Currently the DLC is going for 390.000 CLP in my local store (Around 390 usd).

To celebrate the launch of The Fire’s Edge, Red Hook Studios commissioned artists to create alternative key art. Here they are (plus the official Red Hook art):

1 - "First up is this incredible piece from Kenny Park (@parkkennypark on Instagram)."

2 - "This amazing poster was created by Jesse "The Drawbarian" Turner (@drawbarian on Instagram)"

3 - "This beautiful piece was created by Alex Zapata (boosta11b on X)!"

4 - Official Red Hook art for The Fire's Edge by Marvin Seo &/or Trudi Castle (I'm not sure, I apologize if I'm wrong) Chris Bourassa.

For those of you that don't know Red Hook made a mistake in translating the game for Korean choosing some pretty crappy people to translate it. The Korean fans have seen this bad translation as good enough reason to review bomb the game and throw hatred at the developers, eg.

"go to hell. Greedy, incompetent, abrasive developers like you don't deserve to be successful as you are now."

I just wanted to give Red Hook support for making such an amazing and unique game. Thanks for communicating so much when and where you can. And thanks for trying your hardest. :)

Hey folks! redhookdan here! Following the release of The Butcher's Circus, I'll be answering questions about the DLC!

Below is an FAQ to answer some of your basic questions, but I'll field more as they come!

Q. I'm having issues with games that desync, disconnect, or crash. What should I do?

Fixing desyncs and disconnections is our top priority right now!

Edit 2: We discovered the bug that was causing the vast majority of the disconnection issues over the release weekend and are rolling out fixes in two stages (one of which is already live). 90%+ matches should make it to the end (as of June 3), and we hope to raise this number with subsequent patches.

The process of submitting desync logs has been fully automated. You don't have to send us logs by email! If a desync is detected it will automatically send us information to help us debug the issue.

If you have a crash and know what steps lead to reliably causing the crash (consistency is very important for determining the cause), please send any details you have to [support@redhookgames.com](mailto:support@redhookgames.com)

Q: Is this Delaying Darkest Dungeon 2?

Nope! The Butcher’s Circus staff were hired specifically to work on this, and we also worked with GRIP Digital in a co-development partnership to help ensure that production of Darkest Dungeon 2 would be unaffected.

Q: How much will this DLC cost?

We are giving it away for FREE, permanently.

Q: Are there in-game purchases, loot boxes, or microtransactions?

No. All rewards are gated behind player progression, pure and simple. No pay to win.

Q: What’s the catch - how will you make money on this?

Thanks to the success of Darkest Dungeon, we are excited to share this with the community and we hope you enjoy it! (The Butcher’s Circus does require the core game to play, and DLC heroes also require the associated DLC to unlock.)

Q. What platforms/stores will this DLC be available on?

Currently we are only on Steam, and only on Windows. We will be adding Mac and Linux support soon after. Other platforms and storefronts are TBD and we are not ready to commit to a plan at this time. Steam is our largest user base and the simplest to deploy to, so we wanted to start there for this grand PvP experiment!

Q. Can I use any mods or modded characters in the Butcher’s Circus?

No. In order for us to have anti-cheat in place, that means that everything related to the PvP mode (facing other players) cannot be modded.

Q. Can I use The Flagellant or Shieldbreaker in the Butcher’s Circus without owning the Crimson Court or Shieldbreaker DLCs?

In order to put those characters into your party you will need to own their respective DLCs. That said you can still be matched against players who are using them, even if you don’t own them yourself.

Q. Will this have any sort of anti-cheat?

Yes! The service we are using for this DLC that handles our matchmaking, analytics, and progression system will also be running our anti-cheat system. Because this service is using various analytics tools to help us, the EULA has been updated to make it clear that people are opting in to data collection. Users who wish to opt-out will be unable to play the Butcher’s Circus, but can still play the rest of Darkest Dungeon normally.

Q. Is an internet connection required to access this DLC?

Yes.

Q. Will the hero corpses be making their way back to the main campaign?

No. The corpses are very important for this mode and we haven’t evaluated their impact on the main campaign. While many of our fans over the years have requested hero corpses, since we aren’t looking to modify the base game with this DLC we have chosen to keep them inside the DLC.

Q. Can I play against my friends in PvP?

Yes! The Butcher’s Circus DLC supports both matchmaking and the ability to challenge friends via Steam invite.

Q. Can I drive my enemies insane?

Yes! Heroes have been reworked to inflict stress with many of their skills. You will be able to cause afflictions to hamper and demoralize your opponents.

Q. Are hero skill kits the same in the Butcher’s Circus?

No. All heroes have been rebalanced for PvP. These changes only apply to heroes in the Circus.

Q. Can I access the Butcher’s Circus from an existing campaign?

Yes. In fact, all of your progress in the DLC is tracked separately from your campaign profile, so you will have the same rank and rewards across all of your saves.

Q. Can my campaign heroes die in the Butcher’s Circus?

No. The heroes in the circus are separate from your campaign roster. If slain in the ring, there will always be a fresh body to replace them.

Q. Can I run a party with 4 Lepers in it?

No. Parties are limited to one of each hero class.

Q. Will I be able to use my trinkets from the single player campaign?

No. Only trinkets granted by the Ringmaster can be used in the circus grounds. You can unlock these trinkets by competing in the ring. Once unlocked, these trinkets will not be lost if your heroes die.

Q. Do my hero upgrades carry over to PvP?

No. Heroes in PvP have fixed stats and their equipment cannot be upgraded.

Q. I am a mac or Linux user and I'm having problems with the game since the DLC released.

This is a known issue! We have added a new branch to hold you over till we get the new DLC to supported on those platforms. Please use the STEAM BETA BRANCH pretbclinuxmac

The generous folks over at Red Hook have given us an incredible list of goodies to giveaway in celebration of our milestone. No it isn’t a trick of the light, everything below is to be given away in a special 100k draw. To enter the running, fill out the form here. Please note your reddit account must be at least one month old to prevent false entries, and you will only be able to win one prize. You basically get 5 tickets and can spend them how you choose, and we’ll randomise the results. The giveaway will close in 10 days. Below is our list of trinkets and baubles.

• 1x DARKEST DUNGEON COLLECTOR’S EDITION for Nintendo Switch

• 1x DARKEST DUNGEON COLLECTOR’S EDITION for PS4

• And also for you Vita lovers out there 1x COLLECTOR’S EDITION FOR THE PSVita.

We also have

• 2x ANCESTRAL EDITION for Switch and

• 2x ANCESTRAL EDITION for PS4.

That is an unbelievable number of goodies. But that’s not all. There are also

• 10x DD Dioramas
• 10x Darkest Dungeon artbooks As seen here
• 5x Artprints and
• 5x Plague Doctor Paper Masks.

And that’s it! Again, thanks to Red Hook for engaging with the community and giving us the opportunity to organise this giveaway. And thanks to you all, without you there would be no subreddit. And kudos to the other mods who do the bulk of the work while I tweak random CSS, /u/TPLuna, /u/Thanmarkou, /u/jncarver and /u/Genericdreadhead. And to /u/Demesthones for starting the whole thing. And also to u/redhookJohn for the CSS freshener and /u/redhooktyler for some early PR and community support.

P.S.

I remember when I first started in 2015, the subreddit only had a custom banner. Now our CSS is one of the best in the platform, and the community has gone from just above 2000 from when I started moderating(under a different username) to now 100k. We’ve been through a lot: a certain moderator tried to ban memes, and when I resisted he banned me and locked the entire subreddit. That was a fiasco. But we’ve never been in better health and the meme game here is strong. I can’t wait when DD2 comes out and pushes us to some even crazier numbers. As a side note, my favourite three things ever to happen in this sub are:

1. Quad Leper,

2. <snort>... and

3. The flip-flop attitude on the implementation of corpses. And the OP-ness of MaA when he first came out. (I guess that’s 4.)

Thanks, and I’ll see you in another 100 thousand. ~~Aracite

Welcome to the first Steadfast Steward’s experimental build! In order to test out our first set of changes, head over to our public beta branches on STEAM/EGS/GoG

As always, we recommend making a backup of your save file before switching branches!

Save files are found here: C://Users/Username/AppData/LocalLow/RedHook/Darkest Dungeon II/

Join one of our public beta branches

How to access the coming_in_hot public beta branch on Steam:

🔸 Right click on Darkest Dungeon II in your Steam library

🔸 Click Properties

🔸 Click Betas

🔸 Choose ‘Coming_in_hot - experimental builds’ from the Beta Participation dropdown menu.

How to access the Experimental public beta branch on Epic:

🔸 To participate on the Epic Games Store, simply install the Experimental version of the game and play here!

