it feels weird finally playing this after so long, years of being an elusive game only released on Europe is quite the tragic tale
anyway
Siren 2 is in general a great improvement on the original with better controls, movement and combat, Siren 1 was design on a very specific way where dealing with enemies were more of a puzzle that actual combat, which you needed to outsmart them to progress, Siren 2's improvements puts in equal grounds with the Shibitos which lets you deal with them as you see fit, combat being very viable as long as you play your cards right and armed enemies can be fought back against, of course with this, the shibitos needed a big mix up to keep things fresh, with more unique types and increased in numbers, turning into more of a game of ammo management and speed more that a slow paced puzzle that you needed to figure out like in the original, alongside on certain characters having unique gimmicks exclusive to them helps the game still feel puzzle-like, though, if i had a single criticism about it, its that made wish for more levels certain gimmicks they introduced
in terms of horror, Siren 2's follows up an approach that was just implied in the previous game, making you feel like you the game's reality is seeping into yours as it links many website that treats certain events and characters as real people that existed, along side with the back of your head remembering how it presented the idea of alternative universes, as it is part of its core gameplay of fulfilling tasks in the past to complete future missions
though sadly, these websites are now defunct, so it feels like some of its immersion is lost
the game in a nutshell is a huge escalation on what was introduced in the original, the only thing missing is the cryptic nature, which they over-corrected at certain points seeing how Normal Mode just spells out what to do instead of actually giving you decent hints, highly recommended to play on Hard if you want a more similar experience to Siren 1 without working on schizophrenic logic.
anyway
Siren 2 is in general a great improvement on the original with better controls, movement and combat, Siren 1 was design on a very specific way where dealing with enemies were more of a puzzle that actual combat, which you needed to outsmart them to progress, Siren 2's improvements puts in equal grounds with the Shibitos which lets you deal with them as you see fit, combat being very viable as long as you play your cards right and armed enemies can be fought back against, of course with this, the shibitos needed a big mix up to keep things fresh, with more unique types and increased in numbers, turning into more of a game of ammo management and speed more that a slow paced puzzle that you needed to figure out like in the original, alongside on certain characters having unique gimmicks exclusive to them helps the game still feel puzzle-like, though, if i had a single criticism about it, its that made wish for more levels certain gimmicks they introduced
in terms of horror, Siren 2's follows up an approach that was just implied in the previous game, making you feel like you the game's reality is seeping into yours as it links many website that treats certain events and characters as real people that existed, along side with the back of your head remembering how it presented the idea of alternative universes, as it is part of its core gameplay of fulfilling tasks in the past to complete future missions
though sadly, these websites are now defunct, so it feels like some of its immersion is lost
the game in a nutshell is a huge escalation on what was introduced in the original, the only thing missing is the cryptic nature, which they over-corrected at certain points seeing how Normal Mode just spells out what to do instead of actually giving you decent hints, highly recommended to play on Hard if you want a more similar experience to Siren 1 without working on schizophrenic logic.