izigame.me

Visually and narratively a massive improvement on the first. Animations are crisp and snappy, the stagecoach is cool, the character reflections are fun way to gain new skills and learn each characters backstory. So why do I not recommend it?
Gameplay unfortunately. Something the first fame nailed this one flounders in completely. Runs can and will be completely ruined entirely by one bad fight.
Firstly, let's talk about the movement. The map is much more a "slay the spire" type pick a path. However the problem with that formula is it very much becomes a battle of "how badly do I want to get shafted" instead of picking things that may be actual boons to you or working on your combat efficiency like tradition roguelikes. Characters heal slowly while traveling, and certain paths more or less guarantee you will lose boons that comes from having a max durability carriage (healing more if your wheel are in mint condition, or starting combat with one shield buff for max armor) almost right away.
So with that out of the way. Let's address the second big problem. The lack of actual boons/progression. Many roguelikes have some kind of aspect to make additional runs easier. While there is certainly plenty to unlock; they don't seem to be the level of helpful one might expect. Trinkets are a major level of character power, but you do not get to keep them or even choose one or two to bring into your next run. In fact all unlocking more trinkets really does is dilute the pool that may be in the Inn even further in my experience (have roughly have the trinkets unlocked).
The second from of progression comes in character upgrades. But these are just...well bad. Many of them offer nothing boosts such a 5% resistance to an ailment. Others unlock new specializations for the heroes that may offer new combat opportunities. Some of these are flat upgrades (For example, the Grave Robber gets one that just increase her crit chance massively for her main ranged attacks) while others may change their playsttyle; Crusader has one that makes them focus on dealing fire damage and executing strong enemies and another may focus tanking or healing the party. The final and influential type of upgrades usually comes in the form of a trinket unique to that class that can change the way they play entirely, or be completely wasted if you aren't focusing on that playstyle or had the appropriate subclass equipped. One artifact for the graverobber for example gives her a high chance to start in stealth, something that would greatly benefit her subclass focused on attacking when stealthed, but if you didn't pick that subclass it is a meager boon. In contast one for the Crusader makes it so he occasionally steals money from the carriage but allows his multi-target melee attack to *steal boons from enemies* which is insanely important. But again, you do not start with these. It's a complete crapshoot as to whether or not you will get them or not, so you cannot really plan around them in the slightest.
There are other important upgrades. Memory allows for character who survive a run to go into the next one with a minor boon. The other upgrades to the stagecoach are insanely important, but again ultimately barely sway the game in your favor.
Finally let's talk about the combat. This is what I hoped would carry the game, but ultimately left me the most disappointed. Nearly every character feels like a downgrade of their DD1 iteration. Sometimes massively so. There is also more restrictions in place for general use combat that ends up making it a bit of a chore. Healing skills are typically reserved for people in the backline and can only be used when an ally is below a certain hp threshold. This leads to a bit of a balance where you will sometimes want to intentionally let an ally fall below that threshold to milk an extra heal out of a combat before ending it, which is a bit of a chore.
However abilities that hit the backline of the enemies are typically also reserved for your own back two ranks. This means your healer and dps take up the same slot in the party composition. I also cannot stress how important it is to have people who can target the backline. Enemies healers, mechanic timers on bosses and buffers are always in the backline. Many of them have modifiers that stop them from being pulled to the front as well. This makes people with the ability to target the backline *insanely essential* and makes many fights into what feels like a dps race. Ailments are also insanely overtuned in comparison to the first game. Applying status' such as blight, bleed and burning is essential for dealing with enemies quickly enough to not be overwhelmed by them.
Don't get me started on the enemies. Remember what I said about rank and formation? Doesn't really apply to *every enemy in the game* many can use their skills regardless of what rank they are in and can target at the very least your first three ranks with their attacks. Meaning trying to capitalize on jumbling their formation a complete chore and always puts one of your backline at risk. Many encounters will also either force you to target a sturdy enemy (for example a blockade that protects whoever is behind it, and cannot be inflicted with ailments, also it applies bleed to whoever hits it) or deal with the backline immediately before they can buff their party. Because of all this, I felt severely limited in what team comps I could bring, and even in scenario's where I felt like I was adequately equipped to take a certain fight one unlucky series of skills or bad initiative order was all it took to spell doom for a party member.
Speaking of party members. The final mechanic I will take the time to complain about is the party relations. On paper, this is a cool mechanic. But in practice is was the final nail in the coffin that made me drop the game. It is an insanely swingy mechanic that can completely and utterly screw a run even worse than insanity. If your characters develop a hatred or rivalry with each other, not only does it pick a random skill that they hate for both members (causing a negative effect when it used, ranging from insanity building to ATTACKING THE OTHER PARTY MEMBER) but it also **forces that skill** to be equipped to both of them.
This can completely ruins your build even if it was going well. Especially because multiple rivalries can develop at once. Meaning your healer may lose half their kit for suboptimal skills they aren't build around. When you only have 5 skills to choose from losing access to 2 of them for one your purposely didn't equip is a run ending event.
DD2 is honestly a massive disappointment for me compared to the first. The bones are there, the art is good; the animation is crisp. It's just a shame they dropped the ball so hard on every other element.