Recent reviews by Plumage

An addictive, high-octane, top-down western that looks like a moba and plays like a fighter, or at least a hybrid between the two. Easy-pick up and hard to master, it's got plenty to offer with a bunch of unique outlaws to play as, each with their own unique set of skills and stats. Genuinely one of the best gaming experiences I've had in a long while, and with a very active and involved group of devs, no matter how small, it's only bound to get better.

I wanted to really like this game, I did.

I was a huge fan of the first and how it played out, and while I was expecting some changes to come along in the process, I didn't expect them to be this bad.

The game isn't horrible by any means, but it's not what I want from a Hotline Miami Game. Somehow the game turned from a quick adrenaline pumping sprint through well constructed levels that offered their own challenges to a nauseating slog through a field of wasted potential. The level designs are interesting in their concept, with a certain mix of characters bringing their approach to how to complete the level, but they don't work in the least with how the game was designed. Everything is a series of open shooting galleries that happen to be packed full of goons with guns- -of course. You probably won't even see them until they shoot you or you have your shift key taped down. The only effective way to get through the game is to lure enemies around corners until you can smack or shoot them, and rinse and repeat until it is safe to move forward. This also highlights how poor the AI (and not to mention Buggy)is, and whereas in the first game the ignorance to the violence and destruction the enemies have was mostly masked by how quickly one had to move through the level, in this game expect to witness guards do endless rounds over broken glass and their bloodied buddies until you decide to poke your head out and lure them back to your murder corner. Some enemies later on won't even realize they've been shot, or pay no mind to a shotgun blast ripping their friend off their feet.

Going back to the story and characters. Once again, I feel a lot of potential was wasted here too. When I saw the trailers and first started playing, I was getting excited to take a peek into some of the heads of these individuals, and while at first I was mostly satisfied with the progress I was seeing, the story quickly loses all cohesion and starts to play out seemingly at random, throwing one scene after the next at you with little to no explination or closure. Normally this would have been alright, but it simply fails to ever follow up or connect anything, and just leaves so much hanging or cuts it off completely before anything really interesting can come of it. I won't even get into how abrupt and unsatisfying the ending felt to me.

Overall, the game isn't bad, and if you can deal with some frustrating flaws, you might be able to find some fun in the game. All the same, I can safely say that I don't desire giving it another play through, and can see where quite a few wouldn't even bother to finish one.

So much wasted potential.