It starts off much weaker than the conclusion of the original. Throwing you into situations similar to the climax of the original, while lacking most of the tools. Once the game starts opening up, as you unlock more tools and abilities again, it shines much brighter than the original. The story struggles the same as well, intent on following the beats of the original, to spin off in very different directions that work great. Much improvement is shown to side characters as well.

Final major thing, music. Amazing use of Gregorian chants and strings to emphasis major moments.

Finally getting around to this game and it was a solid enough experience. The game is consistently throwing new mechanics at you almost until the final two levels to keep things interesting. The final bit does get a bit unforgiving with the one-hit kills and sometimes rough checkpoints, but it's solid enough. I give them kudos for having every boss in this game have a unique mechanic to beat.

The story is fine. I think the personal relationships between the characters is better than the overall story. Way too much of it feels like something it's either waiting to show me in the sequel or expects me to listen very intently to every bit of random dialogue enemies say. It's not bad, but it's passable. The relationship between the main character and her brother are top tier though.