I have a genuinely simple solution for this game: it should be titled
This tells you everything about the game: it is DD art style, DD characters, dear DD narrator,
but it is not a "Darkest Dungeon 2".

This is a roguelite traveling road , absolutely pointless but fun in DD way. You see, in DD you perfectly understand why do you go to the dungeons and the whole story behind your ancestor and the hamlet.
Was so cool to return from dungeon and find out the Barbarians rock-fest in a tavern. Or when you needed a slot in a hospital but it is already taken :D All these little details...

Here you see the Mountain, "2 regions left before the Mountain", now "you enter the Mountain"... what for? Why should I travel there?
What is the story behind this inn I am taking rest in?
Who set The Great Library on fire and what happened to this Librarian? In DD you listened to a little story about boss encounter while loading screen. In "Darkest Road" you watch beautiful but absolutely unnecessary animations of 3D road and fight.

Hero stories are a great addition to the game by all means!

Hero relationships are an absolute miss (for me at least). By the way, all first 4 heroes don't have positive relations artificially. I've tried 1st chapter with 2 new characters and - surprise, surprise - it was easy to build positive relations.

I don't like this game, it lacks lore (besides hero shrines), it is not exciting to play like it should be in roguelites. No catch phrases from narrator like in DD. But with all my great respect to developers I still will finish it and looking for a new part.
And I hope it will be "Darkest Dungeon 3".