive and may cause you to lose heroes as a result.

* UnderusedGameMechanic: The Shroud has a unique effect during Resistance encounters where occasionally [[MysteriousMist a fog will pour through the arena]], applying debuffs and giving the player a brief glimpse of the Leviathan's mechanics, and it goes away after the Leviathan is killed since it's actually its Breath Of The Sea ability. It would have been cool to see this kind of EarlyBirdCameo/random equalizer event in the other regions([[WhenTreesAttack Arboreal growths restraining your party]] in the Tangle, Putrid Meat causing heroes to lose turns to HorrorHunger in the Foetor, etc.) that also get removed upon defeating the lair boss, as yet another incentive to actually do so.

* ItsShortSoItSucks: ''The Binding Blade'' was the subject of some discourse over the fact that it was essentially a glorified hero pack for ten dollars, effectively only adding two new heroes and a Road Battle faction[[note]]not helping matters were accusations that the basic new {{Mook}}s added were blatant asset flips of Hero Shrine enemies from the base game rather than being designed from the ground up[[/note]]. Compare that to the first game's first [=DLC=], ''The Crimson Court'', which added what is effectively a separate side campaign revolving around three giant {{Brutal Bonus Level}}s in addition to adding an entire new enemy faction with five new bosses ''and'' a new hero for the exact same price. The fact that ''The Binding Blade'' came out only six months after the full release of the game whereas ''The Crimson Court'' took over a year to come out after the release of ''Darkest Dungeon'' has led to arguments that Red Hook ChristmasRushed getting ''The Binding Blade'' released (possibly due to the inclusion of the fan-favorite Crusader in the hopes of attracting more legacy fans) when they should have taken more time to add more content to it as a means of increasing the [=DLC=]'s overall value.

* Some negative quirks can be absolutely crippling if they appear on the wrong characters. A Leper for example will sometimes rush to the 4th rank if he's are in 1st and have the cowardly quirk. He practically requires being in the front row to use most of his skills, so this single quirk can make him potentially useless.

** "The baby" for the Harvest Child.

* EvilIsCool: The Warlord, even if he's [[AntiClimaxBoss not that difficult of a fight]], is an extremely memorable encounter from ''The Binding Blade''. Between his cool heavily-armored design and the fact that he serves as the last thing keeping you from rescuing the beloved fan-favorite Crusader makes him stand out extremely well from other humanoid minibosses like the Chirurgeon and Antiquarian. Not to mention he briefly shows up in the Crusader's Hero Shrines as a DuelBoss, where he's much more of a down-to-the-wire fight.

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvn38lhlrNE Sprawl Battle]]" perfectly exemplifies the [[TheGreatFire chaotic city-wide conflagration]] that is the Sprawl, and the {{Pyromaniac}} Fanatics who dwell there. It's a constantly rising and falling theme that rapidly shifts in intensity, mimicking the flickering and slow but steady growth of a great flame.

** Similarly, healing abilities have pretty much been {{Nerf}}ed across the board. As mentioned above, the Vestal is no longer a CrutchCharacter who can heal a 75 HP Leper on Death's Door back up to full with a crit and the right trinkets([[GameBreaker and can do so every turn]]), because Divine Grace has been given a cooldown and requires [[RegeneratingMana Conviction]] to work and Divine Comfort has been changed to giving Regen instead of flat healing. All other forms of healing only work at certain times, like if a hero is below 50% health, or are extremely situational like the Runaway's [[HealItWithFire Cauterize]] ability[[note]] It only works on heroes with Bleed on them, meaning you can only use her as a backup healer in certain encounters[[/note]]. Instead, the game expects you to make good use of Combat Items that provide healing and occasionally turn away from battle encounters and spurn good loot so your party can Travel Heal over time. This makes survival in the game feel a lot more ''VideoGame/SlayTheSpire''-esque, with long droughts in between big heals to make every region a battle of attrition. Luckily, in a rare case of Red Hook [[ThrowTheDogABone throwing you a bone]], heroes do not remain on Death's Door outside of combat and gain a few HitPoints back as well as no longer keeping DamageOverTime between encounters, meaning your heroes can't die to traps, bad Curios or just walking around like in ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon''.

** Getting hit while on Death's Door is no longer a flat check that a hero has innate resistance to[[note]]there was an achievement for surviving five Death's Door checks in a row in ''Darkest Dungeon''[[/note]], instead incorporating the way it worked in ''The Butcher's Circus'' as well. Every time a hero gets hit, their Death's Door resistance decreases by ten percent(except for the Flagellant, who has always been a MechanicallyUnusualFighter when it comes to Death's Door), meaning it's no longer possible to take huge risks while your heroes have no health without all but guaranteeing their deaths.

