Allow me to preface this by saying that I adored Vox Populi Vox Dei 1. I played it all the time in high school and loved it, it was a welcome change of pace from the standard flash platformers that overwhelm the market and was challenging, but still fair. I'm also a seasoned veteran of the platformer genre.

With that out of the way I need to state that Vox Populi 2 is not Vox Populi 1.

VP1 was a puzzle game with a side-scroller facade. There were minor platforming elements, but on the whole the game's focus was progressing past the baddies in your way by a means of stealth, planning and timing. Platforming mechanics like death pits and jumping gaps took a backseat to the design elements of the game.

VP2, however, tosses most of this out the window and stages itself like your typical indie platforming game. It has spike traps, projectile hazards, and jumping puzzles. A lot of the game relies on trial and error and sheer persistence to get through, so much so in fact that I feel compelled to compare it to "I Wanna Be the Guy".

At this point, although episodic, the story feels almost negligable. While the first game's plot was simple yet engaging, the story to this point has taken so many twists and turns that it feels more like a parody then something I'm interested in seeing through to the end.

The learning curve is pretty relentless as well: I found myself dying more than dozens of time on the first level of platforming. Maybe I'm just rusty, but I'm more inclined to blame the game's controls. They're simply not tight enough for the kind of precision platforming that VP2 demands of it's player. They feel slippery and it takes too long in some cases to get the horizontal momentum you need to be making it from platform A to platform B, which is why I found myself needing to take most of the jumps while hanging off the edge of platform A to compensate. In a game where you need to be making sudden stops and precise landings the controls should be built to match it.

Attacking werewolves also feels much less rewarding because of the controls, since mashing the space bar to do it at maximum speed is no longer an option. It seems to me to be because the player character can make another slash at his enemy after the previous attacking animation has ended. This makes the mashing feeling of destroying another creature feel far less rewarding and take the same amount of time every time instead of spurting blood on every key press a-la VP1.

The level design is poor as well. There are many cases in which you'll be committing to blind jumps and falls, relying primarily on the level to give you a checkpoint or platform to land safely onto. Even the spacing of checkpoints is relentless, one of the first jumping segments has you complete six different finicky jumping segments before allowing you a checkpoint.

There's another level early on where you encounter a machine stamping the floor of a hallway with spikes from above. By and large it's your standard 'wait until this hazard stops functioning before moving past it' type of timing puzzle, but it takes a good 10 seconds before complete its loop, which feels far too long to be waiting around to study it's pattern. What's more is there are 4 of them, each one is larger then the last and takes longer to complete as a result. Big elements of the design just feel poorly thought out at times which drags the gameplay to a screeching halt.

The design does attempt a few interesting turns later on when a stage uses it's blood particle mechanic to help the player see platforms. But for some reason it decides it needs a space shooter stage and a level that mirrors the player on the top and bottom half of the screen, forcing you to keep both sides alive. On the whole it's nothing that hasn't been used in a platformer game before, and to better effect then it achieves, so the question remains as to why they would choose to implement it at all?

Design issues aside, that's my main point of contention. I'm just left bewildered as to why the creators decided to scrap the puzzle formula to adopt a platformer approach. Vox Populi 1 was a game that used it's puzzle game design to great effect and I really was excited to see all the places a sequel could possibly go. However Vox Populi 2 just adapts to a saturated market and is just another platformer which makes the sequel immensely disappointing, and it's certainly not the game I was hoping for it to be.


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tl;dr

If you're a fan of difficult indie platformer/action games and willing to lose one or two lives to design choices, this game may be for you.

But

If you're expecting a sequel to Vox Populi 1 in the same style of gameplay, you may want to hold off on playing this one.

edit: finished the game. the end throws some really interesting puzzle mechanics at you. overall nice, but the one complaint about the entire game that i have is that the difficulty spikes a LOT. it's still fun, just kinda annoying sometimes.

the original was a nice puzzle-platformer that was immensely satisfying yet pretty short. go look it up if you haven't played it, it's free.

