Just saying, but I do have a curator page. If you like my remarks about games, you can find more of them here: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44130985-TDP%27s-Gaming-Escapades

Making a sequel to a successful game is risky. On one hand, you have the opportunity to expand upon what you had built and fix its issues and shortcomings. But on the other hand, you have the player expectations. Depending on how the sequel is designed, it can fracture its playerbase.
On the surface, La-Mulana 2 seems like a worthy sequel. Areas look really good and characters are more detailed, have smoother animations and sport incredible-looking artworks. Aside from some exceptions like the remixed versions of the first game's tracks, the music still feels pleasant to listen to, even though it's no longer memorable. The controls have also been tweaked and now you are able to correct your position in the air, which makes for some pleasant platforming.
With all that, one is lead to believe that La-Mulana 2 must be nothing but a better version of the first game. But unfortunately, La-Mulana 2 also attempts to change its gameplay formula, turning the end result into a game that maintains a good quality, but diehard fans of its predecessor will have a very hard time enjoying.

I cannot believe how wildly different this game feels compared to the first game. La-Mulana 1 threw you into the gameplay with minimal information and said "good luck" to force you to find everything out for yourself with trial & error, as if you were an archaeologist who was discovering things on their own. La-Mulana 2 however, goes against the design mentality of its prequel especially in the beginning hours.
The first 2-3 hours in La-Mulana 2 has the game deliberately blocking off a lot of pathways to force you to find and beat the first area's boss before doing anything else. If you ever decide to not do that or fail to realize that's what the game wants you to do first, you will be entering the only optionally available area that features ice physics and instant death hazards, not meant to be messed with at that point. So you're basically forced to do what the game wants you to do before unveiling more of the map or you will get utterly lost and infuriated.
And the situation doesn't get much better after this time period. While the game opens up after beating the first boss and starts to feel more like the first game, it still does things that are quite at odds with what the series originally became known for. For starters, the game puts certain useful items (like the chalice) directly in your way instead of having you finding them as a reward for exploration or puzzle solving. The progression between areas feels very forced, as if the developers have designed an intended route for you to take, and deviating from this path usually ends with you arriving in locations that have close to zero survival/progression chance as bruteforcing is no longer an option. And then we have the game's newfound love of storytelling.

La-Mulana 2 has more emphasis on story and talking with non-playable characters compared to its predecessor. From time to time, you will run into other NPCs in the wild, some of them being key characters that are there for narration reasons, and lots more who you can talk to by entering doors to their chambers. Some of these NPCs only offer various lore tidbits, but there are quite a number of them that have direct influences over the gameplay progression. Not only some of the game's puzzle solutions are bound to doing specific tasks and then talking to specific NPCs for one or multiple times, but the game also blocks access to certain parts of the map and only opens them up after reaching some of these NPCs. Some of the more important ones even send you messages every once in a while to explain how hazards work and tell you where you need to use which items. Coupled with the forced progression path at the beginning of the game, and all of the other changes, these make for a more controlled experience compared to the first game.
And all of this can underwhelm the fans of the previous installment, to the point I was seriously considering getting a refund due to how awful and streamlined the experience felt for me. All of these new design decisions go against the groundwork laid by the first game. No longer you are finding about things by yourself and no longer the hurdles that block the way to new areas are your wits and your equipment. Speaking of which...

Progression in La-Mulana 2 feels painfully slow and unrewarding, and you will probably be shocked (in a negative way) to find out how much stuff you have found on your own after a couple hours of adventuring.
After 6 hours in La-Mulana 1, half of my inventory was filled with items that each helped me progress further in the game. I was constantly finding new items to use and in turn getting access to new locations. Then I play La-Mulana 2 and after 8 hours of gameplay resulting in the discovery of 8 fast travel locations and slaying two bosses, I still feel like I have done nothing of value as my inventory is nearly empty. The game conveniently puts important items in your way instead of asking you to find them in the wild, and then it has the nerve to act stingy when it comes to rewarding you when you actually put in some effort. Many times you solve puzzles just to see pathways opening instead of getting a reward or beat minibosses/bosses to get items that you either don't need at the time or don't know what to do with them. To put a cherry on top of everything, many of the chests are now locked behind sigils instead of puzzles so you won't be rewarded for trying to attempt a later area earlier.

