Darkest Dungeon 2's free strategy game Kingdoms update consists of three parts, with the first part set to release in 2024

Darkest Dungeon 2's Kingdoms mode – a free turn-based board game reimagining of the hellish roguelike roadtrip RPG – will be released in three modules, Red Hook has announced. The first of this terrifying trio, Hunger Of The Beast Clan, will be released in Q4 2024, sometime between October 1st and December 31st.

It will accompany Darkest Dungeon 2's new paid DLC, Inhuman Bondage. The DLC includes a new area, a new hero with “…unique” mechanics, and a new group of demons to slay, seemingly themed around feces.


In case you missed it, I spoke to Red Hook about the Kingdoms update at GDC this year. It's both a “remix album” of ideas from each Darkest Dungeon game and a top-down strategy spin-off where you shuffle a wagon full of heroes around a node-based map, defending taverns against waves of terrifying creatures. In addition to training and equipping your heroes and keeping them sane, you'll also need to complete a quest chain to track down a boss. Battles are similar to the main Darkest Dungeon 2 campaign, but hero recruitment and progression revert to the town-dungeon loop of the first game.

It seems that each Kingdom module will introduce a new enemy faction. As you'd expect, Hunger Of The Beast Clan features the Beastmen, a marauding mass of aggressive swine. At GDC, Red Hook told me that the other two factions are the Coven (witches) and the Crimson Courtiers (insect vampires who apply permanent debuffs). I have no idea in what order they'll arrive.

As for the Inhuman Bondage DLC, the Steam announcement blurb teases with the prospect of “ancient tombs oozing with the gelatinous night soil of thousands of corpses.” Liquid cadaver filth, how fun! The new area, the Catacombs, is said to be on par with the existing Sluice, an optional area that cannot be mapped and therefore cannot be predicted. I wonder if it will be as confusing. It certainly looks like it will be smelly. Thank goodness “digital scent technology” never went mainstream, huh?

I'm also quite curious about this new hero. Darkest Dungeon's heroes aren't exactly known for playing straight-up fantasy RPG classes, so if they're openly calling this one “…unique,” it must be a truly twisted creation. Just look at those tension-filled dots. Is the new hero made of gelatinous night soil? Is he really a piece of shit? Is that you, Mr. Hanky?

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