I've spent a lot of time wondering what to say about this game. On all accounts it should be a better game than the first one. The combat's faster, the music's much better and the game's been streamlined yet retains just as much content as the first game.

But where No More Heroes 1 shined for me was it's philosophy, it's core idea and how it tackled it's themes. Desperate Struggle has none of that, instead I get a game that's mediocre at best and infuriating at worst. Travis' character arc in the first game was made moot in order him to act as a funny man again, Shinobu is no longer the badass you knew but is just another sexy girl who wants to fuck Travis, and Sylvia seems to have learned nothing. Henry's cool here though so I'll give them that

I feel like the fatal flaw of this game can be summed up in Travis' new character design alone. He's made badass to fit with the game's tone and honestly? It fits, but its not NMH1 Travis. The Travis who looked like a tryhard nerd, the very same Travis who was poked fun at after every boss fight via embarrassing phone calls to remind you how much of a loser he is. For a game about assassins I guess it's fitting they committed one of the worst character assassinations I've ever seen

So yeah, I don't like this game. I don't like it's annoying boss design, I don't like how the bosses don't symbolise Travis' journey anymore and serve as filler. I don't like No More Heroes 2, but at the end of the day I'll fully admit it is more No More Heroes. It doesn't look and feel vastly different from the first, so I'd argue there is worth in experiencing this for yourself to see if you like it; even if during your playthrough you feel a sort of unease, as if something about this whole experience just isn't right