The Devs Should Be Embarrassed

[Corvid]

I'm genuinely impressed by just how terrible they managed to make this sequel. Not only is it somehow worse mechanically, but they've regressed to the level of a middle schooler's first puzzle game. Whoever decided to make this more of a "Puzzle" game should be genuinely, sincerely, truly embarrassed. I adored the first game for being as fast paced as it was challenging. When things finally clicked, every level felt amazing...except the cybervoid levels. You know, the things that literally thousands of people kept begging for the option to skip? And now, not only have they more than just doubled down on the cybervoids, but they've decided to make normal combat levels into "Puzzle" centric cesspits.

Timed platforms are near literally the very lowest form of puzzle mechanics. The absolute bottom of the pit for tools when making a "challenging" puzzle. You have taken what was one of the fastest first person games and made it into a mediocre, annoying, and aggravatingly slow pile of dross. Leave the timed platforms to p l a t f o r m i n g sections. Things that are, arguably, very out of place when they're more frequent than combat sections. But do not make every single combat level require you to sit there and wait for platforms to open up. That is so mindbogglingly obtuse that I would readily accept it if someone told me the devs sold the IP to someone else. How do you go from the speed of Ghostrunner 1 to the snail's pacing of...this. Whatever this tripe garbage is. This is not worth 40 dollars. It's not even worth 20. This feels like 10$ DLC made for a quick buck. The devs couldn't even be bothered to make a few extra animations for the taunts. I take it back, this doesn't feel like DLC. It feels like a compilation of puzzle themed custom maps made by an aspiring kid with promise in the community. Not. Devs. Charging. Money.

What an utter embarrassment.

[Corvid]

Originally posted by Sokurah:

I just beat the second "boss" and i need to agree so far.

First of all only 40 % made it this far. I know the game is new but considering mostly fans of this niche game will pick this up, and it's very early in the game, that seems really low.

The combat rooms feel sluggish and not as well designed as the first one. And there are too many boring traversal sections so far. It just feels as things would not connect that good as in the first game.

The void section where you float around was just terrible.

In this second boss fight i could not see where to go half the time, because of the weird lightning effects.

Also i cant remember the frist game having such a stupid boss as the frist one. He just teleports anywhere in the room which is also really weird. The game is about reacting fast from spot to spot but those need to be well connected and visible. A teleporting boss feels off.

I need to admit i'm not very good at the game tho. But i finished the frist one. Maybe i will finish this one too, but so far i'm not sure. It does not feel as good as the first one so far.

40% is...astoundingly low. If it were day one, sure, but it's been out a bit now. Sluggish is also exactly how I'd describe the new combat sections. Sluggish and sloppy. Instead of the diverse zones filled with moving machinery or intricate walls to jump between, these seem like cubes with occasional inserts. It's all just so underwhelming and slow. The very last thing wanted from a game like this.

My devotion to the first game was extensive. I bought it for 3 people and played it so many times that I was able to do a full run with less than 5 deaths. I a d o r e the first game. It's why I cannot stand what the second one has become. On one level, I died 40 times. 36 of those deaths were from falling off walls, jump jets not sending me far enough, hand bars not working at all, and geometry simply flinging me off.

This game just feels bad.

[Jack Demon]

Originally posted by 【=◈︿◈=】:

Originally posted by Sokurah:

I just beat the second "boss" and i need to agree so far.

First of all only 40 % made it this far. I know the game is new but considering mostly fans of this niche game will pick this up, and it's very early in the game, that seems really low.

The combat rooms feel sluggish and not as well designed as the first one. And there are too many boring traversal sections so far. It just feels as things would not connect that good as in the first game.

The void section where you float around was just terrible.

In this second boss fight i could not see where to go half the time, because of the weird lightning effects.

Also i cant remember the frist game having such a stupid boss as the frist one. He just teleports anywhere in the room which is also really weird. The game is about reacting fast from spot to spot but those need to be well connected and visible. A teleporting boss feels off.

I need to admit i'm not very good at the game tho. But i finished the frist one. Maybe i will finish this one too, but so far i'm not sure. It does not feel as good as the first one so far.

40% is...astoundingly low. If it were day one, sure, but it's been out a bit now. Sluggish is also exactly how I'd describe the new combat sections. Sluggish and sloppy. Instead of the diverse zones filled with moving machinery or intricate walls to jump between, these seem like cubes with occasional inserts. It's all just so underwhelming and slow. The very last thing wanted from a game like this.

