Recent reviews by Grimwulf

I didn't want to buy this game for the longest time, even though I have 600 hours sinked in DD1.

If you don't like roguelites; if you find games like Slay the Spire unrewarding; or if you saw loud people trashing DD2 on forums, don't let it discourage you from giving DD2 a try.

Only after completing the final confession, I realized that I played DD2 wrong this whole time. Previously I was trying to build my teams with DD1 mindset: have a healer, stress healer, prioritize characters with good traits hoping to lock them and save those characters through memories. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't.

When I reached final confession (was playing the game blind), I decided to put together a sacrificial team just to look at the final boss. That's what usually happens - you reach a confession boss, get completely wiped out due to being unprepared, start again with some idea of how to beat it.

My team for this scouting run was completely dysfunctional. Occultist - Grave Robber - Runaway - Flagellant. These were the only characters who didn't have memories. No stress healing, no high damage output, and Occultist didn't even have any shrines unlocked. Trying to make them work, I started to experiment with skills and trinkets I never used prior to this run.

Turns out, the tainted trinket that gives +100% damage on first turn and -30% damage on every subsequent turn is really good on Ritualist path. You obliterate back ranks on the first turn or two with Abyssal Artillery, then proceed with cursing survivors. Another discovery was that you *want* other people to hate your Scourge Flagellant. If there is an affinity combo that causes -stress to your flag, it's a buff. It makes him go Toxic faster, which is exactly what you want. Immobilizing trinket that you get from Sleeping General is amazing for spamming Lunge and Firefly without moving.

They went into the final boss battle with no positive relations. I had zero hopes for their chances to survive. And yet they won the battle, not a single character died. What I thought to be the most dysfunctional team I ever played in my 70 hours turned out to be extremely competent.

This game rewards experimentation and theory crafting. With some effort and knowledge, you can make any team work.

The combat is much deeper and nuanced than DD1, and so is the narrative. Meta progression is different from DD1, but it's not your typical roguelite experience either. It feels rewarding.

Pacing is slow, but it wasn't a turn-out for me. Stuart Chatwood's soundtrack, Wayne June's commentary, and those amazing visuals make every road trip enjoyable. Even after 70 hours.