It’s been a bit of a wait, but official mod support for Darkest Dungeon 2 is coming soon, although it will arrive in pieces rather than as a single bundle. Developer Red Hook Studios said it will begin rolling out the first pieces of mod support next month, with the rest to follow throughout the year.
Red Hook says the new engine used for Darkest Dungeon 2 has made it more difficult to add mods and support modifications compared to the original Darkest Dungeon. Given Red Hook’s interest in continuing active modding in Darkest Dungeon 2, as well as the studio’s plans for a console launch and Kingdoms DLC release, the developers felt it would be best to get some tools into the hands of modders early on and build on that foundation over time.
Therefore, our plan is to release mod support in stages, with each update building on the previous one. We believe that it is better to have access to some modding capabilities as soon as possible, rather than waiting for a complete modding solution that would take significantly longer to develop.
Red Hook says that when the first modding update arrives, due before the end of June, it will include “initial mod loading/overwriting logic” and Steam Workshop integration. With these tools, modders will be able to edit any open game .csv files, which include values for almost everything that happens in the game (damage values, modifiers, stats, and all that).
The developers said that modders will be able to create new items from scratch and define new palettes for heroes. Looking to the future, the studio says it eventually wants modders to be able to create their own characters, and that it is committed to working with the game’s modding community to determine priorities.