It was definitely a big moment when we realized there are a lot of people who are excited about this from a conceptual standpoint and we can move forward with a lot more assurance. I guess the first feeling I had was “Holy shit.” To fund in a day and then go on to triple the funding was – I don’t know – inspiring, exciting, and a little bit scary. Your goal was originally to raise $75,000 in one month and you ended at $313,000. You launched the Kickstarter about a year after you formed the company and had amazing success. It started with a lot of old-fashioneds at this bar called Bier-Craft in Vancouver and we were like, “Do you promise you’re going to…?” Like, we had to make all of these marriage vows. Red Hook was started with a high-five, then? So, I was like “Okay, I’m ready to do this.” Coincidentally, left his job at the same time for other reasons and we both high-fived and dove in. So, I think I was doing a stint at Microsoft and then that game got cancelled. You get laid off so many times in video games. At the time, I was at an animation studio – or no, I was at Microsoft. Nothing really clicked until we hit on this idea of a dysfunctional RPG, and we talked about that more and more and found ourselves coming back to it. We would get together and kind of have a drink and talk about different game ideas and projects. You and Tyler Sigman, Red Hook’s other Co-Founder, worked together and then became friends – but when did the idea of starting your own indie game studio come up?

We reached out to Red Hook’s Co-Founder and Art Director, Chris Bourassa, to walk us through the studio’s development and retrace the path that set them in front of the towering mountain that is Darkest Dungeon 2. After years in development, and making its way through Kickstarter to Early Access, Darkest Dungeon released on PC in 2016 as a huge success for a studio that started as just two friends with a dream in a bar.Īnd that was the end of the story, until two weeks ago when Red Hook rolled out a cryptic trailer heralding the coming of the franchise’s next instalment. Legions of sadistic gamers out there were ready to test their mettle against a punishing series of insanity-inducing adventures adventures in which one wrong step could result in your best fighter’s permanent death.

The uncompromisingly addictive game first hit the scene back in 2014, when Red Hook launched its wildly successful Kickstarter campaign.

Red Hook announced recently that Darkest Dungeon, the Lovecraft-inspired Gothic RPG with a deadly reputation, is getting a sequel.

Red hook darkest dungeon 2