Timestamps for questions 0:27 - How are you feeling? 2:46 - Is Tyler a pilot? 4:43 - Gundam models 7:48 - Any games enjoying lately? 10:01 - What's been like to making a sequel? 15:21 - X hero when? 20:33 - Timeline of hero creation 29:03 - Future content 38:14 - Any other way to learn character lore? 42:22 - Boss gimmick thought process 50:33 - Token bloat and unique mechanic overload 54:50 - How did Chris develop his unique artstyle? 59:28 - Lighting round

Ah yes, the interview with Mr. Hook and Mr. Red, along with Mr. Darkest Dungeon himself.

Holy Fuck! It's Hideo Red Hook himself!

Chris and Tyler are always so nice to hear from. I'm really glad you got your shot at interviewing them, Shuffle! Great stuff :)

I love how the question "Next hero when" got such a detailed response. You can feel the passion and love for the characters they have. Seeing the reply to my question was so cool also. As you said Shuffle, incredibly insightful. So much work put into our favorite lil guys and gals, so cool. So happy to hear the whole team is on board for 2024, going to be awesome to see what they have in store, particularly Path changes. Just a great interview altogether :)

On a real note, just finished this video and very well put together Shuffle. The discussions around the future of this game have me very, very excited. Even without details the direction of the discussion has me hopeful for the future of this game. Thank you to Chris, Tyler, and the rest of the Red Hook team (yes, even Zero [please stop killing me with your brutal mechanics]) for putting together such a cool game and can't wait to see what the future brings for it!! ~BB

There was a lot of talk this year on why Lariant had the success they did and the importance of being an “ethical” studio. For me Red Hook is definitely one of those. A studio of people who are really excited on what they do and are even more excited when we feel the same.

Very nice to hear from the devs, we are super lucky to have such a humble frontfigure for the community like Shuffle. Don't think anyone on either side could ask for a better person to build the bridge between developers and users ^^ Happy holidays

Chris hating starfield is the most relatable thing ever

A cool concept from DD1 is the "invasion" battles....where the city is attacked and you need to defend. It would be cool if they could do a similar thing for the "rest stops" in DD2.

Shuffle resisting with every cell in his body to not ask them when is the swimsuit graverobber skin coming into the game. Jokes aside, nice video.

I feel honoured that the great Chris Bourassa himself has roasted my mother. 38:22 will live on forever in my heart. Truly, thank you Shuff for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. (Also, thanks for using my question! Im glad to know the lore will be built upon, and looking forward to see some quests that expand it too)

Props to shuffle for making interview fun and interesting with questions not related to dd2 here and there, great content ❤

thank you for doing this shuff, haven't started yet but i know it'll be good

It's sooooo good to hear that the entire team is gonna work on improving dd2 in the next year. I was kinda worried because people have been so critical about the game. I love the dlc, I love dd, I love red rook.

"Was anime a mistake?" "no" sweaty Steam workshop noises

I am so excited to hear that they plan on focusing on replayabiity over ephemeral content. I feel like that's exactly what the game needs and fails a bit to deliver with the base content. I have high hopes!

Really appreciate you doing this type of content. It’s always nice to get to know the people behind our favorite studios/games.

I'd just love to show how much I appreciate Red Hook as a studio and their commitment to community feedback. I picked up Darkest Dungeon 2 a little before the Altar of Hope update and I was underwhelmed. I played it on and off for a while but really picked it back up when I got COVID in October of this year and was isolating. And I absolutely loved it. I love how they not only listened to community feedback but when something was bad they went in and replaced it with something amazing. The completely overhauled driving feels great and the new death armor system is ,imo, genius. Especially after Binding Blade released the game has gotten even better.

I'm very grateful to sit in here and watch your interview Mr Shuff! Bit of a hyperbole, but allow me to say that you're a genuine pillar of the Darkest Dungeon community at this point (your content got me into this gaping abyss, and your new player guides guided me along!). Ancestor knows how much you've contributed to the community, and we couldn't have asked for a better Heir!

If they don't want to revisit the Confessions runs, i would totally be up to new Runs with the characters as protagonists, getting deep into each character, like Dismas Story, you have to do a run with Dismas forced into the party, and final boss is something related to him, the guilt of what he did made manifest, the past that he should let die.

If the Crusader's apparition in the final boss fight isn't wheat, I'll be sorely disappointed.

Great interview, very funny and insightful. Love to see Chris and Tyler at ease but so focused and transparent in their answers, you can feel the passion and carefulness they put in their work. I finally fully get why they shifted focus from DD1 to DD2, I wasn't totally aware of the magnitude of work required. Can't wait for the 2024 stuff! Tremendous job Shuffle, thank you

Very enjoyable interview, nice mix of more meaty, long talk questions and easygoing stuff. Good work Shuffle, hope you had fun making it as well.

Thank you for this Shuffle, loving all the content!

