The Story of Darkest Dungeon II

After the success of their premier title, Red Hook Studios went to work putting together a sequel, and after years of work, Darkest Dungeon II fully released to the public in May of 2023. Along with the stressful explorations, unforgiving combat encounters, and challenging boss fights, the sequel carried over the storytelling method of the first game as the story of Darkest Dungeon II is told to the player from a character named the Academic, who reveals not only how the various areas of the realm fell to their chaotic, ruinous states, but also how he and his Protégé had a hand in bringing about the Kingdom's downfall. Let's go through the story told by the Academic, gather it together, and present it here so we can see the story of Darkest Dungeon II in full.

Also, shout out to @MiskatonicMemorialist! He's put in a lot of work analyzing the lore the first game, and I'm sure he's going to have plenty of videos on the second. He's even got an interview with Chris Bourassa from Red Hook on the story of the second game (which helped in putting this video together). Go check him out if you want more content on Darkest Dungeon Lore!

Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
02:03 - Story Start
12:25 - Downfall of the Kingdom
26:08 - Events of the Game
33:35 - Outro

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[Achillez]

DD1: Your ancestor was a madman, go clean up his mess
DD2: You are the madman, go clean up your mess

[KingOfMadCows]

Darkest Dungeon 2, the story of how two time traveling horses saved the world by bringing a group of mercenaries through countless time loops until they defeated the ultimate evil.

[Sirodemirra]

One of the things I like about the final fight is that while the ghosts of heroes can only be damaged by the hero they came from, the other heroes can still debuff the ghost and heal/buff the hero affected by it.
Your faults and regrets are something that you have to reconcile with, but that doesn't mean that you have to do it alone.

[giacomoromano]

"It was calling for people that were searching for redemption of their own."
Leper: "Brother, i came here for praying to the Light and destroy evil... and i'm all done praying."

[rafamartinezrosello]

The fact this is the Ancestor's fault all over again doesn't even surprises me.

[randomguyblank]

I can't help but feel the dangers stemming from the Protege's use of the iron crown is a little nod to how, despite it usually being described as unimaginable mind breaking horrors, eldritch stuff is ultimately the product of the human mind.

[isaakhyde]

22:12 Plagueater Baby: You merely adopted the crop.... I was born from it.... MOLDED by it....

[damianrodriguez]

Darkest Dungeon 28:10 "Redemption they so sought"
The Leper: I ain't seeking redemption, I'm just here to help you achieve yours

[bag]

DD2: A story about overcoming your mistakes, and realizing that hope is the only way for progress of yourself and others to continue, even when things are bleak you can always have hope.
DD1: "Yo neph check out this cool door i found, i left it open though can you close it? thanks, " - Ancestor

[jeremiahford]

Wonderful storytelling, if I may humbly add, at the end the Academic says “forgive yourself” which ties the story of the Protege, the heroes and the players all together. Which, for me, left me with ideas that the Darkest Dungeon is within our mind

[pillarmenn]

Very interesting how different the nature of the two games are. In DD1, it plays with cosmic horror straight forward. No attempts at making you feel good or anything like that. Killing the heart did not kill the eldritch entity that was the Earth itself, you just bought humanity some time before it woke up again.

In DD2, it looked like it'll be as straight forward as the first game but the more you continued the more it showed the optimistic message it wanted to tell. Wondered what reason the devs had to switch things up narrative wise.

[ToiletWolf]

I think the theme of redemption fits a lot better with Darkest Dungeon as a concept. It felt like in DD1 the game was like “naw even though you did everything in your power you still suck and the world is still doomed” whereas DD2 taught you that failure was your greatest strength and the only end is when you give up. Personally, when I think of the narrators’ quotes from each game, the DD1 narrator is always cynical and cruel while the DD2 narrator is encouraging and welcoming if everything that makes you the player, yourself

[zeroderorero]

Darkest dungeon: Your ancestor unleashes hell onto a hamlet due to their hubris

Darkest dungeon 2: A colleague accidentally unleashes the apocalypse

Darkest dungeon 3: Your cat knocks over your Yog-sothoth figurine and it gets mad

[GNCD]

DD1 ending: You just delayed the inevitable.
DD2 ending: Keeping hope alive that man's hubris does not bring about a world-ending apocalypse...again.

This game is just full of sunshine.

[pugatheflower]

not sure if it's been confirmed but The Body of Work's guts have 4 heads which could represent the other 4 sacrifices to make the Iron Crown ritual

[ellanenish]

Fantastic video but btw, Cultists from DD2 are not fascinated people who turned to eldritch practices but rather entities from the void which descended from the abyss onto the earth, this is even confirmed in an interview of Chriss Bourassa with his host "Miskatonic Memorialist"

[hoosekigaming]

Have you considered making mini videos for each hero en DD2? like the history of dismas (the highwayman) ? that would be cool

[viviankate]

This made so much sense. I thought the developer design the monsters because it just look cool. Seems like there's a reason and story behind it.

[pain_rain]

The redemption is the best feeling this game can give. It gave me the weakest feeling actually. Everything else was heavily terrifying

[colinoseltorres]

As a lore guy, your video helped me to better understand what is happening in the game. Thank you! Already clocked 144 hours for DD2. Nice game!