Just like the first game,Darkest Dungeon 2is presented by an offscreen Narrator. His impressive vocabulary and voice actor Wayne June’s impeccable delivery makes the Narrator one of DD2’s standout elements. This time around, the Narrator takes the role of the Academic, a longtime friend and mentor to the player character who has discovered that the end of the world is nigh.
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The Narrator has a comment for just about everything, but he never overstays his welcome. He helps bring the game’s tale of cosmic horror and personal failure to life, especially through unforgettable lines like these!
10Spend what you can, for wealth no longer has any meaning… if, indeed, it ever did.
You’ll often hear this admonition when you go to stock up at the Provisioner between Regions. Theuselessness of money in the face of mortalityis a key part of Gothic horror, and fits perfectly with the game’s themes.
This line is also great gameplay advice! There’sno extra reward for finishing the game with extra cash, so you may as well spend what you have.
9Hold fast, for who knows what lurks in the beyond?
Faced with shambling undead armies, book-burning fanatics, and horrors from beyond space and time, you might start to think that the Heroes who don’t survive the journey are the lucky ones. With this line, the Narrator reminds you thatyou could be mistaken.
After all, if such horrible things exist in this world, who’s to say that there aren’teven worse abominations waiting in the next? It’s better that the Heroes fight for their lives, even against overwhelming odds.
8Resigned to the end of things, they waited for death. And still they wait.
TheLost Battalionare the skeletal remnants of an army from centuries past. As you wander the Tangle, the Narrator gives hints regarding their origins. Expecting a long and bloody war, the Battaliondug in and waited for the order to attack, expecting that they would die gloriously when the trumpets blew.
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The order never came, and the soldiers eventually succumbed to starvation and disease. Their undead forms are stillwaiting for a war that will never come, and their chance to leave the trenches in death.
7Forward now, into the crumbling chaos of the world.
Thanks to the Narrator, Darkest Dungeon 2 isan oddly encouraging roguelike. Failure is expected, but he’s always cheering you on when you start over.
This quote has plenty of real-life applications as well! Try thinking of it when you leave for work, school, or other obligations.
6The point of no return welcomes you with open arms.
A subtle but effective part of DD2’s design is thatyou can never go backwards; the Stagecoach must always travel forward, whether toward success or failure.
This is a game that’s very much about the journey, and while it acknowledges thatstarting something new can be intimidating(symbolized by crossing the covered bridge in the valley, when you’ll hear this line), taking that first step is essential.
5The unrelenting application of violence yields morbid gains.
This is the kind of line that wouldonly ever work in Darkest Dungeon. In any other context, it would be obnoxious and pretentious, using a lot of big words to say nothing at all.
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Somehow, though, the Narratorfinds the humorin such a ridiculous sentence while playing it completely straight. He turns an eye roll into a chuckle, and it’s clear that the game’s writers knew exactly what they were doing when they put it in.
4The worst kind of parasite - opportunists.
The Narrator rarely shows disdain for anyone, opting instead topity most of the game’s enemies. After all, they’re living the end of days in a cruel world. He draws the line with the Pillagers, though.
The Pillagers - led by a former Hero from the previous game - arejust out to take advantage of the chaosin a world on the brink and get as rich as they can before it all goes to Hell. The Narrator isn’t mad at them, though, just disappointed.
3Nothing can survive such a wholesale organic failure.
You’ll sometimes hear this linewhen a Hero dies in combat- a distressingly common occurrence in Darkest Dungeon 2. At first, it feels like the Narrator flexing his vocabulary again, but it fits with his other death lines.
Most Hero deaths prompt the Narrator to say a few words of hope that the deceased will find peace. With this line, though, he’scomforting the unseen player character(albeit in his stunted, academic manner); there was nothing you could have done.
2Success, so long pursued, is rewarded only with creeping revelation.
It’s safe to say that you’ll see a lot of runs end in failure before youdefeat your first end boss at the Mountain. That first victory will rightly feel like a triumph, but it’s only the beginning of the game.
As the Narrator reminds you, your countless hours of learning each class and enemy type, building the perfect team, and surviving all the way to the Mountain will unlockeven harder challenges!Not only that, but you’ll start to uncover more of the Academic’s story, discovering that there might be horrible truths about the world - and about you - that were better left unknown.
1The greatest horror, it would seem, is nothing at all.
This line feels like it’sstraight out of a Lovecraft story- high praise for a game so clearly inspired by that author’s particular brand of cosmic horror. It’s also a multilayered testament to the talents of Red Hook’s writing team. It begs the question, which is worse - a world filled with pain and suffering, or complete non-existence?
In keeping with the game’s overarching theme ofhope in the darkness, You can also interpret this line to suggest thatnothing is truly as scary as you first imagine it.Every challenge in the game can be overcome through perseverance and learning, and even the most fearsome bosses can be defeated.