The token system is actually a very unique and also very interactable trait, before it was just stat dump, which is why dd1 purist pisses me the most as you still have to see all the buff / debuff stats icon and still try to make sense of it , while here you can interact with it and visually know what sort of attack is coming up next guaranteed crit, 50% 75% dodges, block are all visually attainable within a quick glance.

I think more people need to realise that the developers most likely want to put every past hero in the game, and more. It's just about cost, time, and priority. As they explained, you have to think about things like skills, story, modeling, animations, paths, trinkets, items, bug testing, balancing, etc, etc. It's A LOT. And these things cost A LOT of money. Wages, equipment, rent, licensing, etc. So like they said, there is no set deadline or date, play with what you have now.

Comment for the algorithm, also thanks for the awesome opportunity to watch this and listen to this interview shuff!

You're hitting the big time now, Shuff!

Love hearing about Chris’ art influence and process of creating. Thanks for that question.

I really wanted to like the game (and for the ones who like it, i'm happy for you.) but two things are killing it for me. The first is the lack of content, it's always the same monsters, always the same regions and compared to the first game, the grind is insane (or at least it appear longer because a run in DD2 is way longer than a mission in DD1). Even before the official launch, mods were already here for the first game and it's why no one can say DD1 lacked on this side. The time to complete the altars of light, even if interesting, or to unlock all characters, is insane. And it's always the same thing again and again. The second one is simply: the story of the game itself. In the first one just with the opening cinematic, the player knew who it was playing, who was the narrator and the main goal of the game. Same for each bosses, they had their story and their relation with the ancestor explained. In the second game, their is nothing at all. We don't have any hint of the overall story nor any indications why the bosses are what they are, What is the story of the sleeping general ? Or his army ? Who are the bosses of each region ? Why only the character representing the player can save the world ? It's not explained in the game itself. Some players told to me that the story was explained on social media: if it's the case, why not put this in the game itself ? I can play grinding games, as Hades, because the story advance when you die, you unlock new quests, new dialogues, new interactions. In DD2... you have to grind level after level to unlock characters that you have to use and go the Altars to unlock their stories but the overall story never progress, change or adapt to your defeat, the game also never explain why you can retry again and again. Imo, the game feel rushed and unfinished. I played the game at launch and never touched it since, perhaps it has changed but i don't see the point of grinding hard this game... I had some critics asking me "why are you still here ?". It's because i care, the first game is one of my all time favourite and i still plays it because of mods and overhaull. I was a patreon for it and i never had any regret. The first game is like Skyrim, it will be modded for years to come, DD2 is like Starfield, already done. I hope the expansion they speak about will remedy the lack of content and stories but i don't have any expectation, in doing so, i won't be disappointed. The saddest part, imo, is how low the playerbase is even after a dlc launched and how low the number of views is on this interview. I whish them luck and success even if i choosed to stay on the first game.

HOLY! Shuff and devs, ya love ta see it!

Man I really love to hear devs talk about the game they made and their community with care and passion, rather than just seeing it as an inflow of cash to be discarded when no longer profitable

the fact that chris did art for kid's stuff gives me some interesting images in my head

This was awesome. These guys are legends. Very cool that you got to interview them!

Great video! It was awesome seeing my question be answered and makes me feel better knowing the devs themselves struggle with that balance too. My favorite class mod I’ve made is Doll Master who is pretty complicated to understand at first, which I feel pushes people away since he is also the least downloaded one :(

Really interesting interview Shuff. They deserve a little vacations this hollydays, Looking for the mod support with great expectatives

Mr Red and Sir Hook

I've heard from somewhere that DD2 is not a direct continuation of DD1 story-wise, and rather it is more like an anthology with similar characters. Can I ask for confirmation as to whether this is true or not?

29:03 : I'm really hoping for an 'endless dungeon' mode or something like that. Make each level after the last slightly harder until eventually it becomes very hard to survive. can we have more dungeon regions in The Darkest Dungeon? It's kinda weird that the only area that really resembles a dungeon is a single region full of evil man-pigs.

i'm gonna hold off on getting the DLC, tbh, the price for the DLC is a bit salty for my taste in my country (32 whole bucks which is a no)

Very wholesome and intuitive, excited for console release this year.❤️💯

Finally!!

Enjoying the dlc , getting used to new comps. Loving both kits. I play for the strategy so thank you for this game as its been personally more enjoyable than dd1

Well this was lovely. A bit of insight into these wicked minds and a bit of teasing for the future. To another year with this gem of a game !

I was waiting for that "ok guys, imma hit the bathroom wait here 10 minutes bb"

Starfield = no fun at all. Comedy gold. I love it xD

bring back DD1 background music and DD1 everything thank you

I feel they need too push that console release asap. They will get so much support. I just dont get why it takeing so long. There must be a reason or its not high priority.

a lot of people in the steam comments seem to think that all of the characters in Darkest Dungeon have to be in Darkest Dungeon 2, I had to stop reading the comments because they are filled with people saying insane things about the developers and any positive comments gets you called a "dev D*!k sucker in the comments. 18:00 he hit it on the head as I was typing this: be grateful for the Crusader. You could hear the annoyance in his voice, I imagine it IS frustrating, to give your community what they were wanting forever, and then to get repaid with not thank you, but "ok....now MORE" Great video, thanks for the upload.