anyways, this game has more elements of "platform hell" than it does "puzzle", but both elements are still there. it reminds me of 1001 spikes in that aspect. speaking of 1001 spikes, expect a lot of unfair deaths here and there, but levels are typically short enough that it feels like a slap in the wrist. (at least where i'm at, i've beaten the game halfway and will update this review when i finish it). it's not really for everyone in this aspect

the platforming is VERY wonky and slip-slidey to begin with but you get used to it fast. beating the ♥♥♥♥ out of the werewolves is a lot more satisfying in this game because they're a lot harder to get at, but the button-mashing doesn't really feel right. minor inconvenience at most. just realize that it's probably gonna take 4-5 seconds to kill them compared to the first game, which was a lot faster if i remember correctly

the graphics are nice, gives me an "another world" vibe. before you complain about the pixel aesthetic keep in mind that the first one was made in a time before that kind of stuff became the norm. music is almost non-existant for atmospheric reasons, i'd assume.

verdict: a nice little puzzler that's worth its price but not for everyone. if you're on the fence about it, wait for a sale.

Developed and published by Great Cogs, Vox Populi Vox Dei 2 (Latin for “the voice of the people is the voice of God”) is as the name suggests, a sequel. Unfortunately, the first one in the series (launched in 2009) is not yet available on Steam. I have played both for quite a few hours and I’m pleased to say that we’re dealing with a worthy sequel here, which only improves upon the foundation of the series. This may be Great Cogs’ first game on Steam, but they managed to provide a fine pixelart platformer with plenty of gore and diversity. It most certainly stands out from your run-of-the-mill platforming games.

Vox Populi Vox Dei 2 has medium-sized levels with both enemies (werewolves) and obstacles to pass through. The platforming sections are balanced with combat and several puzzles along the way. It may seem a bit difficult after the first few levels, as the game has boss fights and one of the few gameplay flaws, has to be the limited number of checkpoints found between the levels. It is true that the old school platformers had next to no saving system, but the mark of a modern game has to be its potential to pick up and also pause or leave the game state intact, between gaming sessions. This is indeed a game in which you get used to dying quite a lot so having to restart the level or even further than that, might become troublesome for some new players.

The game’s graphics are more than decent and the slightly limited color palette fits the atmosphere. The character sprites are well made and the many gory ways to die within the game provide ample animation diversity. The level design doesn’t get repetitive fast and there over 50 levels to complete.

The game’s sounds and music fit the style and while it is most certainly not as limited as many other platformers, some sounds do get repetitive eventually. Quite rare for a 2D platformer, are the presence of ingame cinematics Not once did the game steer away from its intended lycanthrope theme.

+ Classic type of gameplay
+ Horror and gore themes are well defined
+ Pleasant graphics and character sprites
+ Steam Trading Cards & Achievements


- It requires some trial and error
- The checkpoint save system is quite sparse
- A few repetitive sounds

This game never felt boring and while it did prove a bit difficult, the story was worth it. For a platformer, it mixed very well the gory elements along with combat sections and obstacle avoiding. The checkpoints could have been a bit more but once you get accustomed to the levels, passing them was never too hard. It is a game which knows its value and provides both Achievements and Trading Cards, making it a good addition to any Steam game collector and not just the nostalgic platforming gamers looking for a new challenge.

Rating 8/10

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An enjoyable platformer about a ninja trying to rescue a girl while ripping some werewolfs apart.

Pros:

• Challenging gameplay.
  
• Many collectibles.
  
• Beautiful pixelated art style and great character design each one looks unique!
  
• Nice controls. Control support available.
  
• Enjoyable boss fights.

Cons:

• This part is more sided on trial and error rather than stealth.
  
• Developer isn't active anymore so, ill guess we will never get part 3.
  
  Note: The game worth the try! It's really cheap for the quality you are receiving.

This game is weird. Super weird. One of the reasons you should buy it.

Other reasons:

*You play a ninja who murders werewolves who shoot lasers from their chest
*You murder a statue, a tree, and a giant lizard.
*You navagate a giant monster's intestines by popping its blood vessels and using the blood to reveal hidden blocks.
*The non-game (promotional, ect) art has an awesome Art Deco aesthetic, and who doesn't love Art Deco?
*It's cheap.
*It's challenging.
*If you buy it, they'll make an episode 3.

Good old times... I remember playing the first game years ago. It's been six years, wow. I remember that I searched the whole internet for the second game. Now there it is. I almost forgot this series existed. Anyway, let's get to it.

Pros:
-Interesting and confusing story
-Gameplay
-Musics
-Laser shooting epic wolves.
-Epic boss fights.

Cons:
-Wolves don't have ding-dongs anymore.

Vox Populi Vox Dei 2 is a pretty hard but fair platformer with puzzle parts and it has even a side-scrolling shooter insert.