My devotion to the first game was extensive. I bought it for 3 people and played it so many times that I was able to do a full run with less than 5 deaths. I a d o r e the first game. It's why I cannot stand what the second one has become. On one level, I died 40 times. 36 of those deaths were from falling off walls, jump jets not sending me far enough, hand bars not working at all, and geometry simply flinging me off.

This game just feels bad.

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who feels that way.
Unlike the first game, GR2 wasn't challenging at all.
The plot had potential but we ended up an anticlimactic plot and mediocre boss fights.

[Sokurah]

I just reset the tower levels at the first hack by accident. There is this weird new mechanic where you pick up additional jumps, never introduced before. I didnt really understood that and the objective said "drive".

I thought the bike was glitched so i went to "restart" level and its the whole stuff in the desert from the beginning again.

While this was a stupid mistake on my part and the amount of stuff i would need to replay is not that much, it mad me realise how much i loath playing this game. I just hate it. I hate the pace, i hate the placement, i just hate it while i really enjoyed the frist one.

The idea of replaying the stuff i did already caused physical pain and strain in me.

I'll uninstall because its not worth for me to keep going.

[Corvid]

Originally posted by Sokurah:

I just reset the tower levels at the first hack by accident. There is this weird new mechanic where you pick up additional jumps, never introduced before. I didnt really understood that and the objective said "drive".

I thought the bike was glitched so i went to "restart" level and its the whole stuff in the desert from the beginning again.

While this was a stupid mistake on my part and the amount of stuff i would need to replay is not that much, it mad me realise how much i loath playing this game. I just hate it. I hate the pace, i hate the placement, i just hate it while i really enjoyed the frist one.

The idea of replaying the stuff i did already caused physical pain and strain in me.

I'll uninstall because its not worth for me to keep going.

I think that really sums it all up greatly. The pacing just makes it a slog to even consider replaying. In GR1, I only dreaded the """puzzle""" levels in the cybervoid. In this, I dread most levels as I'm playing them.

[The Snacrifice]

I quite liked it. All the new mechanics felt good, the only level that felt a bit much was the 'open world'(not really that open world even) bike level with the three towers.22-24 hours for 100% wasn't that bad at all. Already excited for the DLC and a potential GR3

[MOSQUITO BURGERS]

No, these devs should be proud. Ghostrunner is a unique and super fun experience that will stand the test of time and has earned its place as a legend of gaming. This sequel makes that absolutely clear. I'm so glad these two games exist. I mean cyberpunk coolness + Mirrors Edge/Sekiro/Hotline Miami style gameplay...It's totally my jam.

[Jack Demon]

Originally posted by MOSQUITO BURGERS:

No, these devs should be proud. Ghostrunner is a unique and super fun experience that will stand the test of time and has earned its place as a legend of gaming. This sequel makes that absolutely clear. I'm so glad these two games exist. I mean cyberpunk coolness + Mirrors Edge/Sekiro/Hotline Miami style gameplay...It's totally my jam.

It's still a step backwards compared to the first game though.

[Corvid]

Originally posted by MOSQUITO BURGERS:

No, these devs should be proud. Ghostrunner is a unique and super fun experience that will stand the test of time and has earned its place as a legend of gaming. This sequel makes that absolutely clear. I'm so glad these two games exist. I mean cyberpunk coolness + Mirrors Edge/Sekiro/Hotline Miami style gameplay...It's totally my jam.

Comparing this to Mirror's edge, Sekiro or Hotline Miami is actual lunacy. Parry exists? Must be sekiro like!!!! One shot means death??? Gotta be like Hotline miami! You can wall run???? MIRROR'S EDGE!!!!!

It's a bit excessive to so critically point out how absurd those comparisons are, because I do get what you're going for, but it's still a horrendously bad set of things to compare. Literally one aspect from each game does not make it "cyberpunk coolness + Mirrors Edge/Sekiro/Hotline Miami style gameplay". In fact, the uniqueness you're claiming it has is drastically mitigated in the case of your example being anything other than an absurd stretch.

And the game is also a huge step back from the first game.

[Aggnog]

The combat is the worst part of the game, and platforming sections are too short and scattered to actually get a good flow in the game. Its really annoying and playing for 1-2 hours feels like 10.

[Jack Demon]

Originally posted by Aggnog:

The combat is the worst part of the game, and platforming sections are too short and scattered to actually get a good flow in the game. Its really annoying and playing for 1-2 hours feels like 10.

I just beat GR1's Kill Run and wave mode again.
The combat and movement is so much better than in GR2.