And that's just the changes to exploration. When it comes to combat, La-Mulana 2 is also not completely satisfactory. The improved controls do make for a nicer time going around and fighting with the enemies and bosses, but I do not understand the decision to reduce the invulnerability time. There are a lot of places in the game where you can get stunlocked by the enemies and traps. You get hit by an enemy, get knocked backwards as a result, then hit another enemy/projectile/trap and take another hit as the invulnerability time ends quickly. This is especially visible with the enemies who carry weapons that act like semi-automatic guns.
And then we have the bosses and minibosses who are boring and not fun to fight at all this time around. Many of the bosses require only the bare minimum of your platforming abilities. If you are especially attentive and lucky, you might even find flaws in their behavior and make some of them freeze in place, not moving at all and ready to take hits. They even have changed the way you face bosses, going from a near instant transition to bosses' arenas to making you wait for a couple seconds with nothing special happening.


Now, all of this is not to say the game is bad. La-Mulana 2 is a good game on its own. But when we take it as a SEQUEL and compare it to what came before, the changes are visible and disheartening. This is not more of what I strangely ended up loving... it's something familiar yet very different.
And I honestly don't know why the devs did this. Was it player feedback? Did they try to change their game to appeal to more people? Did they want to experiment and try a different design mentality for the franchise? Whatever the reason, I am not a fan of it... and I now have much desire to play the first game again instead of continuing this one.


A good game on its own, but a serious downgrade compared to the first game. It improves many things, but also changes the gameplay into something that feels more controlled and less rewarding.