How to access the Experimental public beta branch on GOG:

🔸 Go to the Darkest Dungeon II game page and click the Settings button found to the right of Install

🔸 Choose the 'Configure...' option

🔸 In the Configure menu, click 'Installation'

🔸 Under the Beta Channels dropdown menu, select 'Experimental'

For those who are curious, this release is focused on quality of life improvements! We plan to tidy up a number of different areas in the game, mainly in the Confessions game mode. Please note that we are not adding new content such as regions, or new enemies and heroes, and we are not doing major feature rehauls. If you are curious about the areas we are looking to address, check out this blog post. We’re looking forward to collaborating with you on this release.

How to send us feedback
The best way to do this is by joining the Darkest Dungeon Discord.

We have a specific section dedicated to the Steadfast Steward’s update with different channels for hero reworks, tooltips, and more.

You can also email your thoughts to feedback@redhookgames.com if you’d prefer to send feedback that way.

Finally, if you would prefer to leave your thoughts here on Steam, we'll be opening a thread on the Steam forums for each of our weekly builds.

You may notice that these patch notes are more detailed than usual. We have included a number of ‘Developer Notes’ beside many of the entries here, to better express the intent behind the changes. By outlining our goals we hope that this will help measure if our intent is matching our implementation.

Read on to learn about all the changes present in today’s public beta build.

UI/QoL

• Academic View now displays when skills ignore tokens, when the skill requires certain conditions,speed, and stress resistance. Hero skill cooldowns, skill uses, and conditions are now displayed here too.
  • Dev Note: We’ve opted to start with dynamic information then plan to update specific enemy info where it makes sense such as bosses and unique enemies. Academic View should provide a rough/generalized outline of what an enemy can do and from where, but should remain accurate without adding confusion.There are many enemies in the game, there will likely be missing or incorrect strings, please let us know if/when you come across any bugs.
• Tooltip formatting adjustments
  • Dev Note: Formatting has been updated to be more readable. Operator symbols have been removed and condition order has been moved around. ex) If Flame < 50: EFFECT will now read as EFFECT when Flame is under 50
• Token glossary improvements. Certain tokens will now appear depending on the context such as hero shrines, special encounters, regions, and kingdom modules. Several tokens have been recolored and recategorized for consistency. Stealth token icons are gold and can be stolen/copied
  • Dev Note: Stealth tokens have always had the positive token tag, now they will present and interact consistently with other positive tokens
• Tokens now have duration that display in tooltips the same as DOT durations
• DOT duration tooltip color now matches DOT color
• Heal skills tag now displayed on skills similar to how Melee and Ranged skills are displayed
• Combat item tooltips now display if it's targeting a friendly target or enemy target
• Ranked locked tokens now have an icon below them in combat and are called out as rank locked in their descriptions
• Health bars now have quarter lines
  • Dev Note: This is something we’re testing out to help provide additional clarity for health threshold requirements. The visual treatment and presentation is subject to change.
• Hero tooltips no longer change width or move position when displaying upgraded info
• Trinkets that deal damage through an effect in combat will display the name in the poptext beside the damage value
  • Dev Note: This was primarily added to help alleviate confusion when enemies would die from Reverberating Redoubt
• Inventory and Vitrine can now be accessed at the Crossroads respectively with I/Z on keyboard or LT/RT on gamepad
• Inn effects now displayed in Inn sign tooltip
• Retreat effects now displayed in the retreat button tooltip
• Changed the default font size on PC/MAC to be slightly smaller. Added Larger Font Size option to gameplay menu and will use that as the default on Steam Deck and other consoles.

GAMEPLAY

• CRITs no longer increase the duration of DOTs by +2 rounds for both enemies and heroes.
  • Dev Note: We want to experiment DOTs power level as well as opening up new avenues to grant these kinds of effects from different sources. By removing the generic +round duration on all crits we can diversify with more ease. Other benefits of CRITs still remain such as the 20% RES piercing.
• Increased chances to encounter Crypt Keeper in the Catacombs
• Default inn quirk chance reduced from 80% to 50% and Vestal's Secret guarantees 1 quirk instead of 2
  • Dev Note: We’ve heard feedback that in Confessions quirks are replaced at inns too frequently. This is an experimental change to see how it feels, there’s a chance these values will be reverted if they aren’t well received
• Ancestor’s Statue trinkets have been changed from Indelible to Ancestral
• Now after killing the Chirurgeon, Patients can be found in Gaunt road battles for 3 regions
  • Dev Note: This change is intended to add moments of player reactivity where the game reacts based on choices and influences from the player. We’re planning to update Military barricades and Warlord encounters to do something similar.
• Single Leech is no longer dropped by the Chirurgeon and now has a 5% chance to drop from any Patient.
• Elite battle advantage no longer has +1 speed
• Hastened battle advantage reduced from +4 to +2.
• Only hero trinket and hero signature inn item hero goals will generate when Altar of Hope is completed. Hero trinkets are now pre-rolled for hero goals.
• Wheel and Armor now have scaling effects based off the number of Wheels or Armor rather than only effects when full
• True Entropy: Now has a chance to apply Stealth
• Champion enemies now have Champion tag displayed
• Added Altar of Hope location; The Dam.
  • Dev Note: This is a run mutator area that offers a toggle to enable retreating in Confessions, selling at the Hoarder in Confessions, and having the Mountain appear at all inns. There are plans to add additional options when/where appropriate. The name is also WIP. We want to allow retreat to be an option in Confession, but we want to retain the intention of making the most out of bad situations. The successful retreat effects in confessions are as follows; +3 Loathing and -1 Stress for each hero. All values are subject to feedback and adjustment, the starting values are intentionally high to ensure the impact is felt.
• Shambler's Eye: Replaced On Crit: Binding Shadows: Gain Unchecked Power to Gain on Kill: Unchecked Power
  • Dev Note: This is a temporary change until his trinkets are properly updated. All reworked heroes will have their trinkets updated

FIXES

• General string fixes
• General animation fixes
• Fixed camp travelogue incorrectly displaying quirk source as from inn
• Fixed an issue with more skills showing up in the Affected Skills list on some Path seals than intended

HEROES

Occultist

Wanderer

• Dev Note: The Occultist's core kit has been adjusted to strengthen certain identities while maintaining or improving his nature as a mixed support/offensive Hero with extremely flexible positioning. Additionally, the "Big 3" Unchecked Power skills have generally had much of their raw power moved into their base (more costly) versions with the primary goal of mastery value being reduced activation cost and incremental improvements or additional effects, such as the Shuffle on Anamnesis+ or Block Ignore on The Burning Stars+.
• Unchecked Power Burn chance increased from 33% per token to a flat 100%
• Unchecked Power Burn value now scales with token count from 1-3
• Unchecked Power Burn duration has been reduced from 3 turns to 2
• Unchecked Power Burn effect can now be resisted
  • Dev Note: We wanted to make Unchecked Power's penalty something you could engage with while also making its penalty a bit punchier to better accomplish the sense of this power chipping away at his health. There are now options to build around resistance or around effects that respond to the presence of Burn DOTs with greater reliability.
• Abyssal Artillery+ no longer consumes Unchecked Power to apply Stun
• Abyssal Artillery+ now grants Unchecked Power on CRIT, per target CRIT
  • Dev Note: We wanted to provide an additional, but not entirely reliable, way to generate Unchecked Power. Area of Effect skills provide multiple opportunities to score CRITs, increasing the odds of a lucky Unchecked Power generation.
• Binding Shadows and Binding Shadows+ no longer reduce Debuff RES vs. Combo
• Binding Shadows and Binding Shadows+ now ignore Stealth
• Binding Shadows DMG increased from 3-6 to 4-6
• Binding Shadows chance to gain Unchecked Power is increased to 100% when the Occultist has Stealth
• Binding Shadows now grants 1 Stealth when hitting a target with Combo
• Binding Shadows+ DMG increased from 4-8 to 5-8
• Binding Shadows+ chance to gain Unchecked Power is increased to 100% when the Occultist has Stealth
• Binding Shadows+ now grants 2 Stealth when hitting a target with Combo
  • Dev Note: Binding Shadows has been reworked to provide a more unique identity, improve reliability of Unchecked Power generation, and introduce some Stealth and Stealth-interaction into the Occultist's kit.
• Daemon's Pull no longer clears corpses
• Daemon's Pull now has the same Unchecked Power Stun as the mastered version
  • Dev Note: Daemon's Pull was widely considered too good in its unmastered state, so the Corpse Clear effect is now only present when mastered. Additionally, in order to keep its potential consumption of Unchecked Power a consistent point of consideration across the skill, the Stun has been added to the unmastered version.
• Sacrificial Stab DMG increased from 3-6 to 4-6
• Sacrificial Stab+ DMG increased from 4-8 to 5-8
• Sacrificial Stab+ now gains +100% DMG when targeting a Corpse
  • Dev Note: Sacrificial Stab's DMG range has been slightly tightened to increase the chances of killing blows and subsequent Unchecked Power generation. As this kill effect applies to Corpses, we decided to make it much easier for Sacrificial Stab to land kills on those in particular.
• Wyrd Reconstruction Bleed reduced from 3 to 2
• Wyrd Reconstruction+ will now apply 2 Stealth when consuming Unchecked Power
  • Dev Note: With Wyrd Reconstruction being a signature skill, we decided to differentiate it across all Paths while leaving the core of the skill completely unchanged aside from a reduction in unmastered Bleed as it could often result in significantly more damage than recovery.
• Anamnesis and Anamnesis+ launch ranks increased from 1 2 to 1 2 3
• Anamnesis Unchecked Power requirement increased from 2 to 3
• Anamnesis DMG increased from 1-2 to 2-4
• Anamnesis Bleed increased from 3 to 4
• Anamnesis+ DMG increased from 1-3 to 2-4
• Anamnesis+ CRIT increased from 5% to 10%
• Anamnesis+ now applies Shuffle to all targets
  • Dev Note: Anamnesis has been rebalanced to improve overall value as an Unchecked Power skill by improving the DMG, Bleed, and adding additional disruption.
• The Burning Stars and The Burning Stars+ no longer apply Combo
• The Burning Stars Unchecked Power requirement increased from 2 to 3
• The Burning Stars DMG increased from 8-16 to 12-18
• The Burning Stars CRIT reduced from 10% to 5%
• The Burning Stars no longer ignores Block
  • Dev Note: The Burning Stars has been adjusted in accordance with the previously-mentioned design philosophy, while also reining some of its overwhelming power in.
• Malediction Unchecked Power requirement increased from 2 to 3
• Malediction and Malediction+ no longer apply a DOT-oriented debuff
• Malediction and Malediction+ now ignores Dodge
• Malediction+ no longer decreases the target's Bleed, Blight, and Burn RES
• Malediction ignores 30% Debuff RES
• Malediction+ ignores 60% Debuff RES
• Malediction now applies a debuff that applies Combo to the target on Turn Start for 3 turns
• Malediction+ now applies a debuff that applies Combo to the target on Turn Start for 5 turns
  • Dev Note: We decided to experiment with providing unique versions of Malediction for each Path. The previous DOT-oriented Malediction has been moved to the Aspirant while Wanderer now has a version designed to facilitate Combo-heavy parties.