[Giggles]

Originally posted by 【=◈︿◈=】:

I'm genuinely impressed by just how terrible they managed to make this sequel. Not only is it somehow worse mechanically, but they've regressed to the level of a middle schooler's first puzzle game. Whoever decided to make this more of a "Puzzle" game should be genuinely, sincerely, truly embarrassed. I adored the first game for being as fast paced as it was challenging. When things finally clicked, every level felt amazing...except the cybervoid levels. You know, the things that literally thousands of people kept begging for the option to skip? And now, not only have they more than just doubled down on the cybervoids, but they've decided to make normal combat levels into "Puzzle" centric cesspits.

Timed platforms are near literally the very lowest form of puzzle mechanics. The absolute bottom of the pit for tools when making a "challenging" puzzle. You have taken what was one of the fastest first person games and made it into a mediocre, annoying, and aggravatingly slow pile of dross. Leave the timed platforms to p l a t f o r m i n g sections. Things that are, arguably, very out of place when they're more frequent than combat sections. But do not make every single combat level require you to sit there and wait for platforms to open up. That is so mindbogglingly obtuse that I would readily accept it if someone told me the devs sold the IP to someone else. How do you go from the speed of Ghostrunner 1 to the snail's pacing of...this. Whatever this tripe garbage is. This is not worth 40 dollars. It's not even worth 20. This feels like 10$ DLC made for a quick buck. The devs couldn't even be bothered to make a few extra animations for the taunts. I take it back, this doesn't feel like DLC. It feels like a compilation of puzzle themed custom maps made by an aspiring kid with promise in the community. Not. Devs. Charging. Money.

What an utter embarrassment.

I am so glad someone else agrees, I saw the bike in the announcement trailer and my first thought was "What the actual ♥♥♥♥? What has this got to do with parkour". The bike levels are so incredibly disappointing and obtusely boring. Cybervoid is as you say, worse than the first game, it looks better I'll grant it that but it plays out is annoyingly as the first games version. As I mentioned in my review for Project_Hel, platforming and puzzle solving don't have a place in a linear game like Ghostrunner and totally ruin the flow of the game. While the core gameplay of Ghostrunner is retained in GR2, every new feature seems to let it down massively. The bike feels arbitrary, the dialogue is obtusely boring I ended skipping it all and not listening to it, the story feels as arbitrary as the first games. Season pass? Live service model of a linear speedrunning game is intrinsically wrong.

The game is definitely not worth the price, even the base price. I wouldn't reccommend it if the core gameplay missions were as bad as rougerunner, cybervoid and the bike missions.

[Digital Demons]

yikes!
I kinda agree. this game overall is way easier. I am pretty disappointed in this compared to the first game. I remember there were boss fights I literally had to not blink to parry properly. Gaming journos are ruining gaming.

[Jack Demon]

Originally posted by Digital Demons:

yikes!
I kinda agree. this game overall is way easier. I am pretty disappointed in this compared to the first game. I remember there were boss fights I literally had to not blink to parry properly. Gaming journos are ruining gaming.

These days I have to check the negative reviews first before buying a game and then compare it to the positive ones. So many positive reviews are fake or make no sense at all.

[Corvid]

Originally posted by Jack Demon:

Originally posted by Digital Demons:

yikes!
I kinda agree. this game overall is way easier. I am pretty disappointed in this compared to the first game. I remember there were boss fights I literally had to not blink to parry properly. Gaming journos are ruining gaming.

These days I have to check the negative reviews first before buying a game and then compare it to the positive ones. So many positive reviews are fake or make no sense at all.

What ever could you mean? I really love that 90% of positive reviews on steam are just memes, emojis, or literal keyboard mashing! It's a great way to determine if a game is legitimately good or not! It doesn't make it convoluted or difficult to tell the quality of a title at all! Especially when those """reviews""" get thousands of "Helpful" upvotes!

[Chrome Daimao]

To be honest, I didn't even get that far. I played for about 60 seconds, realized the control scheme was significantly worse than the first (mostly due to the addition of "block"), then spent another 60 seconds browsing the available control schemes. I realized they were all absolute crap, went to keybinds, turned out it was only for mouse+KB... uninstalled.

I was able to forgive that kind of egregious oversight once, in the first game, but twice? No, you should have learned from your mistakes; if you didn't, I can only assume much of the rest of the game suffers from the same lack of awareness. Sounds like my assumption was right. Shame too, cuz the first one is an absolute gaming gem.