Website for the game has me really optimistic. I'm hoping for a leap in design that occurred with MHW for DD2, both in terms of being able to do do more with more and appeal to a wider audience without losing the core of what made the game good in the first place. DD came out in 2012 which is ancient in tech terms (that was what, XBOX360/PS3 era). Also really positive that the pawn system, as it existed in DD, is being brought back with a modern flair no doubt (100% the chatty pawns are going to be in, but it is going to be less complex and more clear on how to interact with your pawns AI behavior - at least your primary one).
Graphically, game is clearly a leap over DD from just that opening shot in the forest along the road, but the modeling work looks really quite good in this as well (while still maintaining the look of the original game).
Reviews by whom? STEAM has the game at 90% which is well within "gamer approved" levels (unless you think all 25K reviews are from people with "low standards"). Among critiques the original has decent enough reviews; it is the DARK ARISEN package that was ported to the PC firmly sitting in the STRONG and RECOMMENDED category in OpenCritic.
. . .by any metric, gamer or journalist, DD is a solid title whose sequel can benefit from some of the creative streak that CAPCOM seems to be on (bringing MH to a larger audience on stronger hardware and embracing the design influence in MH:SB, the whole RE remake goldmine, return to RE's roots with 7 and 8, the pivot of DMC5, etc.).