DD Newbie's Impressions of DD2: What's Everyone Mad About?

I've known Darkest Dungeon by reputation for several years but over Christmas used a gift card to buy DD2 for myself on the Switch. I heard the reviews were mixed, but it looked good enough to take a shot.

After playing for several weeks and finally beating the Shackles of Denial, I've really enjoyed the game. The style is delicious, the strategic gameplay is challenging but not insurmountable, I spoiled the main story for myself but I'm still enjoying learning new things (especially the heroes' pasts at Shrine of Reflections), and the gameplay loop is good. I fully plan on beating the game.

Some annoyances I've had are the UI (maybe it's because I'm on Switch?), how little about the items are explained (wtf is a stained trinket? why give me something I can't use?), and some of the conditions just not showing up in the guide (maybe a Switch thing too?), and not enough music variety, but that's it. The items I learned (thank you DD wiki!), the conditions I learned, and the UI is navigable.

I haven't played DD1, but all of the negative reviews really seem odd to me and don't match my experiences as a newcomer to the series. I'm sorry to hear so many folks had a bad time with it, but if you're new to DD as well I say give DD2 a try (definitely check out the item and conditions online though).

EDIT: A few additional things:

• Agreed, combat should go faster or at least have the option to speed up turns

• After seeing the full DD1 roster I hope they add more to DD2 (Arbalest and Antiquarian look interesting)

• Definitely okay if DD2 isn't for you, this was mostly about DD2 getting what I feel is unnecessary hate.