[quote]Just saying, but I do have a curator page. If you like my remarks about games, you can find more of them here: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44130985-TDP%27s-Gaming-Escapades [/quote] Making a sequel to a successful game is risky. On one hand, you have the opportunity to expand upon what you had built and fix its issues and shortcomings. But on the other hand, you have the player expectations. Depending on how the sequel is designed, it can fracture its playerbase. On the surface, La-Mulana 2 seems like a worthy sequel. Areas look really good and characters are more detailed, have smoother animations and sport incredible-looking artworks. Aside from some exceptions like the remixed versions of the first game's tracks, the music still feels pleasant to listen to, even though it's no longer memorable. The controls have also been tweaked and now you are able to correct your position in the air, which makes for some pleasant platforming. With all that, one is lead to believe that La-Mulana 2 must be nothing but a better version of the first game. But unfortunately, La-Mulana 2 also attempts to change its gameplay formula, turning the end result into a game that maintains a good quality, but diehard fans of its predecessor will have a very hard time enjoying. [h2]Look how they massacred my boy...[/h2] I cannot believe how wildly different this game feels compared to the first game. La-Mulana 1 threw you into the gameplay with minimal information and said "good luck" to force you to find everything out for yourself with trial & error, as if you were an archaeologist who was discovering things on their own. La-Mulana 2 however, goes against the design mentality of its prequel especially in the beginning hours. The first 2-3 hours in La-Mulana 2 has the game deliberately blocking off a lot of pathways to force you to find and beat the first area's boss before doing anything else. If you ever decide to not do that or fail to realize that's what the game wants you to do first, you will be entering the only optionally available area that features ice physics and instant death hazards, not meant to be messed with at that point. So you're basically forced to do what the game wants you to do before unveiling more of the map or you will get utterly lost and infuriated. And the situation doesn't get much better after this time period. While the game opens up after beating the first boss and starts to feel more like the first game, it still does things that are quite at odds with what the series originally became known for. For starters, the game puts certain useful items (like the [spoiler]chalice[/spoiler]) directly in your way instead of having you finding them as a reward for exploration or puzzle solving. The progression between areas feels very forced, as if the developers have designed an intended route for you to take, and deviating from this path usually ends with you arriving in locations that have close to zero survival/progression chance as bruteforcing is no longer an option. And then we have the game's newfound love of storytelling. [h2]Hey! Listen![/h2] La-Mulana 2 has more emphasis on story and talking with non-playable characters compared to its predecessor. From time to time, you will run into other NPCs in the wild, some of them being key characters that are there for narration reasons, and lots more who you can talk to by entering doors to their chambers. Some of these NPCs only offer various lore tidbits, but there are quite a number of them that have direct influences over the gameplay progression. Not only some of the game's puzzle solutions are bound to doing specific tasks and then talking to specific NPCs for one or multiple times, but the game also blocks access to certain parts of the map and only opens them up after reaching some of these NPCs. Some of the more important ones even send you messages every once in a while to explain how hazards work and tell you where you need to use which items. Coupled with the forced progression path at the beginning of the game, and all of the other changes, these make for a more controlled experience compared to the first game. And all of this can underwhelm the fans of the previous installment, to the point I was seriously considering getting a refund due to how awful and streamlined the experience felt for me. All of these new design decisions go against the groundwork laid by the first game. No longer you are finding about things by yourself and no longer the hurdles that block the way to new areas are your wits and your equipment. Speaking of which... [h2]Why does it feel like I've accomplished nothing so far?[/h2] Progression in La-Mulana 2 feels painfully slow and unrewarding, and you will probably be shocked (in a negative way) to find out how much stuff you have found on your own after a couple hours of adventuring. After 6 hours in La-Mulana 1, half of my inventory was filled with items that each helped me progress further in the game. I was constantly finding new items to use and in turn getting access to new locations. Then I play La-Mulana 2 and after 8 hours of gameplay resulting in the discovery of 8 fast travel locations and slaying two bosses, I still feel like I have done nothing of value as my inventory is nearly empty. The game conveniently puts important items in your way instead of asking you to find them in the wild, and then it has the nerve to act stingy when it comes to rewarding you when you actually put in some effort. Many times you solve puzzles just to see pathways opening instead of getting a reward or beat minibosses/bosses to get items that you either don't need at the time or don't know what to do with them. To put a cherry on top of everything, many of the chests are now locked behind sigils instead of puzzles so you won't be rewarded for trying to attempt a later area earlier. [h2]One step forward, two steps back...[/h2] And that's just the changes to exploration. When it comes to combat, La-Mulana 2 is also not completely satisfactory. The improved controls do make for a nicer time going around and fighting with the enemies and bosses, but I do not understand the decision to reduce the invulnerability time. There are a lot of places in the game where you can get stunlocked by the enemies and traps. You get hit by an enemy, get knocked backwards as a result, then hit another enemy/projectile/trap and take another hit as the invulnerability time ends quickly. This is especially visible with the enemies who carry weapons that act like semi-automatic guns. And then we have the bosses and minibosses who are boring and not fun to fight at all this time around. Many of the bosses require only the bare minimum of your platforming abilities. If you are especially attentive and lucky, you might even find flaws in their behavior and make some of them freeze in place, not moving at all and ready to take hits. They even have changed the way you face bosses, going from a near instant transition to bosses' arenas to making you wait for a couple seconds with nothing special happening. Now, all of this is not to say the game is bad. La-Mulana 2 is a good game on its own. But when we take it as a SEQUEL and compare it to what came before, the changes are visible and disheartening. This is not more of what I strangely ended up loving... it's something familiar yet very different. And I honestly don't know why the devs did this. Was it player feedback? Did they try to change their game to appeal to more people? Did they want to experiment and try a different design mentality for the franchise? Whatever the reason, I am not a fan of it... and I now have much desire to play the first game again instead of continuing this one. [h2]TL;DR[/h2] A good game on its own, but a serious downgrade compared to the first game. It improves many things, but also changes the gameplay into something that feels more controlled and less rewarding.