I know that this was considered more or less the peak of the series before the reboot, but I actually found it to be somewhat disappointing. It’s certainly bigger, but I felt like it was retreading a lot of ground.

The one big improvement was the focus on bosses – there are a ton of them – and given how full of colorful characters and monsters this world is, that was definitely the right way to go.

I’m honestly not exactly sure what it was that I wanted^ from a sequel after being so impressed by the original, but this wasn’t quite it. It’s mostly the same, but it feels a tiny bit less inspired. Still a solid, polished action game, no doubt.

^Oh, I know one thing I DIDN’T want from this game: for it to end on a bullshit cliffhanger.