Ignoring all the plot holes the narrative is more interesting than I remembered. Ghosts of the past and all that. Still has all the same problems as the last game, only compounded. Puzzles are much more logic based affairs involving math or simple arithmetic. I liked the weird tricky puzzles of the first game. Nothing here is trying to catch you out, but it's all the worse for it.
The aesthetic, music, and tone of the game is certainly more notable though. Again not much logic to the twist, but if we take it as a world propped up by this thin hope then it works. Now that I think about it that castle certainly supports that theme.
Like the first, it's just as pleasant, but still missing some key element I can't quite place. Perhaps the third will provide more insight.

Great experience, but fails to bring HL to the next level. At their core these have always been great tech demo games, it's why I'm glad they decided to do this in VR, but the problem is that it fails to innovate. Every great thing that Alyx does for VR I feel that I've seen other places, that's not a mark against it, quite the contrary. It produces a wonderful showing of some amazing tech by aping QoL aspects from other games. This on its own would be fine, but it also apes stuff from the other half life games, notably the ending of 2. It's a project which has absolutely reinvigorated the series while failing to add anything which makes it unique outside of its platform. Utilizing all of these aspects and smashing them together into a spectacle is a great experience, but it's not a great game.

EDIT: I am wrong, so completely wrong. Not only a hugely interesting game, but almost definitely a masterpiece. Imma make a video on this one.

I went in with low expectations and that was a good thing because it somewhat exceeded them. It's about everything I thought it would be, from the pointless trinkets to the shallow combat. The naval combat in particular is spectacular initially, but it wanes when you realize it's just spam cannons and mortars. It is a good thing then that the world is wonderfully realized, it just feels good to inhabit. Drunkards wander the streets, people talking among each other, workers going on about their day. It feels surly and dirty with rats littering the streets and seedy filth lines the facades. It's then a shame that the story is just kind of fine.
It had been built up as being the pinnacle of the franchise in terms of its story, and I'm sure it is, but it's really just a series of plot contrivances to get Edward into a world he doesn't belong. The assassins and templar stuff is awful, it's boring and it's basic, all this needed was a man dealing with the fallout of his society, but instead it is endless ex-positing and talking. People never shut up, even in the end when you should just be sailing off quietly with your daughter, they talk about nothing, soiling the moment.
I get idea of freedom vs order relating well with assasins:templars and pirates:government, but the execution is bloated and painfully long. There are about a hundred characters whose names you'll forget instantly, and blackbeard, whose whole purpose is just to populate the world. It's hardly a mess, but it does feel like too many cooks in the kitchen, the animus notes is a good indication of that. It was a nice place to inhabit for a while, but not one I think I'll be returning to.

The vibes are all wrong, but maybe that's the point. Max feels decidedly different from the previous entries, dumber and much angrier at the world and himself. The previous Max resigned himself to his noir existence, but maybe this one has been stewing in it too long. A man forced to live in constant noir is gonna become a freak, just look at Bogart. I need to ruminate on this one and 2 for a bit; they both seem to have more going on under the hood. Might replay all 3 once I've finished up Remedy.

It's a step in the right direction, but there are some kinks. The enemy AI in one section had me actually turn on the not-so-scary mode 'cause he wouldn't move from one spot and it was a hassle either leashing or shoving past him.
The projector slides are a definite improvement over the walls of text from the main game, but still suffer the same issue of reading like exposition rather than discoveries. There really needed to be some kind of obfuscation to gamify the process of archaeology, but overall net positive.
As it is and based on additions to the ending it clearly reads as a prototyping phase for what will likely be Outer Wilds 2. It doesn't add enough to the core experience or fit well enough into the world to be called anything, but contrived. If it's up to me I'd cut this out of any future playthroughs, which thankfully they were mindful enough to preserve, but taken on its own it's pretty neat.