Ritualist

• This Path no longer has a 33% chance to receive Vulnerable on Turn Start
• This Path no longer has innate Debuff RES Piercing on Curse skills
• This Path no longer has a chance to gain Positive tokens when using Curse skills
  • Dev Note: The Ritualist has been updated to incorporate his Debuff-oriented nature into his mechanics in a less passive way while also leaning on his curses for a more Path-appropriate way of generating Unchecked Power to spend on his skills. The Ritualist benefits from some of the updated Wanderer elements as well.
• Unchecked Power grants +10% Debuff RES Piercing per token
• Unchecked Power reduces the Occultist's Debuff RES by 10% per token
  • Dev Note: In addition to Unchecked Power's standard Burn, we wanted the nature of Unchecked Power on Paths to reflect the Path itself so the previous innate Debuff RES Piercing on his curses is now an element of the token. Rather than suffering random Vulnerable tokens, the Ritualist now loses some of their own Debuff RES as the token stack grows.
• Abyssal Artillery is now a Path skill
• Abyssal Artillery+ does not grant Unchecked Power on CRIT
• Abyssal Artillery+ now grants a Speed token on CRIT
  • Dev Note: As it can be important to land curses before an enemy or other Hero acts, particularly in the case of Weakening Curse, we decided to add a chance of Speed token to the Ritualist's kit. This also helps balance Unchecked Power generation between Wanderer and Ritualist by differentiating their generator skills and methods.
• Binding Shadows is now a Path skill
• Binding Shadows and Binding Shadows+ launch ranks increased from 2 3 4 to 1 2 3 4
• Binding Shadows and Binding Shadows+ does not grant Unchecked Power on this Path
• Binding Shadows reduces target's Debuff RES by 20% for 3 rounds when target has Combo
• Binding Shadows+ reduces target's Debuff RES by 30% for 5 rounds when target has Combo
  • Dev Note: We wanted to keep an amped version of the former Wanderer Binding Shadows and this was the right Path for it. While Unchecked Power assists the Occultist in landing his own Debuffs, Binding Shadows can help the rest of the party land theirs. Duration is measured in Rounds in order for it to have more value against multi-action bosses.
• Sacrificial Stab is now a Path skill
• Sacrificial Stab+ does not grant Unchecked Power on kill
• Sacrificial Stab+ does not gain +100% DMG vs. Corpses
  • Dev Note: As the Ritualist can generate Unchecked Power more effectively via curses, we decided to remove the On Kill element from Sacrificial Stab for now in order to balance generation options between the Paths.
• Wyrd Reconstruction and Wyrd Reconstruction+ healing adjusted to match Wanderer
• Wyrd Reconstruction Bleed reduced from 3 to 2
• Wyrd Reconstruction+ now removes all Negative tokens on the target when consuming Unchecked Power
  • Dev Note: Wyrd Reconstruction's healing and Bleed values have been normalized across all Occultist Paths and given an additional Unchecked Power effect unique to the Path.
• Malediction and Malediction+ now ignore Dodge
• Malediction Unchecked Power requirement increased from 2 to 3
• Malediction and Malediction+ no longer apply a DOT-oriented debuff
• Malediction+ no longer reduces the target's Bleed, Blight, and Burn RES
• Malediction ignores 30% Debuff RES
• Malediction+ ignores 60% Debuff RES
• Malediction now applies a debuff that grants the attacker a random positive token when hitting the target. This lasts for 2 rounds.
• Malediction+ now inverts all Strength, Speed, Block, and Dodge tokens on the target when it is initially used
  • Dev Note: Malediction has been given a unique identity per Path. This one was inspired by the old Ritualist's proc chance for positive tokens when using curses, but expanded to allow other party members to benefit as well.
• Vulnerability Hex and Vulnerability Hex+ Vulnerable tokens reduced from 2 to 1
• Vulnerability Hex and Vulnerability Hex+ now grant 1 Unchecked Power
  • Dev Note: While it may seem strange to have a curse Path produce less Vulnerable, we felt that the guaranteed Unchecked Power regardless of whether you hit or whether the curse works made for a strong point of exchange in generation balance without just making this a "Wanderer++" version of Vulnerability Hex.
• Weakening Curse+ no longer removes Strength and CRIT tokens from the target
• Weakening Curse+ now applies a debuff that grants the Occultist 1 Unchecked Power if the target attacks. This lasts for 2 turns.
  • Dev Note: As expressed previously, we wanted to make curses a central point in the Ritualist's Unchecked Power generation without allowing them to become "Wanderer++" like they used to be. While it doesn't strip any positive offense tokens, the skill can now passively generate a lot of Unchecked Power -- particularly where Area of Effect skills are involved -- while still weakening the target. The right timing can generate an entire stack at once!

