Its highs are damn high but its lows are lower than the pits of Tartarus
Probably the most polarising game I've ever played.
I'll preface this review by stating that I started the playthrough on God (Hard) difficulty. An extremely foolish decision on my part, but having beaten the first game in Hard and still feeling let down by the simplicity of the final boss I wanted to ensure that it would be challenging this time around. However, with this games outdated difficulty settings there's no turning back as the only option to change the difficulty is to die repeatedly until you're given the prompt to go straight to easy mode. Too prideful to admit defeat I pushed through around 80% of the game before giving in. Most frustratingly of all it wasn't a boss or even a miniboss that broke me, just a generic room. This is because the way these games scale difficulty is by ramping up enemy health, damage and spawn rates drastically with what appears to be no regulation whatsoever. Consequently, some areas are practically impossible to beat because the player becomes utterly overwhelmed with what I would call artificial difficulty, where the challenge lies in the sheer volume of threats rather than a section that designed specifically to be technically difficult. When this is the case, the player is often forced to brute force their way through, making it lot more tedious and far less rewarding when you do succeed because there was no learning curve. This frustration lead me to shelving the game, nearly indefinitely, however my desire to play the rest of the series brought me back. Reluctantly I played the remainder of the game in easy, and to my surprise it was really enjoyable. Granted, I still wish I had played normal from the start and there's no doubt in my mind I'd have enjoyed the game a lot more if I did, but that's on me.
The saving grace of this game is its story really. I am fascinated by greek mythology and it's always exciting to see various interpretations. This game exceeds the first in storytelling, having some really awesome moments and amazing twists. Boss fights in this title are also much better because they incorporate some really unique mechanics and have creative ways of keeping gameplay fresh. The final boss was really exciting this time around, with a sense of spectacle and a good difficulty level, albeit not the most creative fight in the game.
Some sections of the game were straight up trash, for example fighting Mole Cerberus and the escort level in the Temple of Lahkesis. Both of those make you want to cry because of their obnoxious anti-player and anti-fun designs. The numerous YouTube tutorials for each show I'm not alone on that.
Overall this is probably worth a playthrough if you care for the narrative of the series and while it does have some awesome moments it's nothing too incredible that warrants playing just for gameplay alone. Safe to say I'm glad to be done with this title, but it succeeded in making me excited to play the next installment.
Probably the most polarising game I've ever played.
I'll preface this review by stating that I started the playthrough on God (Hard) difficulty. An extremely foolish decision on my part, but having beaten the first game in Hard and still feeling let down by the simplicity of the final boss I wanted to ensure that it would be challenging this time around. However, with this games outdated difficulty settings there's no turning back as the only option to change the difficulty is to die repeatedly until you're given the prompt to go straight to easy mode. Too prideful to admit defeat I pushed through around 80% of the game before giving in. Most frustratingly of all it wasn't a boss or even a miniboss that broke me, just a generic room. This is because the way these games scale difficulty is by ramping up enemy health, damage and spawn rates drastically with what appears to be no regulation whatsoever. Consequently, some areas are practically impossible to beat because the player becomes utterly overwhelmed with what I would call artificial difficulty, where the challenge lies in the sheer volume of threats rather than a section that designed specifically to be technically difficult. When this is the case, the player is often forced to brute force their way through, making it lot more tedious and far less rewarding when you do succeed because there was no learning curve. This frustration lead me to shelving the game, nearly indefinitely, however my desire to play the rest of the series brought me back. Reluctantly I played the remainder of the game in easy, and to my surprise it was really enjoyable. Granted, I still wish I had played normal from the start and there's no doubt in my mind I'd have enjoyed the game a lot more if I did, but that's on me.
The saving grace of this game is its story really. I am fascinated by greek mythology and it's always exciting to see various interpretations. This game exceeds the first in storytelling, having some really awesome moments and amazing twists. Boss fights in this title are also much better because they incorporate some really unique mechanics and have creative ways of keeping gameplay fresh. The final boss was really exciting this time around, with a sense of spectacle and a good difficulty level, albeit not the most creative fight in the game.
Some sections of the game were straight up trash, for example fighting Mole Cerberus and the escort level in the Temple of Lahkesis. Both of those make you want to cry because of their obnoxious anti-player and anti-fun designs. The numerous YouTube tutorials for each show I'm not alone on that.
Overall this is probably worth a playthrough if you care for the narrative of the series and while it does have some awesome moments it's nothing too incredible that warrants playing just for gameplay alone. Safe to say I'm glad to be done with this title, but it succeeded in making me excited to play the next installment.