Darkwood 2

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RacistComputer79

RacistComputer79

kiwifarms.net
Joined
Apr 19, 2025
Darkwood 2 has been announced around 20 hours ago. The most controversial feature is the change from 2d sprites to 3d models. The game is not being developed by Acid Wizard studios, the developer this time around is Ice-Pick Lodge games, a russian development studio based in moscow.

Here's the trailer:
https://youtu.be/Lr1NaOJjBJk? (original video on YT for better quality)


And here are the specs on its steam page:
DW2 specs.png


The video shows that the game will probably not take place inside a forest but in the Aral Sea.

OP's personal sperging notes:
I feel very skeptical myself after waching the whole fiasco of Darkest dungeon 2, going from 2d to 3d and changing a good chunk of its gameplay and features.
Will this russian studio manage to make a decent sequel? or will they get conscripted to the front and get blasted by a recoilless rifle?
I seriously hope acid wizard devs carefully oversee the development process of this game. Even if the graphics change, I think the gameplay from the first game should stay as it is.
 
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Acid Wizard devs stopped making games because in their own words making of Darkwood was too depressing with all of them suffering mental breakdowns during its development. I think maybe one or two people from the original team are still active in some capacity but I haven't kept tabs on them in years.

I have little to say on the matter of the new devs, but I remember dropping out of playing Pathologic 1 because how boring it was (at least the early game) as first few hours revolved around walking around in a mostly empty city and talking to NPCs. Hope that they at least they improved in this department.
 
Bioniclelover said:
Acid Wizard devs stopped making games because in their own words making of Darkwood was too depressing with all of them suffering mental breakdowns during its development. I think maybe one or two people from the original team are still active in some capacity but I haven't kept tabs on them in years.

I have little to say on the matter of the new devs, but I remember dropping out of playing Pathologic 1 because how boring it was (at least the early game) as first few hours revolved around walking around in a mostly empty city and talking to NPCs. Hope that they at least they improved in this department.
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I didn't hear about Acid Wizard, but as far as I was aware they tried to make a soccer game and shut down very soon after.

Ice-Pick at least makes interesting narratives. Pathologic 1 has a lot interesting about it with the caveat of having very tedious gameplay. As far as I'm aware, Pathologic 2 has much more interesting gameplay, but is a pretty tough experience so its a bit niche. If they are able to pull off the gameplay I'm not too worried.

Also, while Darkest Dungeon 2 has plenty issues, none of that was brought on from the graphics. RoR2 swapped and many enjoy the 2nd more, probably because they actually kept the gameplay loop unlike DD2. So I'll at least keep an eye out for Darkwood 2, it looks neat so far so I'm cautiously optimistic.
 
Billy the Adult said:
I didn't hear about Acid Wizard, but as far as I was aware they tried to make a soccer game and shut down very soon after.

Ice-Pick at least makes interesting narratives. Pathologic 1 has a lot interesting about it with the caveat of having very tedious gameplay. As far as I'm aware, Pathologic 2 has much more interesting gameplay, but is a pretty tough experience so its a bit niche. If they are able to pull off the gameplay I'm not too worried.

Also, while Darkest Dungeon 2 has plenty issues, none of that was brought on from the graphics. RoR2 swapped and many enjoy the 2nd more, probably because they actually kept the gameplay loop unlike DD2. So I'll at least keep an eye out for Darkwood 2, it looks neat so far so I'm cautiously optimistic.
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They were working on a soccer game because they wanted to try making something more cheerful, however early in its development they closed the studio, giving various excuses as the reason. Among others: being broke, their mental health, people going separate ways, too busy with their families, etc.

For the short time I played Pathologic 1, I found the atmopshere quite decent but tedium of its gameplay have tired me out quite quickly.

DD2 switching to 3D was actually a 'relatively' popular complaint about the game, at least early before the gameplay issues became more visible. Obviously graphics can be overlooked if the gameplay remains good, as you said, which was not the case there. In regards to Darkwood 2, we'll see how it goes. The footage in trailer seems close enough to the original and it taking place in Aral Sea is quite cool idea imo, it's one of the areas of the world that not many know about that has a lot of interesting history behind it, culminating in the irl hell on earth that it is today.
 
Darkwood 1 was essentially "here is what living under commie rule was like to Pollacks who didn't want to be commies: the game" in terms of story. I remember enjoying it, it was pretty short and decently spooky, in a good way: scarce resources, near-constant pressure, you know the blueprint.
Very depressing, but also an effective little horror game because of all the gross shit in it. But it's both far from the grossest thing in the genre, and not really that unique overall. Both in concept (shitheap region, creeping choking engulfing corruption, everybody is fucked up and degenerate, player is trying to get to the root of the corruption while tapping into it), content and execution.
Ice-Pick should just make a new IP instead of buying the rights to somebody else's one-and-done self-contained story.

IIRC Pathologic was well-written but a chore to play because Ice-Pick was founded by a bunch of depressoid theatre kids who didn't know shit about gayme devilobmend. Hope they improved.
Aral Sea is an interesting choice for a setting, but why even call it "Darkwood" when your game is about bumming around a dried-up sea in the middle of a desert?
 
Bioniclelover said:
Acid Wizard devs stopped making games because in their own words making of Darkwood was too depressing with all of them suffering mental breakdowns during its development. I think maybe one or two people from the original team are still active in some capacity but I haven't kept tabs on them in years.
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Couldn't these guys come up with a better excuse then muh mental health, its a grimdark top down shooter how does that fuck with your psyche.
 
russian devs is a good start and i dont really see an issue with 3d, from what i played of the first game the graphics didnt really seem either 3d or 2d since it takes place in such a 3d enviroment for a 2d game. taking place in a more water focused area seems interesting depending on how the boat mechanic is done, i liked how you are never really safe in darkwood but having a boat could shake that up if alot of the enemies have an african skill issue tho id assume there will be some amnesia style water monster to keep it from being a safe place. hopefully they will do alot with the water that is actually interesting. i think what would be the easiest for them to fuck up is the characters, i hope they understand what was so good about the first games characters and keep the mystery and small interactions with them.
 
Reminmyster said:
Couldn't these guys come up with a better excuse then muh mental health, its a grimdark top down shooter how does that fuck with your psyche.
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IIRC it was more that Darkwood had the average slavic development cycle of three guys being cooped up in a commie block apartment for five years crunching all the way.
 
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