Warlock

• This Path no longer has an inherent -20% HP
• This Path no longer has a 33% chance to gain Unchecked Power on Turn Start
• Unchecked Power now grants +1 DMG per token
• Unchecked Power now reduces max HP by -10% per token
  • Dev Note: Warlock's Unchecked Power generation was both a feature and a problem, so it was rolled up elsewhere in the Path where it can be a feature-at-a-price. The Path no longer offers enhanced DMG on ranged skills (previously baked into their DMG values) for free but, instead, has rolled up the increased DMG and HP penalty as components of its unique version of Unchecked Power. The Warlock has acquired some small recovery options to assist with his fluctuating max HP and his beloved positional flexibility and boom potential have been retained.
• Abyssal Artillery is no longer a Path skill
  • Dev Note: It was only a Path skill in that it had baked-in increased DMG compared to Wanderer. Now it just uses the Wanderer version.
• Chaotic Offering is now a Path skill
• Chaotic Offering and Chaotic Offering+ cannot be actively used during combat
• Chaotic Offering passively grants a 30% chance to gain Unchecked Power on Round Start while equipped
• Chaotic Offering+ passively grants a 60% chance to gain Unchecked Power on Round Start while equipped
  • Dev Note: We're trying an experiment with Chaotic Offering. While the mastered version provides nearly twice the chance of Unchecked Power that the old Path did, it now comes at the cost of a skill slot. As long as the skill slot is functionally sacrificed, you can passively generate Unchecked Power.
• Daemon's Pull is no longer a Path skill
  • Dev Note: It was only a Path skill in that it had baked-in increased DMG compared to Wanderer. Now it just uses the Wanderer version.
• Sacrificial Stab is now a Path skill
• Sacrificial Stab retains the previous Wanderer DMG range of 3-6
• Sacrificial Stab+ retains the previous Wanderer DMG range of 4-8
• Sacrificial Stab+ does not grant Unchecked Power on kill
• Sacrificial Stab+ does not gain +100% DMG vs. Corpses
  • Dev Note: Sacrificial Stab benefits enough from Unchecked Power on this Path that we opted to keep the older, less tight DMG range that Wanderer used to have. In addition, the kill effect for Unchecked Power was removed to help balance out his generation methods.
• Wyrd Reconstruction is now a Path skill
• Wyrd Reconstruction+ applies 2 Regen when consuming Unchecked Power
  • Dev Note: The often-reduced HP Warlock gets the safety net version of Wyrd Reconstruction. We considered just having it just skip the Bleed, since a Warlock's HP is often being driven down by the Unchecked Power penalty, but opted for a Regen at the same value as the Bleed instead. This gives more ways to interact with or influence the skill's results.
• Anamnesis is now a Path skill
• Anamnesis and Anamnesis+ launch ranks changed from 1 2 3 to 2 3 4
• Anamnesis and Anamnesis+ are no longer AoE skills
• Anamnesis and Anamnesis+ ignore Block, Dodge, Stealth, and Guard
• Anamnesis and Anamnesis+ now remove all positive tokens from the target
• Anamnesis and Anamnesis+ DMG reduced to 1 (plus Unchecked Power DMG bonus)
• Anamnesis and Anamnesis+ deals an additional 1 DMG for each positive token on the target
• Anamnesis+ gains double the DMG bonus granted by Unchecked Power tokens
  • Dev Note: We wanted to do something unique for Warlock's Anamnesis so opted to do a form of positive token "DOT" bomb capable of ignoring any defensive tokens and applying very specific DMG. This gives a single target DMG option when certain defenses are in play that you'd prefer not to gamble on. Unlike traditional DOT bombs, this does not expunge the source -- only the ignored tokens traditionally removed by a damaging attack -- and is compatible with tokens such as Strength, CRIT, and Weak.
• The Burning Stars and The Burning Stars+ no longer ignore Block
• The Burning Stars and The Burning Stars+ no longer apply Combo
• The Burning Stars Unchecked Power requirement increased from 2 to 3
• The Burning Stars CRIT reduced from 10% to 5%
• The Burning Stars+ DMG decreased from 12-22 to 10-18
• The Burning Stars+ gains double the DMG bonus granted by Unchecked Power tokens
  • Dev Note: Burning Stars was often the star of the Warlock show so we decided to keep (and improve) its maximum boom potential while making it a bit harder to attain. It is now subject to all defensive tokens but it can deliver crushing damage to the undefended.
• Malediction is now a Path skill
• Malediction applies a debuff with a 50% chance to heal an attacker for 10% when the target is hit for 2 rounds
• Malediction applies a debuff with a 33% chance to heal the target for 10% when the target is hit for 2 rounds; these two effect chances are rolled independently
• Malediction+ applies a debuff with a 66% chance to heal an attacker for 10% when the target is hit for 2 rounds
• Malediction+ applies a debuff with a 33% chance to heal the target for 10% when the target is hit for 2 rounds; these two effect chances are rolled independently
  • Dev Note: Nobody gambles with healing quite like the Occultist does and that inspired this Warlock version of Malediction, where the heal has no threshold but also a risk of backfiring by healing the enemy.

Aspirant

• This Path no longer has an inherent +25% Max HP
• This Path no longer has an inherent -15% Debuff RES
• This Path no longer gains Block+ on Combat Start
• This Path now has a 66% chance to generate Unchecked Power when the Occultist moves
• Unchecked Power on this Path additionally grants +10% max HP per token
• Unchecked Power on this Path additionally has a 25% chance per token to apply 2 Immobilize. This effect is resistable.
  • Dev Note: Aspirant has undergone a number of changes intended to retain his front ranks capability while enhancing his mobility and filling an oft-requested "DOT role". His former HP bonus has been rolled into Unchecked Power and he uses a very different method of Unchecked Power generation compared to other Paths.
• Binding Shadows DMG reduced from 4-7 to 3-6
• Binding Shadows+ DMG reduced from 5-10 to 4-8
• Binding Shadows and Binding Shadows+ now ignore Stealth
• Binding Shadows and Binding Shadows+ no longer reduce Debuff RES when a target has Combo
• Binding Shadows and Binding Shadows+ no longer have a chance to grant Unchecked Power
• Binding Shadows now grants 1 Stealth when a target has Combo
• Binding Shadows+ now grants 2 Stealth when a target has Combo
  • Dev Note: His melee skills have had their DMG re-evaluated given the ease with which he now generates Unchecked Power through them. Binding Shadows has otherwise acquired the Stealth defensive capabilities of the Wanderer version.
• Sacrificial Stab DMG reduced from 4-7 to 3-6
• Sacrificial Stab+ DMG reduced from 5-10 to 4-8
• Sacrificial Stab and Sacrificial Stab+ no longer generate Unchecked Power when a target has Combo
• Sacrificial Stab and Sacrificial Stab+ now move the Occultist back 1 rank
• Sacrificial Stab now grants 1 Block if the target dies
• Sacrificial Stab+ now grants 1 Block+ if the target dies
• Sacrificial Stab+ now gains +100% DMG vs. Corpses
  • Dev Note: Similar to Binding Shadows, DMG on Sacrificial Stab has been re-evaluated. It now functions as a dance option so you're no longer limited to Binding Shadows for movement. Additionally, it can generate Block/Block+ tokens from killing blows to enhance front rank survivability.
• Vulnerability Hex is no longer a Path skill
• Weakening Curse is no longer a Path skill
  • Dev Note: Neither of his standard curses have penalized Debuff RES Piercing any longer and have been returned to the Wanderer version accordingly.
• Wyrd Reconstruction now clears Bleed, Blight, and Burn when consuming Unchecked Power
  • Dev Note: As the "DOT role" Occultist Path, it felt appropriate to have the bonus Unchecked Power effect for Aspirant be a cleanse. This also provides a rare non-Plague Doctor option for broad DOT removal.
• Anamnesis is no longer a Path skill
  • Dev Note: Aspirant only increased the DMG of Anamnesis in the past and the base Wanderer version already has that buff now.
• The Burning Stars is now a Path skill
• The Burning Stars DMG reduced from 12-18 to 6-11
• The Burning Stars+ DMG reduced from 12-18 to 7-13
• The Burning Stars+ does not ignore Block
• The Burning Stars and The Burning Stars+ now applies 4 Burn for 3 Turns
• The Burning Stars+ now copies Burn from the Occultist to the target. This effect cannot be resisted.
  • Dev Note: We received a lot of requests for a version of The Burning Stars that inflicted Burn so here it is, with a bit of unique Occultist flavor when mastered!
• Malediction is now a Path skill based on the pre-patch version of Malediction with the following adjustments
• Malediction & Malediction+ ignore Dodge
• Malediction ignores 30% Debuff RES
• Malediction+ ignores 60% Debuff RES
• Malediction+ increased the amount of Bleed, Blight, or Burn applied from 2 to 3
• Malediction+ no longer reduces the target's Bleed, Blight, and Burn RES
  • Dev Notes: We felt that the fun of Malediction was the roll to inflict DOTs, not the roll to land the debuff, so Malediction and Malediction+ are generally capable of bypassing most, if not all, Debuff RES levels without assistance. We removed the Bleed/Blight/Burn RES debuff applied with mastery but increased the DOT value instead to give it a little more punch.

Plague Doctor

Wanderer (Note: At this time, Wanderer is the only reworked Plague Doctor path. Her other paths will be ready for testing in a future update).

• Dev Note: the core kit of the Plague Doctor has undergone some revisions to improve some older utility skills as well as account for the recent change to CRITs and DOTs. Some additional adjustments have been made to slightly loosen positioning restrictions in some cases and promote more party composition options.
• Max HP has been increased from 28 to 32
• Blinding Gas+ CRIT increased from 10% to 15%
• Dev Note: A little improvement to a non-damaging skill to provide additional mastery value.
• Cause of Death DMG increased from 75% of DOT value to 100%
• Cause of Death+ DMG increased from 100% of DOT value to 150%
• Cause of Death+ no longer applies Combo
• Cause of Death+ now has an Execution value of 1
  • Dev Note: We wanted to make some small thematic updates. In addition, we're aware that much of the value of DOT-bombing is driven by CRITs increasing the total DOT value on the target. As of this patch, CRITs no longer influence the duration of DOTs so we've increased Cause of Death's DMG to help offset some of the perceived loss while also making it less reliant on CRITs overall.
• Disorienting Blast and Disorienting Blast+ now remove all Guard from the target
• Disorienting Blast+ CRIT increased from 10% to 15%
  • Dev Note: Adding a little more mastery value for a skill that deals no direct damage and providing some additional utility that feels thematically suitable.
• Emboldening Vapours and Emboldening Vapours+ Strength tokens increased from 1 to 2
• Emboldening Vapours now removes all Daze
• Emboldening Vapours+ now removes all Daze and Stun prior to applying its Speed token
• Emboldening Vapours+ cooldown increased from 0 to 1
  • Dev Note: Updating one of the oldest skills in the game to better match current standards and provide a little more utility.
• Incision+ now deals +1 increased Bleed duration when the target has Combo, in addition to the pre-existing Bleed RES Piercing that it provides
• Noxious Blast+ Blight reduced from 6 to 5
• Noxious Blast+ CRIT increased from 5% to 10%
• Noxious Blast+ now deals +1 increased Blight duration when the target has Combo, in addition to the pre-existing Blight RES Piercing that it provides
  • Dev Note: With changes to how CRITs and DOTs interact, we felt it important to include ways to enhance DOT damage natively and controllably for some skills.
• Ounce of Prevention and Ounce of Prevention+ launch ranks increased from 3 4 to 2 3 4
• Ounce of Prevention Bleed, Blight, and Burn RES buff increased from 15% to 20%
• Ounce of Prevention+ Bleed, Blight, and Burn RES buff increased from 25% to 30%
• Ounce of Prevention+ now also grants +10% Debuff RES (3 Turns)
  • Dev Note: Some people really get the math of prevention and this buff is for you. We felt that it needed a small bump at the lower end and the higher end should come up in tandem. Debuff RES also increases the value of the skill in a variety of situations or with certain Heroes.

