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Dusk Diver 2 takes everything that made the original Dusk Diver great, and simply offers more of it. Yumo and co. are back defending Taipei’s Ximending district as the relentless hordes of Chaos Beasts continue to press down on the dividing walls between dimensions.
Being an Action RPG, Dusk Diver 2 is fast-paced and requires equally fast thinking to overcome its combat challenges. That doesn’t mean the game is all action all the time of
course. From navigating the bustling streets to eating at your favourite joint, to simply enjoying the story, there is plenty of downtime to keep you refreshed. But where do you start?
Use Your Map
The map is the most important aspect of Dusk Diver 2 - no, we aren’t joking. Your map can solve just about any problem because it is quite literally all-encompassing. By this we mean, everything you could ever want from a map, is on this map.
Do you want to know where every collectable in Ximending is? How about every miscellaneous item, side quest, activity, and shop? It’s all there, at all times. You can even highlight icons on the map to find out what everything is, so you can pinpoint exact locations and navigate the world with ease.
Explore Everything
Having a map as powerful as Dusk Diver might make the idea of “exploring” laughable, but you should still go out of your way to scour the world for every last thing. This is because resources in Dusk Diver 2 are quite limited early on. Money is needed for upgrades, meals, and orbs, so burning cash on consumables that litter the world is not a great plan.
Regardless of where you are, there is always something to find. Ximending is packed with consumables, whilst the various combat zones are overflowing with loot containers and currency. Every little bit helps, and scavenging for extra gubbins always pays off.
Get To Grips With Shared EXP
Dusk Diver 2 might be an Action RPG, but that doesn’t mean you are lacking a party. As the game progresses, you will unlock quite a varied cast to support Yumo, and anyone you want to bring along needs to be levelled up. The catch? The game uses a shared EXP system.
This means the entire party has one pool of EXP to pull from, as opposed to automatically gaining access to their own unique pool. This system gives you more freedom, as you can pump all of your EXP into your favourite character if you want, but here lies the rub - is that really the best thing to do? Probably not. There is also no respeccing, so when levelling up, make sure you are investing in the right characters at the right time. This also applies to Skills.
Maximise Your Combat Rewards
Combat rewards in Dusk Diver 2 can be underwhelming at times. You will quickly find that it takes thousands of EXP to level up, and when combat is dishing out scraps, it can feel like you aren’t getting anywhere. This is, in part, by design. Being heavily focused on the action, Dusk Diver 2 wants you to play in a certain way.
Playing in this way just so happens to give you more rewards as a side benefit. After every combat, you will get a results screen, and this will break down how much EXP and Wafers you obtained, and why. You want as many modifiers as possible, so try and get fancy in combat. Large combos, Burst, and dodging can all push those rewards higher.
Hunt Down And Complete Side Quests ASAP
There are about 60 side quests in Dusk Diver 2, and many of them are failable. This is because some side quests operate on a timer - or more accurately, will be failed if you don’t complete them before a certain point in the main story. Because of this, you want to pick up every side quest you can, and then finish them.
Of course, if you don’t want to do the side content, that is fine. The thing is, the side content in Dusk Diver 2 rewards you with some pretty great items that can help you out on your adventure. They vary in quality, but they are certainly worth the short detour to complete. You can find them all marked on your map.
Eat Meals Whenever You Can
Eating food is one of the ways you can gain power in Dusk Diver 2. In fact, you can gain power in multiple tangible categories just by munching down on some scran. How meals work is you eat some food, it fills your belly (marked on your HUD), and you gain a passive bonus.
This passive bonus could be bonus stats, increased resources gain, etc. You never want to be without some food in your tum, so making regular stops at the various food joints around Ximending is a must. Not only that, but the first time you eat something new, you gain a hefty EXP bonus. This can then be transferred into stats, making you permanently stronger. Each food can be more beneficial than killing hordes of enemies.
Keep Your Consumables Well Stocked
Combat in Dusk Diver 2 can quickly go south - especially when you are fighting bosses. These guys don’t mess around, and one wrong step could lead to your character taking quite the hit. This is where consumables come into play.
Consumables can restore just about any resource you require for fighting. You can’t carry an infinite supply, but you can carry just enough to save yourself in a tricky situation. You can buy consumables at shops and in the middle of dungeons, and you should try to keep a maxed-out stock wherever possible.