Darkest Dungeon 2's latest update adds bloodsucking bug-people to its grand campaign mode, and you can try the sequel for free this weekend
Darkest Dungeon 2 has spent the last year plus change building out its Kingdoms mode. This transforms the party-based roguelike into a more open-ended strategy experience, folding in several features from the original game in the process. It's gone down relatively well with players, helping to bridge the divides in opinion over some controversial design decisions Red Hook made for the sequel.
Now, the developers have released a new update for Darkest Dungeon 2, which primarily adds a new module (campaign) to the Kingdoms mode. Curse of the Court sees your Kingdom infested by vampiric bug-people with a taste for haemoglobin, Regency-era attire, and giving the people they feed on a horrible curse. The module challenges you to find a cure for the curse and oust the bloodsuckers from your lands before they drain your Kingdom dry (and exhaust your supply of powdered wigs).
Alongside the new module, the update adds three new Kingdom maps that'll define the shape of your adventure (playable across all 3 modules) while also introducing new music, new achievements, and balance tweaks to conditions like Punish and Acid Rain. The patch also squashes a technical bug for every anthropomorphic one it adds, with fixes for issues relating to ultrawide resolutions, gamepad controls, and the in-game token glossary.
To coincide with the update, Red Hook is letting players try out the grim and grisly world of Darkest Dungeon 2 for free this weekend. The sequel is playable for free right now through to September 1 at 10:00 Pacific (18:00 BST). Moreover, if you find battling giant, bloodthirsty bugs to your liking, Darkest Dungeon 2 is also currently 63% off, available at $14.79 (£11.28) for the next fortnight.
Personally, I've always found Darkest Dungeon too punishing for my tastes. But Sean Martin enjoyed Red Hook's dark fantasy follow-up in his Darkest Dungeon 2 review. While he admitted it was "hard game to love at times" he stressed that there's "a lot of fun to be had in exploring each region, fighting battles tooth and nail, and enjoying the nightmarish scenery and mood". And this was before the Kingdoms update sprinkled in a little more of the first game's DNA, so whether or not you've played the game before, now might be the time to jump in.