Darkest Dungeon 2: Inhuman Bondage DLC and its Kingdoms mode bring ruin to the road

1.28.2025
By Steven T. Wright, Contributor
Darkest Dungeon 2 is not for the faint of heart. Its unapologetically bleak tone, pustule-filled monsters, and deeply strategic combat are not shy about testing your limits—but those who rise to the challenge often find it difficult to resist its charms.

Those charms get even more fiendish with the release of Darkest Dungeon 2's new Inhuman Bondage DLC and its much-anticipated Kingdoms mode. After sinking a few hours into the DLC myself, it's clear that Inhuman Bondage is a radical remix of the Darkest Dungeon 2 base game, and one that will keep you coming back for more.
The basic mode of Darkest Dungeon 2, dubbed Confessions, departed significantly from the gameplay loop of the beloved original. It follows a traditional roguelite structure: You control four heroes trusted with ferrying the literal last light of hope through the wasted remains of a shattered world.

Your stagecoach is continually ambushed by shambling and skittering horrors that you engage in demanding turn-based combat, where your heroes' positions and moves matter and you're always just a few bad decisions away from ignominious defeat. You not only have to worry about your heroes' physical health, but their sanity as well—if one takes too much Stress, they can trigger a Meltdown that reduces their health and can often lead to one of the game's signature death spirals. (They don't call it Darkest Dungeon for nothing, you know.)

Darkest Dungeon 2's Inhuman Bondage DLC brings a new mini-region to this mode, The Catacombs. True to its name, this is an underground area that features plenty of slimy, oozy monstrosities for you to take down. It also adds in the fan-favorite Kickstarter character from the original game, The Abomination, along with new enemies, new items, and plenty of trinkets to play around with.
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However, the big addition to this DLC is definitely the Kingdoms mode. Unlike the base Confessions mode, you start Kingdoms with a full roster of bruised-and-bloodied heroes to choose between, from the shield-wielding Man-at-Arms to the self-blinding Leper. Instead of proceeding down a mostly linear path to save the world, here you are working to save a localized "kingdom" from certain ruin at the hands of an invading faction. The first module, Hunger of the Beast Clan, has you fighting horned berserkers who are pouring into the land and destroying your precious Inns.

Kingdoms adds a layer of RPG meta-complexity to the Darkest Dungeon 2 experience, including a somewhat-intimidating world map that shows you the lay of the land. At the start of each run, you can choose the general size of the map you want to play on, along with other options, like the time limit (in days). From there, you set out in your stagecoach and make your way to the all-important Inns, the buildings that serve as your safe havens and bulwark against the growing hordes. Inns served this role in the base game as well, but here you can (and must) upgrade them to survive.

Each Inn has five different tech trees to invest resources in, giving you the ability to upgrade your heroes, heal them, and purchase trinkets and items that you can use during and between fights. Since each Inn has its own trees and you'll be flitting between them on your quest to save the kingdom, you have to pick and choose which trees to emphasize and which to skip—decisions that can have a huge impact on your run.
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Inns can also be attacked and besieged by the invading forces. You can try and mitigate this by creating a barracks and leveling up soldiers so that the Inn can defend itself against, and you can even fold these soldiers into your party if any of your heroes fall during such a siege.

The only way to win in Kingdoms mode is to collect a number of quest items that give you hints on where to go next. For example, one of the early items is a spyglass that you need to use in an elevated spot to learn more about the Beastmen. Every step forward takes a day off the ultimate timer, and the enemy grows more intense at certain breakpoints, so balancing quest progress with Inn defense results in a delicious tension that will test your mettle.

Whereas Confessions makes you stick with the same heroes for your entire run, Kingdoms mode lets you mix-and-match your roster as you go. Those who prefer to stick with the same basic party for hours and hours will find themselves quickly pushed out of their comfort zone here, as enemies in Kingdoms hit hard and require a variety of strategic approaches to take down. Healing is cheaper and more plentiful than in Confessions, but still costs you vital resources that may end up being the difference between victory and defeat. As such, benching your go-to hero might hurt, but it's often a good move.

My few hours with Darkest Dungeon 2's new Kingdoms mode were brutal, taxing, and invigorating. The level of strategic depth combines the best of the original Darkest Dungeon and Darkest Dungeon 2 to great effect, bringing back the original base-building aspect that so many loved in the first game but adding new wrinkles. It's a totally new experience that pulls no punches, even for experienced players.
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Though I'm far from a Darkest Dungeon master, it took me only a half-hour to hit my first total party wipe in Kingdoms, and it came at the hands of a medium enemy force that I simply underestimated. The good news is that even such a defeat is not necessarily the end for your run—your Stagecoach simply respawns nearby, and you're left to head to an Inn to stock up on four more heroes to continue the struggle. Just like in Confessions, you're quite unlikely to triumph in your first attempt, but you'll learn plenty of tricks to improve your performance next time.

Darkest Dungeon 2 is unapologetically grimdark, and its new Inhuman Bondage DLC is no exception. It's no hyperbole to say that Kingdoms is practically an entirely new game in its own right, so if you haven't visited those ruined lands for a while, this is the perfect time to dip your toe back in. Just know that all of your wins will be hard-earned.

Darkest Dungeon 2 is available on the Epic Games Store, and the new Inhuman Bondage DLC is out now.