What happened to this game?

[Nanashi]

Almost 2 years ago, there was a prototype demo of this game. I was pretty amazed by that and couldn't wait for the finished game. Now it's here and it's nothing like the demo. I know games can change a lot during development. But with Sylvio 2, it's more than that. It feels like the game was stripped down to the bare minimum.

Here are some features, that were promised back then I found on an online article about Sylvio 2:

- Thrilling main story about mysterious ghosts with a lot puzzles and difficult tasks
There is barely no story and no puzzles. Don't know what was meant with the difficult tasks, but I'm sure what is meant with that isn't in the game either

- Explore a sunken and burned world, immersed in fog
There are now just some pretty small locations, which are connected with some sort of overworld, wich is just water and some tiny, blank islands here and there

- Fighting against black orbs and other enemies
There are absolutely no enemies, let alone something that's close to combat

- Lucid dreaming as gameplay mechanic. You can actively explore Juliettes dreams and nightmares .
Nothing to comment about that, there's not even a hint of that in the game.

It feels like, they took some sort of side missions from the original game (something like optional ghost storys you could explore) and took them together as game.
Don't get me wrong. I liked the game and had a great time playing it. But I'm still very disappointed that so much was scrapped, that the game is even a lot of steps back from the first game.

[DeltaTwoZero]

Same here. All that positive reviews seems aint legit.

[robertblane]

I agree with everything you said above, the prototype for Sylvio 2 can still be seen on You Tube and boy oh boy is that a very different game than the mimimalist game which was finally released. The dev got a lot crammed into the first game, but the second game is linear with no combat, no puzzles to speak of, and a lack of interesting landscapes or house interiors in comparison to what the prototype offered. A very different game entirely from what was released. Nik Swanberg did a reskin of the first game not that long ago and what he needs to do is to completely redo Sylvio 2 and bring us what was orignally promised and presented in that awesome looking prototype. The Sylvio 2 we have right now now doesn't even appear to be related to the first game, it seems to be more of an afterthought... A sequel should be bigger, better, a stronger story, more puzzles and MORE of everything that the first game possessed. So Niklas, sorry but you seriously do need to go back to the drawing board and bring what was promised. People do remember. And even if we have to pay for a new game called Sylvio 2.5, if you can bring to the table what was promised, then you will go up in our expectations and Sylvio 2.5 will get a much stronger fanbase. Food for thought.

[AwesamLinux]

Basically what happened is that the Sylvio 2 Kickstarter failed to raise the necessary funds. Either you manage the raise all the funds, or you get nothing, that's unfortunately how Kickstarter works.

Sylvio 2 was going to have much more features, and with better production values. As can be seen from the prototype that looked completely different to the game we got. Obviously everyone would rather had what was originally planned.

I still enjoyed playing Sylvio 2. But I really hope there will eventually be a remastered version with more gameplay features.

[MAriskaDeville]

Originally posted by DeltaTwoZero:

Same here. All that positive reviews seems aint legit.

I left a positive review, and yes it is legit. No key was provivded.

I based my experience on how much I enjoyed the game - I was totally unaware of any kickstarter or any of the stated goals so that had no bearing on my review.

Nor would it have done as none of those statements are made on the steam store page - therefore the game has not been misrepresented by the developer. It is what it is, not what it could have been had the develpoers met their kickstarter target.

And in all honesty it's a farily decent game as it stands. Still it's a great shame he never got the funding to have made it all it could have been, as those extra goals do sound enticing.

[sturmkoenig2k]

I was just not prepared for this downgraded experience from the first game. :( I only watched the demo videos after i finished the game.

[that's what she said]

Jesus Christ wtf is this trash. First game was very fun and prototype demo looked amazing.

And this game has nothing to do with both. This is crap, dev should had cancelled the game altogether instead of releasing this afwul thing. Whole game feels like it was made from a in 2-3 months from a scratch in order to get some money from people who liked first game. I feel scammed.

I'm not really into 'follow the dots until none left', it's not a f**king pac-man! There is no 'world' and no setting. You just move from house to house (there isn't any overworld, just a big empty nothing with ugly 'islands' with a single hole to enter) and collect dots. No exploration, no any gameplay, no horror, no 'main area' since it's just an empty void, there is nothing at all even resembling the first game. WHOLE game is 'follow the dots through house'. This is awful game, and even worse - it's awful sequel to a great game.

There is nothing to remaster in Sylvio 2 - it's a walking sim without exploration, visuals and story.

[Fireeye]

Agreed. This looks like a textbook example for a game whose kickstarter failed, and which was hastily thrown out in the form of a glorified tech demo by the developer anyway despite of a lack in both time and resources.

Mind you, I do have lots of respect for proverbial one-man studios, but this just isn't anything that Sylvio 1 would have deserved as a sequel.