* AntiClimaxBoss: The Warlord, ArcVillain of ''The Binding Blade'', is significantly easier than [[ThatOneSidequest the chain of events needed to even find him]], which can feel a bit jarring. He doesn't have a lot of health despite the Armor+ tokens he can give himself and his high damage output, meaning there are easy ways to kill him ''very'' quickly. He can't even summon reinforcements after his minions are killed like [[Characters/DarkestDungeonMonsters Brigand Vvulf]], meaning there's not even [[FlunkyBoss an added challenge of trying to contend with both him and his soldiers simultaneously]]. Truth be told, he's not really any more dangerous than the Oblivion's Rampart encounter he replaces[[note]]barring [[ThatOneBoss Exemplars]].
* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: Just like the first game, this entry makes amazing use of shading and muted colors to create a beautifully dark atmosphere. The change in artstyle, as well as the 3D models, improves this atmosphere even farther, making it even more artistically rich than the original. It also has more realistic body proportions, retroactively making characters from the first game look like SuperDeformed chibis.

** "The Final Combat", the theme of the [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Darkest Dungeon levels]] and the fight with the FinalBoss from the first ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'' makes its [[TriumphantReprise triumphant return]] in [[https://stuartchatwood.bandcamp.com/track/the-decisive-combat "The Decisive Combat"]] when you face down the boss of the final Confession, Cowardice.

** The FinalBoss' first and second phases are often referred to as [[spoiler:"The Carious Gut"[[note]]based on the Academic quote "The carious gut of the coward, rife with toxic pusillanimity!"[[/note]] and "The Infernal Gaze"[[note]]based on the Academic quote "Its infernal gaze pierces the veil of reality..."[[/note]] respectively since they don't have official names and it's easier to say than "The Body of Work's first/second phase"]].

* ContestedSequel: After a very long and tumultuous Early Access period that [[TaintedByThePreview turned a lot of people off from the game]], it has basically settled into this status. While it's understandable that a game with as much official [[GameMod modding]] support as the original Darkest Dungeon would need to undergo a lot of changes to justify a sequel, the sheer number of changes threw many fans off. Is the radical gameplay change to a more conventional Roguelite [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks good or bad]]? Does the Affinity system work better or worse than the Affliction system? Is the game a boring slog that removes player agency too frequently or an engaging thrill fest that rewards careful planning and bet-hedging? Does the smaller cast of characters bring about tighter party cohesion or is it disappointing that they [[SequelNonEntity cut half the roster]] because it leads to most party compositions feeling samey? Does the game's ending [[spoiler:retroactively taint the first game's CosmicHorrorStory TwistEnding by being LovecraftLite played straight, or is it far more satisfying and uplifting to just have a happy ending than being told your whole journey was AllForNothing]]? Is the game [[ItsHardSoItSucks too hard]]? Too ''[[ItsEasySoItSucks easy]]''? All of these opinions and more have been thrown around about basically everything in the game, and ultimately there hasn't been a consensus by the fanbase on whether or not it's better, equal in quality or worse than the first game].

** Despite the menacing atmosphere it provides, the Sprawl is considered by many to be the easiest region in the game. The Fanatics revolve around inflicting Burn and empowering themselves with Ignite! to use their deadliest skills, which usually means that it takes a while for most of them to pose any real threat to your party. They're resistant to Burn, an element only one class specializes in, but are vulnerable to Blight, which is one of the game's most common damage types, which makes it all the easier to whittle them down before they can begin powering themselves up. The Librarian is also seen as the easiest of the Lair bosses due to how easy his strategy is to counter, making the whole region essentially a freebie to all but the most Burn-susceptible parties.

* OneSceneWonder: The Warlord, even if he's [[AntiClimaxBoss not that difficult of a fight]], is an extremely memorable encounter from ''The Binding Blade''. Between his cool heavily-armored design and the fact that he serves as the last thing keeping you from rescuing the beloved fan-favorite Crusader makes him stand out extremely well from other humanoid minibosses like the Chirurgeon and Antiquarian. Not to mention he briefly shows up in the Crusader's Hero Shrines as a DuelBoss, where he's much more of a down-to-the-wire fight.

* AntiClimaxBoss: The Warlord, ArcVillain of ''The Binding Blade'', is significantly easier than [[ThatOneSidequest the chain of events needed to even find him]], which can feel a bit jarring. He doesn't have a lot of health despite the Armor+ tokens he can give himself and his high damage output, meaning there are easy ways to kill him ''very'' quickly. He can't even summon reinforcements after his minions are killed like [[Characters/DarkestDungeonMonsters Brigand Vvulf]], meaning there's not even [[FlunkyBoss an added challenge of trying to contend with both him and his soldiers simultaneously]]. Truth be told, he's not really any more dangerous than the Oblivion's Rampart encounter he replaces[[note]]barring [[ThatOneBoss Exemplars]], of course[[/note]], and [[OneSceneWonder you only get to fight him the one time]], making steamrolling him feel unsatisfying.