WARHAMMER MENTIONS 🗣️ I must know what is his favorite faction / what is his favorite faction

I haven't bought DD2, now that i have a pc im thinking of getting it. I love DD1 a lot and still playing that. I don't know when I'll buy it, loving DD1 too much at the moment

Well now that my boy Reynalud is back I can openly simp for Red Hook with all my strength. One of the few devs left that actually care about their fans Also for more than two years I've been saying adding him will solve the problem of Jester or MAA being required for every run if you want consistency, and guess what? I was right

i'd like to know their opinion with how mythic games is handling the boardgame side of things

just want to say i enjoy darkest dungeon 2 red hook. keep it up!

Those are the heroes we need and the heroes we deserve

I need you to return the estate management

Glad to see how my comment that had some fair criticism but wasnt hype and positive got removed. way to go chief!

I'd like the balance rework/path rework next and then a new region maybe something like the sluice so you can have a fifty fifty on your bonus region. The first request will hopefully allow more people to enjoy more heroes. Hero stories are just too damn much work for something you only do once but I am glad that these guys like it and really want it. The game is great for a small team of 30 people.

Exluding antiquarian, we really don't have much to wait for in terms of the og heroes being arbalast, houndmaster, abomination, and shieldbreaker. If I was to guess, Arbalest and Houndmaster are most likely coming next as we need more back rank damage dealers. I wish my good puppy boi Abomination is next tho :'( but I understand why it might be difficult to integrate him in the game with only 5 moves and include transformation.

I haven't been up to speed with devs so far, but this video made me realize it's not that smooth sailing with a character or DLC or whatever to implement. Still, I would a major route of making more region related heroes.

Cant wait to play it on ps5

They seem great to work for

Excellent stuff!

100% agree with the devs not making this a game as a service

Great interview!

Too hype, ruin has come to my underwear, clean up on aisle my Darkest Dungeon

Perfect execution shuff

shame this isn't a weekly podcast

the Crusader is great!!!!!!!!!

Good job.

Interview with the ancestor when?

Is that John Redhook???

I feel like it's kind of a waste of assets if they dont make a DD1 mode for DD2

the game has a serious bug where your can't get certain skills for the crusader. this bug was no addressed so far. dont have the final 2 skills for him. i paid for the dlc and can't have the full content. the devs had a ''fix'', but i didnt worked out for me. i mentioned that to the devs but so far got no answer.

timestamps would be good

31:01

tldw, all i really want for christmas is GR tweaks :/

With the crusader I am happy with the old layout. He was missed most. Now I am up for new heroes. Please no arbalest, she was a boring dps pick and overshadowed many heroes.

I believe deaths door armor for was the first start to them relinquishing their control over the game, its so lame that the heroes can get sneezed on at deaths door and die from that and yet some enemies have the will to keep fighting on is baffling to me, its almost as if in their quest to make this game harder they give any excuse to do so, making the heroes absurdly underpowered and the enemies overpowered is not the way to go about it, even though DD1 was a shitstorm of rng at least the enemy design was fair and fun, DD2 just puts your head to a grindstone and tests you on how much you can take before you yourself break. Their priorities are still not clear and it seems as if they care more about difficulty rather than the fun of figuring out how the enemy works and using that against the game at the cost of losing some heroes, if you lose 1 hero on a run in DD2 it’s basically over. The confession bosses arent any better the only really well designed one i would say is the first one because at least it doesnt have some stupid gimmick that puts the whole team out of commission because of a small mistake, sure DD1’s bosses had gimmicks too, but at least the gimmicks were well thought out.

LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

POG!!!

So I’m lazy, can someone tell me if there was talk about consoles?

someone TLDR please?

First

They have my respects for dd but not my thanks for atrocious BH mechanic with 17% usage. Such a waste

new zones super under valued. wtf????

Web Need a new game mode. I buy the dlc buy i wont play It. It Is boring to make the same thing over and over.

Chris seems based af. idk about the other guy though. Very political answers. Not overly impressed with your skills as an interviewer here. But I don't come here for that. Good on you for getting the interview though.

Timestamps for questions 0:27 - How are you feeling? 2:46 - Is Tyler a pilot? 4:43 - Gundam models 7:48 - Any games enjoying lately? 10:01 - What's been like to making a sequel? 15:21 - X hero when? 20:33 - Timeline of hero creation 29:03 - Future content 38:14 - Any other way to learn character lore? 42:22 - Boss gimmick thought process 50:33 - Token bloat and unique mechanic overload 54:50 - How did Chris develop his unique artstyle? 59:28 - Lighting round