Darkest Dungeon 2's first DLC is finally bringing back one of the original's strongest heroes

Red Hook Studios has unveiled the first paid DLC pack for Darkest Dungeon 2: The Binding Blade, not to be confused with the Fire Emblem game that had Roy from Smash Bros. in it. The DLC is coming some time in December, and will add two new playable characters: the all-new Duelist, and the long-awaited return of Darkest Dungeon 1's Crusader.

I was shocked we never got the Crusader among Darkest Dungeon 2's early access drip of characters. He was a particularly strong and versatile option for any party, occupying that D&D Paladin niche of tank and damage dealer and support/healer.

On top of that, I always saw him as a bit of a mascot for the game alongside the Highwayman. The Crusader's Darkest Dungeon 2 iteration seems to largely fall in line with his original skillset, at least according to The Binding Blade's promo material:

"This battle hardened knight is fueled by a radiant Holy fire and will Smite his foes where they stand. The Crusader is a well rounded front rank hero who can withstand punishing blows, support his team with healing and stress recovery, and rend his opponents with his righteous blade."

But the Crusader won't be alone in The Binding Blade: the DLC also introduces the Duelist, a full-on classico swashbuckler with a cape and rapier. The character concept certainly lends itself to high damage, and the Duelist has the ability to ignore enemy resistances, but the new character also seems to have some unique support functions as well like negating allies' cooldowns.

The Binding Blade will also introduce a new roaming miniboss and playable backstory segments for the new characters. The pack has not yet been given a price, but it is currently available to wishlist on Steam and Epic.

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch. You can follow Ted on Bluesky.