A low point in Uchikoshi's modern library of games. A prime example of writing the twist first and writing backwards from it in order to try to make it make sense no matter how terrible that makes character motivations and reasons for keeping information from the player. Dragged down further by the very weak and pathetic attempts to make it so that you can play this game without playing the original (Which doesn't end up working because the story's emotional beats and revelations are reliant on you knowing important things from the first game. They should have just made this a proper sequel). Doubling down on sex jokes made at minors with adult characters STILL perving on women that just turned 18, action sequences that felt even more embarrassing than the first game as if that was possible, and some completely unresolved plot lines (BOAT MY GOOD SIR). I am still completely in awe of the horrible retcon they made to the first game that undermines the themes of found family, and also make no sense even when the characters try to handwave it in universe. Some of the reveals in this game were so bad that I had to take a minute to walk away. It can just be so... Hacky in the worst ways possible which is disappointing. At least its entertaining in the same way as watching The Room or Birdemic?

Ryuki's path while having a few good moments was comparable to Iris's route in the first game with very little substance actually going on and being boring, made worse by Ryuki then being absent from the other half of the game because both paths are completely divorced from each other. Mizuki and Ryuki paths should have been spliced so that both characters were given equal roles as protagonists. Ryuki felt like nothing in the end. Mizuki's path at least does pick up at the end and can at least be entertaining despite how nonsense the twists are. I think the new VR crime scene investigation also ruins the pacing as they all end up taking more time than any crime scene investigation of the original game, and there are multiple segments featuring VR crime scenes in this one.

The redeeming points of the story are some of the characters new and old (With still some incredibly annoying ones both new and old), some of the cool meta breaking events that were unrelated to the main twist, a few good somniums, and some of the humor still landing.

Overall, it weakens the first game and learned nothing from it.