It plays different to the first one. This is both good and bad
Combat in this one is more honest, I feel. Easier too. You definitely don't get ♥♥♥♥♥♥ by rng as hard, which is nice. If you throw an attack it's 100% guaranteed to land and the game makes EXTREMELY clear the instances in which it is not.
Which brings me to the token system. Lotta people hate on it, not really sure why tbh. It's intimidating for like, 0.2 seconds until you realize that it's a system that very clearly signposts itself. I genuinely have no idea how it could possibly explain itself more clearly than it already is. I promise it's not as hard to grasp as it looks as long as you like. use more than 2% of your brain lol
A lotta people hate the horse and carriage too, I guess I kinda understand but It's like. mildly inoffensive at worst, but idk man people like to talk about it as if it dragged their balls through broken glass for some reason
I think one of the big things is that there aren't really any dungeons in this one though, save for the catacombs and maybe the sluice. Whether that's strictly speaking BAD or not idrk. I do kinda miss the dungeons and navigating them, but the roadtrip style fits more with this game's vibe, both literally and very much thematically, so I'm not really broken up about it tbh
The third Big Change is that they got rid of the affliction system in exchange for a relationship system. Meaning like, the game mechanically prioritizes the relationships each character has with each other, rather than each character's individual mental state. I like this new system tbh, humans are a communal species and I think it's nice that the game rewards forming bonds. Also I think this is one of the only times the Power of Friendship has been a game mechanic and it didn't come off as cheesy lol
Going hand in hand with that, the characters feel like less blank slates now, they're more like. Themselves, I guess. You can still rename them and customize their color palettes (and weapons now!), but they've got like, more effort put into their lore, backstories, and characterization rather than just a little comic you can find on their website that isn't even in the game. Whether you like these guys fully-fledged characters or prefer the more blank-slate approach of dd1, that's just personal preference, I think. Nothing wrong with either choice, I'd say
I think the biggest change really is just The Vibe. It's simultaneously more and less hopeless than the first one. Like, DD1 had a sense that all the horror stuff was kinda localized, mild breakouts of eldritch spookiness, but the rest of the world seemed largely alright, which was somewhat reassuring despite the more miserable atmosphere in the spots The Horror took place
DD2 is DEFINITELY not the same in that sense. It's very explicitly bigger in scale, which feels all the more hopeless to me as you see all the different flavors of societal destruction that your 4 guys couldn't possibly solve on their own. The grander scale feels more helpless to me despite the game's generally more optimistic tone. Wayne June is a bit nicer in this one I feel, less "Callous ghost that laughs at you" and more "Encouraging mentor placing a hand on your back (though still a ghost)"
It's also blue now. idk it's blue now whereas the first game was red
I hope that made sense
Overall, It's bigger, scarier, and the characters are more realistically proportioned this time around, (which I personally am a huge fan of) and the Kingdoms things are some really fun postgame content! (My favourite is the witches one)
I do wish they'd bring back Arbalest though, she was cool. She has a nifty sorta shoutout in Kingdoms but I wish she came back as her own character. I miss my cool mercenary lady tbh
TL:DR this game is cool! Easier in some ways, harder in others, and above all else, it's Trying Something New. As long as you keep in mind that it's setting out to shake up the formula and that "different" doesn't automatically equal "bad", you should have a pretty good time with it, I think
I know I did :)