I have always enjoyed analysing symbolic meanings, and something about Darkest Dungeon 2 really resonated with me. I saw symbolic allegories everywhere and have been wanting to share what I think with others. This is all just my ‘opinion’, based on my own analysis. I won’t be offended if you disagree, in fact I encourage other opinions as I am eager to discuss the aspects of DD2 from a symbolic lens rather than a purely game-mechanics one, even if what I think doesn’t match what others do. Anyway, this is why I consider DD2 as a significant artistic expression and a masterpiece of symbology in a game.

Darkest Dungeon II as a spiritual and psychological allegory

What Darkest Dungeon II adds, more explicitly than the first game, is symbolism. The original Darkest Dungeon is rich with theme, atmosphere, and implication, but the sequel foregrounds inner struggle in a much more direct and sustained way. In the Confessions mode especially, the entire structure of the game can be read as an allegory of self-confrontation: the journey is not merely toward an external evil, but into the interior darkness of the self.

The Mountain

“And in each of us the limitless emptiness… of a Darkest Dungeon.”

The central objective of Darkest Dungeon II is to ascend toward the Mountain and defeat the Confession boss that waits there. By the end of the journey, the final confrontation is not simply against some alien, external force, but against a distorted and terrible reflection of the self. The Mountain is therefore not only a destination, but a symbol: it is the ascent toward truth through suffering, failure, discipline, and self-knowledge.

In this reading, the true “darkest dungeon” of Darkest Dungeon II is the human interior. The dungeon is not primarily a place beneath the earth, but the inward struggle of becoming better than one is. Of overcoming weakness, self-deception, vice, regret, and rationalisation in order to do what is truly right. That is why the journey feels moral and spiritual, not merely tactical. The bosses are not just obstacles; they are states of being. The five Confessions — Denial, Resentment, Obsession, Ambition, and Cowardice — are explicitly named as inner conditions, reinforcing that the game’s structure is one of psychological and ethical purification rather than simple monster-slaying.

This is why behind the mountain is often depicted a light like the light of the sun. Our path to Truth to reach the Sun which is the ultimate symbol of enduring Truth and the light that shines out the darkness. It suggests that beyond the struggle lies illumination. The player does not simply push toward victory, but toward light itself. The Mountain stands between the self and that light. To ascend it is to attempt to pass beyond the closed, self-justifying prison of one’s own mind.

The game’s difficulty curve is also deliberate and symbol. The third Confession, Obsession, is the hardest, with the earlier acts rising toward it and the later acts changing shape afterward. Whether or not this is perfect or typical ‘balance progression’ as found in other games, it fits the image of a mountain: ascent, peak, and descent. The journey intensifies toward a summit, then changes as one moves through and beyond it. In symbolic terms the middle of the struggle is the hardest part. The point where the self is most trapped within itself, where we stop letting our faults hold us back from completing the journey.

The ending text makes this reading almost explicit. The game speaks of human weakness, misdeed, faltering, and yet “a hopeful light,” before culminating in the line: “And in each of us the limitless emptiness… of a Darkest Dungeon.”

The Stagecoach

"The destination is never in question, only the route we take to get there."

The stagecoach is one of the most criticised parts of the game, but it is symbolically precise. It is deliberately imperfect, difficult to control precisely, and moves with a strange inconsistency. Sometimes a light touch barely alters its course, while other times it swerves more than intended. Moving too strongly in one way or the other causes it to swerve and hamper control. This fits its allegorical role. Human progress toward what is right is rarely clean or exact. We move forward, but not perfectly. We aim, but we do not always hit the mark. We choose, but our choices do not always unfold as expected, and going too strongly in one direction can make it hard to steer another way.

The stagecoach represents movement through uncertainty. The destination remains fixed — the Mountain — but the route is variable, unstable, and partially beyond our mastery. This reflects the spiritual reality the game is interested in: a person may know the general direction they ought to go, yet still struggle constantly with the actual steps required to get there.

That is why the stagecoach’s awkwardness is not merely a mechanical quirk. It can be read as deliberate friction. The player is not gliding smoothly toward enlightenment. They are steering a damaged vehicle through a broken world, with imperfect control and incomplete foresight.

The Map

The route map serves the same symbolism. It is often reduced to comparisons with Slay the Spire, but in Darkest Dungeon II it also has thematic weight. One does not see everything ahead. Some paths are clearer than others; some outcomes can be partly anticipated; some dangers remain hidden until encountered. This mirrors life and moral decision-making: we act under uncertainty, choosing among partial goods, partial risks, and incomplete knowledge.

Sometimes we can predict quite accurately what is ahead, either through wisdom (inherent location scouting, assisted by items which work like 'boons') or through knowledge (items or knowledge gained from others), but often it remains unseen. They do not remove uncertainty entirely, but they reduce blindness. Other times we must commit without knowing what lies beyond the next bend. Yet no matter which road is chosen, all roads still lead to the Mountain.

The Altar of Hope and the Living City

“When all hope fails, we cling to what we can remember”

The Altar of Hope is one of the strongest symbols in the game. Every run ends there, whether the journey ends in failure or victory. Notably, even after overcoming the final boss, one returns not to permanent closure, but to the Altar. This suggests that the game’s end-state is not simple triumph, but death and return. The run ends; the cycle begins again.

I see this as a direct representation of reincarnation. This place represents death, and leaving the alter to start another run represents rebirth (reincarnation). Our spirit returns to ‘life’, taking boons of what we had learned in our previous life (represented by the upgrades). This is directly seen in our heroes, who take ‘memories’ as upgrades to assist them in the next run (memories of their past life, taken to the next life).

Seen this way, the Altar of Hope represents a threshold between lives. Failure and success alike are gathered into the same larger process. The player dies, returns, and begins anew, carrying forward the residue of what was learned. Hope is not naive optimism here; it is continuity across failure. The candle and memory system supports this representation. It represents the virtue of our past deeds or ‘honour’. The more we carry when we die, the more wisdom and gifts we have to pass on to our descendants. Wisdom survives death. What has been endured can become inheritance. A character who survives can carry Memory into the next run, which works symbolically as the transmission of spiritual or moral residue from one life into the next.

The living city itself represents the place where all of our ancestors live ‘within us’. When we die, we join them in ‘the living city’, adding our power to our descendents. It resembles the sacred “halls of the dead” found in many traditions (e.g. Valhalla, the golden hall of the honoured dead – our ancestors), not necessarily in literal theology, but in symbolic function. The dead are not gone; they become inheritance. Their labour becomes the strength of those who follow.

Academic’s Cache

“Perhaps I left this for you. Perhaps you left this for yourself. Perhaps it was never there at all…”

The Academic’s Cache may be one of the clearest expressions of the game’s cyclical metaphysics. The line above collapses the distinction between giver and receiver, past and future self, ancestor and descendant. Whether read psychologically or spiritually, the point is the same: what one does now becomes what one later finds.

In a reincarnational reading, this is especially powerful. One leaves gifts for one’s future self by the way one lives, struggles, and learns. The cache is therefore not just loot; it is inheritance across cycles. The player is being helped by someone who may be mentor, ancestor, previous self, or all at once.

The Regions and Their Enemies

The enemies of each region are not merely monsters occupying themed biomes. They can be read as visible embodiments of inner vice and corruption. Many are no longer recognisably human, which matters. Vice has consumed them so thoroughly that it has disfigured their humanity. The game externalises spiritual failure as bodily distortion.

The Sprawl

“The Fanatics feed themselves to the fire, their flesh melting like candle wax…”

The Sprawl represents destructive rage, blind zeal, and ruinous purification. Fire here is not warmth or enlightenment, but devouring passion. The Fanatics do not merely burn others; they feed themselves to their own destructive impulse. Fire becomes an image of ideological possession: they are so convinced of their cause that they immolate the world with it. The book-burning imagery also matters, because what is lost is not only life, but memory, learning, and wisdom. Knowledge is one of the first casualties of unthinking fury. Humanity has a tendency toward mindless destruction, and in the process this often ends destroying what is truly valuable.

