Darkest Dungeon 2 introduces Altar of Hope as a new progression system in the game, which will allow you to invest your Candles of Hope in various fields to receive permanent buffs and upgrades that will help you out in your journey to defeat evils.
With the arrival of the Altar of Hope, the developers announce Candles of Hope as a new in-game resource or currency that can only be earned by playing the game. There are multiple ways to collect Candles of Hope on a journey such as defeating evils, completing objectives, and progressing through different areas. However, when you earn Candles of Hope, it doesn't mean you will be able to keep them forever. This is the twist of the new update.
During an Expedition, when you reach an Inn, you will have three different choices to make that will either result in keeping your Candles of Hope and saving them to spend in the Altar of Hope or risking all candles for bigger rewards. Below, you can read through the choices you can make:
- Cashing out: If you choose to, you can end any Expedition gracefully at any Inn. You'll keep whatever Candles you have earned so far on that journey.
- Risking it: If you choose to push on past the Inn, be aware that a mid-region party wipe or abandoned Expedition will penalize your total Candles earned. It’s always better to make it to the next Inn.
- The Pinnacle: If you reach the Mountain, you will keep every Candle you've earned during that Expedition even if you fall. You have no reason not to face your failures...
Of course, it is your decision at the end of the day, but probably Cashing Out the Candles of Hope in the first few Expeditions would be a good strategy to earn some permanent buffs and start a new Expedition with a stronger army.
Every time that you attempt to start a new Expedition, you will visit the Altar of Hope, where you can spend your Candles of Hope in multiple categories. Each category provides a different set of improvements and buffs, of which some are permanent, including greater inventory size or hero upgrades. Below, you can read through each Altar of Hope category:
- The Intrepid Coast: It offers a mixture of functional and aesthetic upgrades, such as bonuses when reaching certain locations, beginning runs with greater resources in-pocket, increased inventory space, and more. These boons are permanent once unlocked.
- The Living City: This is where you unlock heroes, permanent buffs, and trinkets, and some other surprises. This is also now where hero paths are unlocked. As you invest Candles along each hero’s track, their chances at surviving will increase dramatically - note the increased deathblow resist on offer.
- The Working Fields: This is where you can expand your available pool of items - stagecoach upgrades, trinkets, combat items, and Inn items can all be discovered here. Once unlocked, an item can be found in all future expeditions. You will also have that item added to your inventory immediately for the current expedition.
- The Timeless Wood: This is where you can spend Candles to unlock Memories for each of your heroes.
Memories are complicated buffs that will only last until a hero is alive. When a hero is dead, their memory will be lost. However, if a hero manages to survive a Confession boss, they will retain their memory, despite getting a Mastery Level reset.
The Altar of Hope update is now live in the experimental servers, but there is no official release date for the live version of the update yet.