very bugged since release of mea culpa, entering a DLC area SOMETIMES causes ALL (not only DLC) enemies to deal double damage to you. fixable with a workaround of duplicating save file several times, but inconsistent fix.
pls fix asap i love this game

A Massive downgrade from the first game in every way.

The graphics/art style is significantly worse than the original, this game looks like a cheap knockoff of the first one, like it was made by a different studio, it reminds me of what it felt like to try to play Batman Arkham origins after playing the real Rocksteady trilogy.

The world just feels wrong, the exploration was so good in the first one but in this one it feels disjointed, the original felt curated and well though out like eating a five course meal at a Michelin star restaurant, everything made sense and was well paced whereas this one feels like it was thrown together without much thought, like raiding the fridge at 3 AM.

Combat is also worse, spells have been massively downgraded and there are 3 weapons to choose from but they all feel kinda sluggish whereas the Mea Culpa just felt perfectly tight and precise.

The story, characters and overall tone feel childish compared to the first game, I really don't understand what the point of trying to broaden the appeal of the game is when the genre of the game itself is deeply unpopular nowadays anyway, the devs should've gone all the way and changed it to a 3rd person souls-like if they wanted more sales so badly, this halfway measure just sucks for everyone.

I love metroidvanias and there just aren't a whole lot of them out there unfortunately, so I'll just force myself to finish this one even though I think it's a really terrible sequel.

I saw that the first one got a massive graphical upgrade at some point, so I'm hoping against hope that the same will eventually happen to this one.

SCORE: 4/10.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ enemies that one-shot you as their on-death effect does not make for an enjoyable experience. Yes, I now know this particular enemy explodes when it dies, but having to play hyperdefensively and afraid of every enemy because you never know what new thing is just going to OHK you as a reward for killing it is not a fun experience. Especially when you then get to traverse multiple rooms just to get back there.

Showing the description and abilities of weapons until after you're semi-locked into one was also pretty terrible.

The core of the game could be fun, but there are too many rough edges here for anyone that wants to play the game without having to treat every enemy like a miniboss encounter.