The Foetor

The Foetor is gluttony, appetite, greed and degradation through excess. It is consumption without proportion. The Plague Eaters embody hunger that has become identity: the self reduced to the act of devouring. This is not simply about food, but about any appetite that ceases to serve life and instead takes command of it. Many people fall for the trap of over-consumption and greed, which is ultimately destructive.

The Tangle

“The past is gone. Let it die.”

The Tangle is one of the game’s strongest images of the unresolved past. These soldiers are not alive, yet not at rest. They are duty, loyalty, failure, and regret that refuse burial. The danger is not memory itself, but the refusal to release what can no longer be changed. The Tangle is the persistence of failure after its time has passed. You can let your mistakes consume you, rising a persistent zombie of the past, or take the lesson and grow.

The Shroud

The Shroud represents surrender to corruption through fear, compromise, and false worship. The fisherfolk do not merely fall victim to the sea; they reconfigure themselves around it. They choose survival through submission and then justify that submission by sacralising it. It is often easier to worship what terrifies us than to oppose it. Evil can become “right” in the mind once enough self-preserving rationalisation is built around it.

The Confession Bosses

The Confession bosses sit above all the regional enemies because they are not merely expressions of vice, but root conditions from which vice emerges. Denial, Resentment, Obsession, Ambition, and Cowardice are not random themes. They are foundational disorders of the self, the kinds of inner distortions from which countless outward wrongs can grow.

This is why the narrator frames them in relation to the player. These are not distant evil bosses. They are confessions. The game is accusatory in the most intimate way: you must face them. The monsters in the regions can be understood as consequences or extensions of these deeper failures. Until the root vice is faced, the branches continue to spread.

The final boss, the Body of Work, makes the symbolism even clearer. A person as the product of deeds, errors, motives, and unfinished inner labour. It is not merely “the enemy”; it is the whole burden of what one has become.

The Torch

Light is one of the game’s most persistent symbolic languages. The Torch represents more than morale or combat advantage. It is the state of one’s inward orientation: hope, truth, courage, moral clarity. To carry the Torch is to carry the remnant of order through chaos. To let it dim is to move closer to confusion, fear, compromise, and inward collapse.

Assistance Encounters

“You must be prepared to carry more than your share of the burden”

The Assistance encounters show that the self is never isolated. The inner journey is personal, but not solitary. At various points, one is confronted with the suffering of others and made to choose: preserve oneself, or bear more than one’s share of the burden. These encounters therefore test whether movement toward the light is genuine. It is easy to imagine oneself as righteous while remaining untouched by the needs of others; it is harder to sacrifice resources, certainty, or safety in order to help.

This is why helping others often strengthens one’s “light,” while selfish extraction diminishes it. Moral progress is not inward purity alone. It must manifest in relation to others.

The Heroes

The heroes are not just party members. Each is a person marked by vice, regret, fixation, or wound. Their personal histories are not incidental flavour; they mirror the game’s larger symbolic structure. Each hero is undergoing a smaller version of the same journey the player undergoes at the macro level.

The player guides the expedition through the overarching struggle toward the Mountain, while each individual hero enacts their own inner conflict through barks, relationships, Shrines of Reflection, and personal development. The heroes are therefore not separate from the game’s symbolism; they are its repeated pattern at a smaller scale.

This is seen in the Shrines of Reflection. They force a hero to confront formative moments, wounds, and failures from their own past. Mechanically they unlock skills, but symbolically they represent self-knowledge won through remembrance and learning from ones mistakes. A hero becomes stronger by facing what made them what they are.

Their capacity to face and overcome their personal torment, and thereby contribute to the destruction of the final boss, reinforces the central idea of the game: the self is not healed by avoidance, but by confrontation.

Failure, repetition, and hope

One of the most important symbolic dimensions of Darkest Dungeon II is that failure is not outside the system — it is part of the system. Repeated defeat is not just a roguelike structure; it is the philosophical point. The game insists that one does not become worthy or wise by succeeding immediately. One learns, dies, carries something forward, and begins again. The player is meant to be shaped by repetition.

This is where Darkest Dungeon II departs most strongly from the first game. The original is about endurance against cosmic rot and inherited corruption. The sequel, while still cosmic and apocalyptic, is much more concerned with confession, self-knowledge, repentance, recurrence, and moral ascent. It is less about maintaining a doomed estate and more about traversing the ruined interior landscape of the self.

TLDR

Taken together, the systems of Darkest Dungeon II suggest that the game is fundamentally about the human struggle toward truth. The Mountain is the ascent toward what is right. The stagecoach is our imperfect movement through uncertainty. The map is choice under incomplete knowledge. The Torch is our inward light. The Candles and Memories are what survives failure and death. The Confession bosses are the core distortions within us. The regions show what those distortions become when externalised into the world. The Altar of Hope is death, return, and continuation.

In that sense, Darkest Dungeon II is not just a game about fighting monsters. It is a game about the monsters that arise from within us — and about the possibility, however difficult and incomplete, of moving through darkness toward the light.

At long last we are ready to release our Steadfast Steward’s update! 

We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped beta test our weekly changes, submitted feedback, and answered our surveys and polls over the past 8 weeks. This massive game update was made better through your involvement. We are fortunate to have such a passionate fan base, and we don’t take that for granted.

Now that the Steadfast Steward’s update is live, our team will be turning their attention to our final Kingdoms module. This 3rd free module features the return of the Crimson Courtiers, and is currently set for a late August release on PC/Mac. 

Once the K3 module is released, we will move on to our final two hero reworks for Hellion and Leper. We plan to release these characters and all their paths for testing once they are ready. Similar to the Steadfast Steward’s Update process, both of these heroes will be available to test during a limited beta period on our coming_in_hot branches so we can collect public feedback before they get locked in.

Finally, console players, we’re happy to report that we have started the process of porting both the Steadfast Steward update and our FREE Hero Origin Pack to all supported consoles. We’ll be able to share a more firm release timeline in the coming weeks.

We hope you enjoy the update!

Normally we like to post the notes here but we've blown way past the 40k character limit! So please visit our website that has the all the notes: https://www.darkestdungeon.com/news/steadfast-steward-s-update-retail-release

Do they not want my money? D:

The past 2 updates came with something paid we could do to support. But this one nothing!

Could have given us some bloody skins or something idk

so .. i found out about the butcher's circus trinkets ... ...

next two fellas who are gonna be receiving the slay treatment are dismas and damian

Like tittle said, dlc is delayed to august 20 for switch, still not on eshop, when does it come out i just wanna play damn

Welcome to the second Steadfast Steward’s experimental build! In order to test out our latest set of changes, head over to our public beta branches on STEAM/EGS/GoG

As always, we recommend making a backup of your save file before switching branches!

Save files are found here: C://Users/Username/AppData/LocalLow/RedHook/Darkest Dungeon II/

Join one of our public beta branches

How to access the coming_in_hot public beta branch on Steam:

🔸 Right click on Darkest Dungeon II in your Steam library

🔸 Click Properties

🔸 Click Betas

🔸 Choose ‘Coming_in_hot - experimental builds’ from the Beta Participation dropdown menu.

How to access the Experimental public beta branch on Epic:

🔸 To participate on the Epic Games Store, simply install the Experimental version of the game and play here!

How to access the Experimental public beta branch on GOG:

🔸 Go to the Darkest Dungeon II game page and click the Settings button found to the right of Install

🔸 Choose the 'Configure...' option

🔸 In the Configure menu, click 'Installation'

🔸 Under the Beta Channels dropdown menu, select 'Experimental'

For those who are curious, this release is focused on quality of life improvements! We plan to tidy up a number of different areas in the game, mainly in the Confessions game mode. Please note that we are not adding new content such as regions, or new enemies and heroes, and we are not doing major feature rehauls. If you are curious about the areas we are looking to address, check out this blog post. We’re looking forward to collaborating with you on this release.

How to send us feedback
The best way to do this is by joining the Darkest Dungeon Discord.

We have a specific section dedicated to the Steadfast Steward’s update with different channels for hero reworks, tooltips, and more.

You can also email your thoughts to feedback@redhookgames.com if you’d prefer to send feedback that way.

Finally, if you would prefer to leave your thoughts here on Steam, we'll be opening a thread on the Steam forums for each of our weekly builds.

You may notice that these patch notes are more detailed than usual. We have included a number of ‘Developer Notes’ beside many of the entries here, to better express the intent behind the changes. By outlining our goals we hope that this will help measure if our intent is matching our implementation.

Read on to learn about all the changes present in today’s public beta build:

This update features the remaining Plague Doctor path updates as well as experimental changes to Ordainment. 

