Trivia / Darkest Dungeon II

• Author's Saving Throw:
  • As the developers pay close attention to Early Access feedback, many of the updates throughout Early Access alleviated or reworked mechanics that were widely disliked.
  • When Red Hook received feedback that the boss of Obsession felt cheap compared to the other Confession bosses because it was the only one designed around a puzzle mechanic that still didn't guarantee victory even if you did it correctly, they completely reworked the fight to "encourage more party compositions and [have] better mechanical transparency, while continuing to provide an appropriate challenge". The whole first phase was flipped backwards to how it played before, with the objective now being to kill the eye stalks before they apply Seen tokens to undesirable party members. The Fault itself now no longer spams Limerence on a single character until they are dead, instead alternating between it and various other attacks to screw up your party and inflict Stress. It can also Behold other party members while a hero still has Seen on them, and Limerence's damage was Nerfed as well. All this changes That One Boss into a tension-filled but actually manageable boss that puts a heavy emphasis on resource management and debuff and stress resistance, to the joy of everyone trying to complete Obsession.
  • The September 2023 update brought a bunch of highly-requested quality of life improvements, such as a rework of enemy Deathblow resistance, the ability to choose which hero replaces a dead one at an inn, and the ability to change Hero Paths during a run.
  • The Last Light update added a long-requested feature regarding Candles of Hope and how they become useless dead weight which take up inventory space in the endgame after you've unlocked everything. Not only can you use Candles of Hope to buy randomized equipment at the Working Fields in the Altar of Hope, but Hero Goals can now reward hero-specific Indelible Trinkets upon completion of the Altar, once again creating an incentive for veteran players to collect candles and complete Hero Goals.
• Ascended Fanon: Since the Crusader and Highwayman are the two characters you always start the game with in Darkest Dungeon, the fandom interprets them as best friends or even lovers. In The Binding Blade, two lines of dialogue from Dismas confirms he and Reynauld are indeed friends, at the very least.
  Dismas: Hold fast, my friend. I'm coming.
• Make-A-Wish Contribution: The Chirurgeon was designed with the help of a Make-A-Wish recipient named Sam, who is a huge fan of the games.
• Promoted Fanboy: Marvin Seo, the creator of the The Sunken City Collection, was hired by Red Hook to work on the game. He had previously done art for the company in the Butcher's Circus DLC.
• Similarly Named Works: The Binding Blade DLC shares the same title as the sixth mainline Fire Emblem game, Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade.
• What Could Have Been: An interview that was released just before the game went out on early access had the game's Creative Director Chris Bourassa cite Fury as a main inspiration for Darkest Dungeon II, going so far as to say "Truth be told, we almost made DDII about a sci-fi tank crew!"
• You Sound Familiar: While Wayne June comes back as the Narrator, his in-game role is the Academic, instead of returning as the Ancestor from the previous game.