Developer Red Hook Studios has revealed that Darkest Dungeon II will enter Early Access on the Epic Games Store next month. The studio announced the news today on Twitter, stating that the game will be playable via the Epic Games Store on PC starting on October 26.
Darkest Dungeon II (Early Access) is coming to @EpicGames on October 26th, 2021!
Wishlist now: https://t.co/CSbqzrvldU#DarkestDungeon2 pic.twitter.com/LoWOEGgy4e
— Darkest Dungeon (@DarkestDungeon) September 13, 2021
When the game was first announced in 2019 with “The Howling End” announcement teaser, Red Hook revealed that six returning classes from the first Darkest Dungeon would be returning to the sequel: Grave Robber, Leper, Man-at-Arms, Plague Doctor, Highwayman, and Hellion.
Red Hook also revealed that the first game’s combat system will return, but that it would be “tuned-up” for the sequel. The developers said the sequel will employ a very different metagame structure, but opted not to reveal more about what that means. It seems players will get the chance to discover that very different metagame structure first hand in a little over a month.
When the sequel was first announced, Red Hook said the team working on the game consisted of 14 people but that growing to 20 people was anticipated.
“We love our dysfunctional cast of characters, our atmosphere and our world,” Red Hook’s Tyler Sigman and Chris Bourassa told PCGamer when the game was announced. “Horror is a fantastic space to explore interesting and unconventional ideas, and we have a lot more story we want to tell. Mechanically, we also think we have some valuable nuggets and there is more there that we’d like to explore and build on. Above all, we are committed to crafting Darkest Dungeon II to be its own experience; it will have its own creative and thematic identity.”
You can check out that creative and thematic identity on PC on October 26 when Darkest Dungeon II enters Early Access on the Epic Games Store. In the meantime, watch the Darkest Dungeon II announcement teaser and then read our thoughts on the first game in IGN’s Darkest Dungeon review.
Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.