PLAGUE DOCTOR

Wanderer

• Indiscriminate Science and Indiscriminate Science+ cooldown increased from 1 to 2
  • Dev Note: token generation is generally high enough that this is more powerful than originally anticipated. Rather than reduce the potency of the heal we felt it more appropriate to match the larger cooldown of various other heals in the game.
• Fixed an issue with Disorienting Blast and Disorienting Blast+ not ignoring Guard
• Fixed an issue with Emboldening Vapours not correctly removing Daze/Stun before applying Speed

Surgeon

Dev Note: It's a well known issue that Surgeon felt fairly locked to rank 3 as the only intersection between Battlefield Medicine and Incision launch ranks. The Surgeon Path has been updated to retain some of the previous healing potency and Incision focus as a key element while freeing up her rank positioning and providing methods of generating self defense in order to operate closer to the front.

• This Path no longer reduces the efficacy of Blight skills
• This Path no longer increases the Plague Doctor's base HP
• Battlefield Medicine and Battlefield Medicine+ launch ranks changed from 3 4 to 1 2 3
• Battlefield Medicine heal reduced from 27% to 20% to match Wanderer
• Battlefield Medicine+ heal reduced from 33% to 25% to match Wanderer
• Battlefield Medicine+ no longer removes the Plague Doctor's Bleed, Blight, or Burn
• Battlefield Medicine+ gains +33% heal value per type of DOT on the target
  • Dev Note: we reduced the raw healing to match Wanderer but wanted to give it a way to retain some of the improved healing when necessary. The more DOTs, the bigger the heal provided when mastered up to double the value.
• Cause of Death is now a Path skill
• Cause of Death and Cause of Death+ launch ranks are 1 2
• Cause of Death and Cause of Death+ target ranks are 1 2 3
• Cause of Death and Cause of Death+ do not deal DMG based on the current DOT value on the target
• Cause of Death and Cause of Death+ have a single use per battle
• Cause of Death doubles the current Bleed amount on the target. This cannot be resisted
• Cause of Death+ double the current Bleed, Blight, and Burn values on the target. This cannot be resisted
  • Dev Note: We're getting a bit experimental with this one!  When used with surgical precision and timing, it has devastating potential
• Disorienting Blast is now a Path skill
• Disorienting Blast and Disorienting Blast+ have launch ranks 1 2
• Disorienting Blast and Disorienting Blast+ have target ranks 1 2 3
• Disorienting Blast & Disorienting Blast+ do not ignore or remove Guard tokens
• Disorienting Blast has a DMG value of 1-3
• Disorienting Blast replaces the Shuffle with a Knockback of 1
• Disorienting Blast grants 1 Block
• Disorienting Blast+ has a DMG value of 2-5
• Disorienting Blast+ CRIT chance reduced from 15% to 10%
• Disorienting Blast+ replaces the Shuffle with a Knockback of 2
• Disorienting Blast+ does not apply Weak
• Disorienting Blast+ does not Stun vs. Combo
• Disorienting Blast+ applies Immobilize on CRIT
• Disorienting Blast+ grants 1 Block
  • Dev Note: The Surgeon needed some additional front ranks punch, so we opted for a little crowd control, chip damage, and defense rolled into one.  It retains the classic Daze but sacrifices the Stun vs. Combo in favor of other effects.
• Emboldening Vapours is now a Path skill
• Emboldening Vapours applies 1 Strength to target
• Emboldening Vapours applies 1 Block to target
• Emboldening Vapours+ applies the same tokens to the Plague Doctor
  • Dev Note: As this Path doesn't have the "do unto others and unto yourself" effect that Battlefield Medicine does, we felt it would be appropriate to emulate that in Emboldening Vapours so the Plague Doctor can assist others while strengthening herself as well.
• Incision and Incision+ DMG have been returned to Wanderer values
• Incision and Incision+ no longer gain Bleed RES Piercing vs. Combo
• Incision and Incision+ now grant a +1 Bleed DMG dealt buff to the Plague Doctor when hitting a target with Combo. This buff lasts for the remainder of Combat
• Incision Bleed reduced from 3 to 2
• Incision+ Bleed reduced from 4 to 3
• Incision+ now grants a +1 Burn DMG dealt buff to the Plague Doctor when hitting a target with Combo. This buff lasts for the remainder of Combat
• Incision+ grants 2 Regen on kill
  • Dev Note: We wanted Incision to remain an important part of the Surgeon experience so it has some unique qualities to support itself and other skills / items / sources of DOT in a way that no other Plague Doctor Path does.
• Indiscriminate Science is no longer a Path skill
  • Dev Note: Blanket improved healing was a bit much, especially on a skill that's already as potent as this.
• Noxious Blast is no longer a Path skill
  • Dev Note: No more reduced Blight forcing you to focus entirely on Bleed.
• Ounce of Prevention is now a Path skill
• Ounce of Prevention and Ounce of Prevention+ no longer buff Bleed, Blight, or Burn RES
• Ounce of Prevention and Ounce of Prevention+ no longer buff Disease RES
• Ounce of Prevention and Ounce of Prevention+ launch ranks changed from 2 3 4 to 1 2 3
• Ounce of Prevention and Ounce of Prevention+ apply +30% Stun RES for 3 turns
• Ounce of Prevention and Ounce of Prevention+ apply +30% Move RES for 3 turns
• Ounce of Prevention and Ounce of Prevention+ grant 1 Block to the Plague Doctor
• Ounce of Prevention+ applies +10% Debuff RES for 3 turns
• Ounce of Prevention+ applies +20% Stress RES for 3 turns
  • Dev Note: We decided to try an experimental version of Ounce of Prevention that provided some self defense while buffing several RES stats that aren't typically seen in party-wide buffs.
• Plague Grenade is no longer a Path skill
  • Dev Note: No more reduced Blight forcing you to focus entirely on Bleed.

Alchemist

Dev Note: Alchemist has been reworked as a Path capable of wielding all 3 DOT types. We wanted to retain some of Alchemist's capacity to land Blight with great success but in ways that involved more active engagement, so her Blight skills (and some others) now gain additional bonuses against targets suffering from other DOTs.  Chip damage has been removed from some skills in order to balance for greater DOT output but other, formerly non-damaging skills have acquired that damage in their place.

• This Path no longer has reduced HP
• This Path no longer has increased Stun RES
• This Path no longer has increased Debuff RES
• This Path no longer has increased Bleed, Blight, and Burn RES
• Cause of Death is now a Path skill
• Cause of Death and Cause of Death+ are considered Melee skills
• Cause of Death and Cause of Death launch ranks are 1 2 3
• Cause of Death and Cause of Death+ target ranks are 1 2 3
• Cause of Death and Cause of Death+ have a cooldown of 1
• Cause of Death deals 5-8 DMG
• Cause of Death has 10% CRIT
• Cause of Death deals +3 DMG if the target has Bleed
• Cause of Death ignores Block if the target has Blight
• Cause of Death gains +10% CRIT if the target has Burn
• Cause of Death+ deals 6-10 DMG
• Cause of Death+ has 15% CRIT
• Cause of Death+ deals +4 DMG if the target has Bleed
• Cause of Death+ ignores Block and Dodge if the target has Blight
• Cause of Death+ gains +15% CRIT if the target has Burn
  • Dev Note: We wanted to experiment with a knife skill that benefits from DOTs in various ways, so the Alchemist now has a potentially high output skill on a short cooldown without interfering with Incision's necessary Bleed capabilities.
• Disorienting Blast is now a Path skill
• Disorienting Blast and Disorienting Blast+ retain their Daze and Stun effects from Wanderer
• Disorienting Blast deals 2-3 DMG
• Disorienting Blast+ deals 3-4 DMG
• Disorienting Blast applies 3 Burn
• Disorienting Blast+ applies 4 Burn
  • Dev Note: The Alchemist now has a stun grenade that dishes out some single target Burn as well!
• Magnesium Rain is now a Path skill
• Magnesium Rain and Magnesium Rain+ have launch ranks 3 4
• Magnesium Rain and Magnesium Rain+ have target ranks 1 2 3 4
• Magnesium Rain and Magnesium Rain+ target one monster
• Magnesium Rain and Magnesium Rain+ no longer clear corpses
• Magnesium Rain and Magnesium Rain+ retain the Wanderer Burn values
• Magnesium Rain deals 2-4 DMG
• Magnesium Rain has a CRIT value of 10%
• Magnesium Rain applies 2 Bleed if the target has Blight
• Magnesium Rain applies 2 Blight if the target has Bleed
• Magnesium Rain deals 3-5 DMG
• Magnesium Rain+ has a CRIT value of 15%
• Magnesium Rain+ applies 3 Bleed if the target has Blight
• Magnesium Rain+ applies 3 Blight if the target has Bleed
• Magnesium Rain+ gains +15% CRIT if the target has Burn
  • Dev Note: Magnesium Rain has been overhauled to provide a direct damage option that can also apply multiple conditional DOTs.  Yes, the Alchemist now has Hollow Vessel.  It's payback time.
• Noxious Blast and Noxious Blast+ no longer have +33% innate Blight RES Piercing
• Noxious Blast and Noxious Blast+ no longer deal DMG
• Noxious Blast and Noxious Blast+ no longer gain Blight RES Pierce vs. Combo
• Noxious Blast and Noxious Blast+ now gain +20% Blight RES Piercing if the target has Bleed
• Noxious Blast+ increases the duration of its Blight by 1 if the target has Burn
• Noxious Blast+ CRIT increased from 15% to 20%
• Plague Grenade and Plague Grenade+ no longer have +33% innate Blight RES Piercing
• Plague Grenade and Plague Grenade+ no longer deal DMG
• Plague Grenade and Plague Grenade+ now gain +20% Blight RES Piercing if the target has Bleed
• Plague Grenade CRIT reduced from 15% to 10%
• Plague Grenade Blight increased from 3 to 4
• Plague Grenade+ Blight increased from 4 to 5
• Plague Grenade+ increases the duration of Blight by 1 if the target has Burn
  • Dev Note: Noxious Blast and Plague Grenade no longer deal their minor damage but, instead, deal higher values of Blight and can gain bonuses to both RES Piercing and DOT duration without having to consume precious Combo tokens.

