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Darkest Dungeon 2 explores 1.0 release in May

A free demo is also available as part of Steam Next Fest, but only through the next week.

Ozzie Mejia

February 6, 2023 12:20 PM

Red Hook Studios

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After about a year and a half in early access, the team at Red Hook Studios is ready to fully release Darkest Dungeon 2. On Monday, the studio announced that the sequel to its 2015 RPG will receive its 1.0 update in May. While that would put it up against some heavy competition, Red Hook hopes to start winning people over with a free demo that will run for the next week.

"We are excited to announce that Darkest Dungeon II will complete its Early Access run on the Epic Games Store and release in 1.0 on Epic and Steam on May 8," reads the post on the Darkest Dungeon website. "All of us at Red Hook cannot wait to get the PC 1.0 version into your hands. Until then, we have a few major updates to undertake before our May 8th release, including a big one VERY soon."

Those who can't wait to check out the RPG sequel can head over to either Steam or the Epic Games Store to find a free demo, which is available through Monday, February 13. The demo features four playable heroes, which players can take through either the Sprawl or Foetor regions. Progress will not be saved, but it should offer a taste of what users can expect.

Shacknews has high hopes for Darkest Dungeon 2, especially given our impressions of the early access version of the game. It appears to retain a lot of what made the original Darkest Dungeon so memorable while also adding some new mechanics and quality-of-life improvements.

Darkest Dungeon 2 will exit Steam Early Access on Monday, May 8. No word yet on whether the game will make the journey to consoles.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?