With team composition, relationships, and upgrades to juggle, as well as its challenging turn-based combat, Darkest Dungeon 2 is already one of the most strategic roguelikes around. But its new Kingdoms game mode, which has just launched as part of a huge free update, pushes it closer to a full-blown strategy game than ever before.
Existing as a totally separate experience to the roguelike’s Confession game mode, Kingdoms takes the grim aesthetic and turn-based battles of Darkest Dungeon 2 into a new arena. Developer Red Hook likens the loop to that of a board game, because each run has a different shape and layout of tiles. On each tile there’s either an encounter, a fast travel point, or an inn (the safe havens that let you rest and upgrade your roster) and the goal is to navigate the kingdom and defend all the inns on the ‘board’ from being attacked.
You can either do this yourself with your main team of heroes that you battle with and upgrade, or you can remotely send some of Darkest Dungeon 2’s other characters, who are scattered around the map, to defend them for you.
Depending on the map layout you choose and the difficulty level you select, you are given a finite number of inns that you’re allowed to lose. For example, your layout may have seven inns, and if four of them fall, it’s game over. The other way that you can lose in Kingdoms is by running out of time. Each run is measured in ‘days’ (again, this varies depending on your difficulty level) and this is essentially a time limit for you to find the final boss and defeat them. As the days progress, new escalations (modifiers that will give you buffs, nerfs, and other gameplay-altering effects) will make things progressively tougher.
Over time, Red Hook will add new “modules,” which are essentially campaigns that contain new enemies to face and storylines to follow. There’s just one available at the moment with the launch of Kingdoms, which is called Hunger of the Beast Clan, but it looks like a really substantial offering.
With these new tactical layers to Darkest Dungeon 2’s traditional roguelike loop, Kingdoms really does begin to push the RPG more towards the strategy game realm. Good loadout building, roster management, and smart combat decisions will not be enough to get you through this new gauntlet – your tactics must be on point.
Kingdoms is out right now in Darkest Dungeon 2 thanks to its latest free update. If you’re yet to play it yourself, the base game is currently 50% off on Steam until Monday, February 3.
Dropping alongside Kingdoms is a new premium DLC called Inhuman Bondage, which adds a new, exclusive hero called The Abomination and expands the map with its new Catacombs area.
For more challenging titles, head on over to our best turn-based strategy games guide. Or if it’s sinister, dark aesthetics that you’re into, our best horror games list is the place to be.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or join our community Discord to stay in the know.