If you like this style and retro game mechanics you will be satisfied for sure.

It isnt too long but varied. It took me a few enjoyable hours to finish it. In view of the price its a really good deal.

My playtime: 3h (based on steam, 100% achievements)
Grindy Achievement: Yes (1 achievement; it took me 0.7h to finish it).
Optional Achievement: Yes (21 achievements).
Difficult Achievement: Yes (1 achievement; it's not really that hard, you just need to redo it a few times).
Developer Response: No (last response on 31 Dec, 2016).

Vox Populi Vox Dei 2 is a platformer game and a sequel to Vox Populi, Vox Dei(a werewolf thriller)[www.kongregate.com]. The sequel also has bullet hell mechanics in some level and relies on stealth and/or timing in order to clear some levels.

The game has simple, yet beautiful animations. The enemies are basically just a pixelated black thingie and you're mostly blue colored. The backgrounds and the levels are amazing though; they look beautiful and breathtaking for pixel arts. There are also some rain and lighting on some levels that makes the art looks better. Despite the game being a pixel art, the UI has the normal 2D art with sharp and simple style. The design and animation is so cool that it looks like you're watching an intro from a movie.

The game has some cutscenes although there is no single word in the game (except for the control tutorial). The story mostly is just a "show and tell" type that doesn't take too long and most of them are just a cutscene for the next event that is happening to the character, and not the main story. This makes the main story to be hard to understand except the fact that the character's lovers is being kidnapped by someone. Despite all that, i like the fact that all levels are related to each other.

As i said before, it is a platformer game. The game has 54 levels in total (including some levels that only require you to walk to finish the level) and it will start off by teaching you the ropes. However, even with all those tutorial, i got stuck right after the tutorial ends. I always tried to kill all enemies whenever i can out of habit and there is actually a level where you don't have to kill them all. It took me a lot of tries before i understand that i don't have to kill all enemies to proceed.

Speaking of killing, yes, you can kill enemies. You'll either have to backstab or charge at the enemies before they kill you in order to kill them. There are some enemies that can't be killed though. However, the killing animation takes too long and you need to press space a lot of times until it's done.

The game itself is a platformer to its core, and a challenging one at that (it's not on a super difficult one though). There are 5 stages in the game where every stages have their own distinctive mechanics: stealth, precise timing, bullet hell, multitasking, and "a leap of faith" type of thing where you have to "calculate" your own distance and hoping that you'll get it. Some levels might be annoying to solve, but the game tends to have checkpoints on the longer stages and there aren't that many levels in each stage; you'll finish all of the levels in one stage before you get bored of the mechanics.

The game also has 4 main bosses. Most of the bosses are unique and each of them have different skills. You'll have to identify the bosses' skills and the most effective way to beat it. There are also some cutscene before and after the boss fights end and i really like the second boss' cutscene.

Pros:
- 54 levels
- 4 main bosses
- Checkpoints

Cons:
- Killing wolves take too long

This is a platformer game with different mechanics in each stages. Each levels are connected to each other and there is also a bullet hell mechanic in it. The game needs a precise timing at some of the levels and while it's not really that hard, it might be annoying to some people.

Yes.
If you like flashy platformer games that has a bullet hell in it, buy this game. Make sure to buy it on discount though because it's kinda short.

I get what this game tried to do, and what it wanted to be. I also know what it should have been, and I'm a little dissapointed. It's a good game, but it isn't what I was expecting given its sequel status, and it really isn't what I wanted.

VPVD 1 was a completely different style of game; it was part stealth, part puzzle, and part platformer. The focus was on solving puzzles and killing bad guys. There were no death pits in VPVD 1, nor were there many lethal obstacles. Usually you were killed by a werewolf who had spotted you, and there were plenty of puzzles in between.

VPVD 2 is a good game, certainly, but not really a sequel to VPVD 1 in any sense but in name. There are virtually no puzzles, the stealth aspect goes out the window within the first few minutes of gameplay, and death pits and obstacles abound. What we really have is a reimagined Super Meat Boy.

If you like that style of game, then by all means, buy this game, but if you were looking for a really strong sequel to VPVD 1, you should turn elsewhere.

Nice atmosphere with very good controls. I got it cheap in a bundle, but I am also inclined to say that it is worth the 1,49 EUR on Steam sale. Give it a try if you like indie platformers with some decent difficulty.

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