Overall, I'd say this is a very good game.
The combat is a welcome improvement of the first game. I still wouldn't say it's GOOD necessarily, but it's definitely not bad. The atmosphere in this game is also truly stunning - so many awesome set pieces and just genuinely sick visuals. This an extremely effective survival horror environment, it's legit stunning and downright creepy. But, obviously, the shining star here is the story and characters. The characters just have so much, well, CHARACTER. They're all very interesting and complex, and that comes down to phenomenal writing. Additionally, the animation team put their whole Remedussy in to this one, because they're all SO expressive.
I also thought the live action scenes worked shocking well. Honestly, that's normally the kind of thing that is just cheesy and stupid in a video game, but I can't believe how well it worked here. Bravo to the actors.
ALL OF THAT BEING SAID, I do think this one is getting overrated just a tad. Because while it has a lot going for it, there are enough significant flaws that I can't overlook. Like I said, still very good, but there's no shot I could justify a 5/5 here.
First off all, the audio. My audio was frequently out of sync with the cutscenes and it looked like a foreign film that I was watching a dubbed version of. In addition, the jump scares man...90% of them suck ass. There were a few I can remember that were great and well-earned. But the vast majority were just startle merchant, lazy crap in the same style as the infamous Relaxing Car Drive video. It'll invoke a physical startle out of you, sure. But they're bad, lazy scares, and this game is FULL of them.
Then, there's the protagonist switching. Not a mechanic I'm generally a fan of, and this game isn't an exception. Luckily, both Alan and Saga are phenomenal characters. But it felt like I was playing two pretty separate games, and for me, that's not a pro. Saga's was the bright spot here, with her "mind place" being far more engaging and her case board being so much better than Alan's story board. I also found the puzzle mechanics (the story board and the light shit) on Alan's side to be frustrating and just flat out not fun. Luckily, the atmosphere and storytelling in his sections did enough to make up for it. But it just fell really flat for me in that regard.
Kind of an essay here lol but there was a lot to say on this one. TL;DR? It's not something I'd consider a personal GOTY contender, but it definitely has some of the makings of it and it has a great shot of landing in my top 10 for the year. It's a brilliantly made game, even if there are a handful of elements that didn't work at all for me personally. But there's certainly enough good to make up for the not so good
The combat is a welcome improvement of the first game. I still wouldn't say it's GOOD necessarily, but it's definitely not bad. The atmosphere in this game is also truly stunning - so many awesome set pieces and just genuinely sick visuals. This an extremely effective survival horror environment, it's legit stunning and downright creepy. But, obviously, the shining star here is the story and characters. The characters just have so much, well, CHARACTER. They're all very interesting and complex, and that comes down to phenomenal writing. Additionally, the animation team put their whole Remedussy in to this one, because they're all SO expressive.
I also thought the live action scenes worked shocking well. Honestly, that's normally the kind of thing that is just cheesy and stupid in a video game, but I can't believe how well it worked here. Bravo to the actors.
ALL OF THAT BEING SAID, I do think this one is getting overrated just a tad. Because while it has a lot going for it, there are enough significant flaws that I can't overlook. Like I said, still very good, but there's no shot I could justify a 5/5 here.
First off all, the audio. My audio was frequently out of sync with the cutscenes and it looked like a foreign film that I was watching a dubbed version of. In addition, the jump scares man...90% of them suck ass. There were a few I can remember that were great and well-earned. But the vast majority were just startle merchant, lazy crap in the same style as the infamous Relaxing Car Drive video. It'll invoke a physical startle out of you, sure. But they're bad, lazy scares, and this game is FULL of them.
Then, there's the protagonist switching. Not a mechanic I'm generally a fan of, and this game isn't an exception. Luckily, both Alan and Saga are phenomenal characters. But it felt like I was playing two pretty separate games, and for me, that's not a pro. Saga's was the bright spot here, with her "mind place" being far more engaging and her case board being so much better than Alan's story board. I also found the puzzle mechanics (the story board and the light shit) on Alan's side to be frustrating and just flat out not fun. Luckily, the atmosphere and storytelling in his sections did enough to make up for it. But it just fell really flat for me in that regard.
Kind of an essay here lol but there was a lot to say on this one. TL;DR? It's not something I'd consider a personal GOTY contender, but it definitely has some of the makings of it and it has a great shot of landing in my top 10 for the year. It's a brilliantly made game, even if there are a handful of elements that didn't work at all for me personally. But there's certainly enough good to make up for the not so good