Darkest Dungeon II Review (Aeon)
So, before anything else, this game really should NOT be called Darkest Dungeon II. While some of its mechanics are aspects of the original that were improved, much of what makes Darkest Dungeon the game that it is; is simply not here. This game feels more like a spin off rather than a direct sequel. If you are coming into this looking for the classic Darkest Dungeon experience: YOU WILL NOT FIND IT. Another review was being ridiculed for having a playtime of less than an hour; but allow me to be as clear as I possibly can: the first hour of content is more than enough to judge whether or not you will enjoy the game.
Will all that the game has to offer be possible to see within that time frame? No. But its more than enough for a player to determine their opinion on it. Rather than a continuous run with constant progression like the first game, or like something from XCOM, DD2's progression is meta progression. While additional content and characters can be unlocked utilizing the meta progression; it won't massively change the way the game works. If you don't enjoy the basic mechanics with the default characters, you aren't going to enjoy them after upgrading those characters, or unlocking some of the more complex characters.
This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but a lot of people I've seen seem to think that people are stupid for expecting the sequel of a game to be like the previous entry in the series, which is absurd. No one is 'wrong' for not liking this game just because its different. Every person has their own preference and opinion, and as such while some will enjoy the changes; some really won't.
With that out of the way, the game is brilliant. The town/roster management aspects of the game are gone. No longer are you sending parties out of your hamlet in one long play through to increase your capabilities and defeat the Darkest Dungeon. Instead, you set out on a journey to reach the Mountain and face the shadows of your past. Every journey is its own run with (at first) no connection to one another; but if you manage to defeat whatever shadow awaits you and your characters survive, they will carry over into another journey. For the most part, however, runs are independent of one another; and death is less impactful overall because a party wipe is just the end of your current journey, with no impact on your overall progress. As matter of fact, given that all progression is meta progression, even a party wipe will only grant you a net positive in terms of progression.
The dungeon exploration aspect is replaced with the actual road trip part of the journey, where you lead your carriage through a branching map a la Slay the Spire or FTL; reaching POIs and experiencing random events. As you journey, your characters can randomly gain or lose stress, as well as becoming closer to one another or vica versa; which can have massive impacts on the combat much as the stress system did before. Speaking of, combat is the avenue in which the game is most similar to DD1; with the caveat that the system has seen some notable improvements. All of the characters that are returning from the first game have been at the very least altered and at the absolute most completely overhauled.
The Vestal for example, plays very differently from DD1; the Bounty Hunter has been overhauled to actually function like a bounty hunter, rather than just another character; and the Flagellant has gone from being a Bleed focused character to a Blight focused character. While not all of the characters from the first game and its DLC have made a return, DD2 has also seen the introduction of an entirely new character with the Runaway: a character focusing on the newly added Burn condition! Red Hook has also confirmed that similar to how DD1 saw several years worth of additional content and updates, so too will DD2; so it is very likely that the roster will expand further over time!
Despite my Steam playtime only being at 2.4 hours, I also played the game during Early Access on Epic; and the fact that I was willing to suffer that terrible platform to play it says a lot.
TL:DR: The game is different but ultimately great. Not everyone is going to enjoy the changes made, and that's okay. You can and should accurately determine whether or not you will enjoy the game within the first hour of play time, so if you think you might enjoy it; give it a try and then refund it if you don't enjoy.