This review contains spoilers
What is the game actually like?
You wake up in a dream world, an endless maze of buildings, with a gun and some bullets. You have to find these little tapes that make a strange singing noise. Each tape you listen to progresses you towards the next level. Each new level brings a different random gun from a set. The Threat sends horrible little robots after you, initially just static sentries but later, worse. Your best shot is to spot them first and disable them from a distance. If they kill you, you'll 'rank down' and start from the previous level. It's pretty tough once you get to the 3rd rank, but if you're careful you can get higher. There is a huge amount of fun to be had here, if you like stealth without vision cones and you like careful shooting with as much of the operating burden on the player as I've seen in any game (I learned a lot from these games about how guns actually work). I have never finished it but I've reached the final rank, and played a ton of it in any case. It's not for everyone but it's really really something.
Theme chat
(CW self harm, mental illness)
I enjoyed the first game a lot, and when this came out it was a big moment for me. More of the gun simulation that is very neatly done, more terrifying beeps to make you freeze and then run, more hunting for tapes. And importantly, still no shooting at people or even people-shaped things. The tapes and talking about the Threat more explicitly made it feel clear that the Threat is a metaphor for depression or other mental illnesses that can cause self harm. Much time in the tapes is spent on stories of people with clear depression spiralling or recovering, as well as gun safety/clearing malfunctions to prevent accidents. The tapes even talk about the stuff the US Army did to desensitise their soldiers to killing other people (human-shaped targets, distancing themselves mentally from their actions, etc.). I don't think the game is trying to tell you to keep a gun close and be ready for a physical threat. I think it's trying to tell you to take care of yourself and watch your brain for signs of an internal threat, and also if you have a gun, take it Very Seriously and don't assume anything is safe about it. All messages I support, really.
You wake up in a dream world, an endless maze of buildings, with a gun and some bullets. You have to find these little tapes that make a strange singing noise. Each tape you listen to progresses you towards the next level. Each new level brings a different random gun from a set. The Threat sends horrible little robots after you, initially just static sentries but later, worse. Your best shot is to spot them first and disable them from a distance. If they kill you, you'll 'rank down' and start from the previous level. It's pretty tough once you get to the 3rd rank, but if you're careful you can get higher. There is a huge amount of fun to be had here, if you like stealth without vision cones and you like careful shooting with as much of the operating burden on the player as I've seen in any game (I learned a lot from these games about how guns actually work). I have never finished it but I've reached the final rank, and played a ton of it in any case. It's not for everyone but it's really really something.
Theme chat
(CW self harm, mental illness)
I enjoyed the first game a lot, and when this came out it was a big moment for me. More of the gun simulation that is very neatly done, more terrifying beeps to make you freeze and then run, more hunting for tapes. And importantly, still no shooting at people or even people-shaped things. The tapes and talking about the Threat more explicitly made it feel clear that the Threat is a metaphor for depression or other mental illnesses that can cause self harm. Much time in the tapes is spent on stories of people with clear depression spiralling or recovering, as well as gun safety/clearing malfunctions to prevent accidents. The tapes even talk about the stuff the US Army did to desensitise their soldiers to killing other people (human-shaped targets, distancing themselves mentally from their actions, etc.). I don't think the game is trying to tell you to keep a gun close and be ready for a physical threat. I think it's trying to tell you to take care of yourself and watch your brain for signs of an internal threat, and also if you have a gun, take it Very Seriously and don't assume anything is safe about it. All messages I support, really.