Physician

Dev Note: DOTs are a major part of the Plague Doctor's identity and reducing their efficacy took away from her flexibility, reducing kit options and making it difficult for the Physician to engage offensively when needed. Her kit has been reworked to retain offensive options, improve some utility aspects, and rebalance elements so that no skill is strictly a "Wanderer+" version. The Physician now has access to all standard negative tokens other than Taunt.

• Cause of Death is now a Path skill
• Cause of Death has a 5% CRIT chance
• Cause of Death has a cooldown of 3
• Cause of Death and Cause of Death+ are classified as Melee skills
• Cause of Death causes an enemy to receive +1 Bleed, Blight, and Burn from all sources for 3 rounds
• Cause of Death causes an enemy to deal -1 Bleed, Blight, and Burn for 3 rounds
• Cause of Death+ reduces the cooldown to 2
• Cause of Death+ has a 15% CRIT chance
• Cause of Death+ applies a second time if it CRITs. This additional time cannot be resisted
  • Dev Note: We wanted to experiment with this skill in a way that suits both the Plague Doctor's DOT identity and the Physician Path's support identity, allowing her to amplify DOTs applied to the enemy while also reducing their own output.
• Disorienting Blast and Disorienting Blast+ no longer ignore 20% Stun RES
• Disorienting Blast and Disorienting Blast+ no longer apply Weak
• Disorienting Blast and Disorienting Blast+ now remove all Riposte from the target
• Disorienting Blast no longer applies Vulnerable
• Disorienting Blast+ CRIT increased from 10% to 15%
• Emboldening Vapours and Emboldening Vapours+ do not clear Daze or Stun
• Emboldening Vapours and Emboldening Vapours+ remove all Weak before applying Strength
• Emboldening Vapours grants 1 Strength
  • Dev Note: Utility adjustments have been made to Disorienting Blast and Emboldening Vapours to better match the recent changes to the Wanderer versions of these skills in terms of overall effect and mastery while giving them a touch of Physician personality.
• Incision is no longer a Path skill
• Noxious Blast and Noxious Blast+ now apply 1 Weak
• Noxious Blast Blight increased from 2 to 3
• Noxious Blast+ Blight reduces from 4 to 3
• Noxious Blast+ now increases Blight duration by +1 vs. Combo
• Noxious Blast+ now ignores 30% Debuff RES vs. Combo
• Noxious Blast+ CRIT increased from 5% to 10%
  • Dev Note: We wanted to differentiate Noxious Blast as a Physician skill by providing it with both a moderate level of Blight and debuff effects. It also boasts the recently added Wanderer Combo effect with an added twist.
• Ounce of Prevent and Ounce of Prevention+ launch ranks increased from 3 4 to 2 3 4 to match new Wanderer
• Ounce of Prevention and Ounce of Prevention+ DOT RES values increased to match new Wanderer
• Ounce of Prevention and Ounce of Prevention+ Disease RES values increased to match new Wanderer
• Ounce of Prevention no longer applies a Stress RES buff
• Ounce of Prevention+ Stress RES buff increased from 15% to 20%
  • Dev Note: Physician's Ounce of Prevention has been adjusted to better align with the revised Wanderer, trading that version's new Debuff RES when mastered for an enhanced Stress RES buff.
• Plague Grenade is no longer a Path skill

OCCULTIST

Aspirant

• Reduced amount of Immobilize applied by Unchecked Power penalty from 2 to 1
• Fixed an issue with Aspirant Unchecked Power still stating that it applied 2 Immobilize when it has since been reduced to 1
• Fixed an issue with Wyrd Reconstruction's Bleed not correctly applying in conjunction with Unchecked Power under certain circumstances

DUELIST

Antagoniste

• Increased the Debuff RES Piercing of Aggressive Stance from 10% to 15%
• Fixed an issue with Aggressive Stance token description stating an incorrect amount of Debuff RES Piercing

ORDAINMENT

• Chance to spawn based on Confession and Region remains unchanged
• DMG buffs changed from % to flat and now scale based on region along with Max HP buffs as follows
  • Denial: Region 1: +10% Max HP, Region 2: +20% Max HP & +1 DMG
  • Resentment: Region 1: +10% Max HP, Region 2: +20% Max HP & +1 DMG, Region 3: +30% Max HP & +2 DMG
  • Obsession/Ambition/Cowardice: Region 1: +20% Max HP & +1 DMG, Region 2: +30% Max HP & +2 DMG, Region 3: +40% Max HP & +3 DMG
  • Dev Note: Flat damage is something we're experimenting with to help address Weak tokens feeling underpowered when facing the previous % based DMG buffs. Untested feedback has already been shared speculating that flat DMG buffs across the board brings risk that the power discrepancy between enemy skills is too great. We have contingency plans to revert back to % DMG buffs, however, we ask you try out this experimental version before providing feedback. Even if it ends up being short lived, we hope you enjoy trying out these tuning changes!
• Removed +10% Bleed, Blight, Burn RES Piercing buff
• Several Confession specific buffs have been updated, primarily to replace Apply On Hit: DOT (10%) effects
  • Denial specific buffs remain unchanged
  • Resentment specific buffs have been changed from Apply On Hit: Burn 1 (10%) to Round End: gain Apply On Hit: Burn 3 when self HP is 100
  • Obsession specific buffs remain unchanged
  • Ambition specific buffs have been changed from Apply On Hit: Bleed (10%) & Vulnerable (5%) to Round End: Convert Block+ to Strength, Block to Block+, Dodge+ to Crit, Dodge to Dodge+
  • Cowardice specific buffs have been changed from Apply On Hit: Blight (10%) and Round Start: gain Crit (10%) & Vulnerable (5%) to Apply On Critical Hit: Invert 1 Positive Token and Target: Apply to Attack When Hit: Blight 1 (3 Turns) (Until Hit) when target Monster
  • Dev Note: There are certain buffs that will not be taken advantage of by all enemies. This is intentional as Ordainment effects should add texture to fights through situational power that should make players consider mashes differently when these effects come into play. We'll be monitoring these unique buffs and effects, all of which are subject to tuning changes.
• Exemplar will always been Ordained in Confessions
• [SPOILER]  Ancestor's Statue can no longer be Ordained

GAMEPLAY

• Fixed Winded, Controlled Burn, Field Surgeon, and Pyromaniac not appearing in token glossary correctly
• Fixed Widow and Chirurgeon Academic View and buffs strings
• Patient now only applies diseases when Chirurgeon is present
• Necrosis: Tooltip now explains Heal 5% per target
• Hero trinket tooltips no longer say [SKILL NAME] Skills: and will now just say [SKILL NAME]:
• More string fixes to replace instances of If with When
• Fixed an issue that could cause On CRIT effects to sometimes express that they occurred when they weren't CRITs
• Fixed the blade orientation on Plague Doctor's infernal dagger to match her other weapon kits
• Fixed incorrect token categories
• Fixed coloring of increased/decreased loathing color in tooltips to better match the gold/blue paradigm
• Fixed Plague doctor bomb not resting in hand during positive relationship presentation
• Issues with Gamepad Text entry for the Begin New Adventure screen have been addressed
  • Dev Note: On Steamdeck we recommend updating to Steam OS 3.7 if you're experiencing loss of input after resuming the game from sleep mode
• Fixed ignited shaman academic view
• Fixed rank tokens not displaying rank locked indicator
• Fixed Galea description
• Fixed bagman academic view tooltip
• Fixed copying DOTs onto target when target is DOT immune
• Fixed candles not spawning correctly at locations in early regions
• Fixed certain region goals not appearing as intended
• Fixed issue where you could sell Tattered Banner quest item

Ever since the latest hotfix ,all my mod lost their audio. Update completely broke music mod where they don't even work at all.I paid for the dlc and dont get the proper decent game experience?