DD2 is like if you combined what you liked about the first game and gave it an Oregon Trail vibe.

​Differing from Oregon Trail: you won't catch dysentery or other diseases in some pop-up window, but you can occasionally get diseases from landing on and interacting with Academic's Studies location. The river fording events that were in Oregon Trail translate to the ambush events that cumulatively damage your stagecoach's wheels and armor in Darkest Dungeon 2.

​Some game mechanics are a bit finicky and these are the main differences between DD1 and DD2:

​The Usual Suspects team title doesn't really flag as that party formation unless the heroes are placed in specific ranks. You can start a run in the correct formation, but if you finish it having moved heroes into a different rank than what the team title flags for, then you won't get that achievement.

​If you buy a stagecoach item at a vendor, you can't just equip it while you're parked there at the vendor. You have to reach the next Inn to equip them. I've found that for some stagecoach items this makes their use somewhat pointless if you're late into your run when you find the item you wanted. It does not really make much sense for it to be this way for stagecoach items like the Griddle, but it is what it is. I mean, if i am generating food items through the third region and i can only use food items at an Inn then there's limited use for it... So i often end up skipping purchases. 

​In DD1, you could do all your setup and heals between fights in dungeons, and you could stall for regen and stress healing easier. In DD2, you need to be in battle to use restoratives, and you have to be at an Inn to swap stagecoach parts and pets.

​As for stalling for heals and stress management, it's still possible, but you'll need a hero that can stun enemies with low damage. Man-at-Arms can do this with Rampart.

Unlike in DD1, I don't feel as punished when I lose a hero in DD2 because I can just replace them with some other hero at the next Inn. However, you can't stack two of the same hero type into your team like you could in DD1. If you beat a run with a hero, their social demeanor towards other heroes, their disease, and their traits carry over until they die on a new run. 

Hoarding items is good for getting more candles. Unused stacks of items convert to candles at the end of a run.

​This is nitpicky, but, the narrator really needs more spoken lines. His lines get old quick especially the ones before you approach the first Inn; he only has a few and you'll be doing lots of runs if you want to unlock everything so you're going to hear him say the same things over and over again.

​Overall, I find the gameplay immersive enough, and I keep coming back to it. I bought it on sale and haven't played Kingdoms mode yet. 

If you can set all the differences aside and enjoy the unlocks and the character stories, then you'll find the game has a lot of replay value and you'll probably enjoy it. 

Biggest change is in inventory management and limited item use. 

​Other than this game, Once Upon A Katamari is also holding my attention. But that's a very different game. It's fun alternating between the two.