Buy this game if:

✅ You were looking for a sequel where a more direct / less subtle approach to stealth based areas is allowed and heavily encouraged;
✅ The claustrophobic environments from the first game weren't that much up your alley;
✅ Even though you've enjoyed the previous game, you are now looking for more linear and less stealthy game;

Don't buy if:

❌ You wanted to see a deeper and meaningful story;
❌ Character development is a "must have" when playing a sequel for you;
❌ You're not into games with a way stretched plot, made unnecessarily long;
❌ You've loved the first game graphic, horror and thrilling elements; they're mostly gone into this game, which is much more linear and cinematic;

Verdict: a stretched 7.5 (just for the voice acting and the graphics/environments)

Time required to finish the main game: 15 hrs (advice: do not play at the lowest difficulty setting);
Time required to complete it at 100%: 22-25 hours (a NG+ is required to max out skills and tools);




1- Let's start with what's great: scenery and voice acting:


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3035675484


Hugo's and Amicia's journey touches now more cities, verdant bluffs and pictoresque cities from the South of France and (i guess) northern Spain, leaving back (for the most part) those chaotic and rotting places you've seen in the first game;
Voice acting remains suberb and the details, animations and costumes kept being well done and a real pleasure to be seen;



2- What...feels really out of place:


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3035675860


a) The change in scenery and atmoshpere is for sure a welcome surprise, however this messes up the whole story a lot . Forget getting into the Bishop's laboratory and the older battlefields, those are completely gone to push Amicia into a whole different character;

b) Amicia (especially in NG+, even at the highest difficulty level) becomes a war machine, thwarting/ negating the stealth mechanics in some chapters;

c) All The Rune's family members are grown into their role....probably too much, becoming even more bonded and self absorbed than before (yes, even their mother) but heavily influenced by one another, swinging from temper tantrums to other destructive, nonsensical and homicidal tendencies with too much ease;

d) The plot was too stretched: out of the 17 chapters which constitute the game, only 7-8 were actually impactful and needed, both from the gameplay perspective and from the story and lore side, which felt well shown visually, but poorly explained.

e) The developers focused too much on making Amicia a "war+men-killing" machine, while rushing, "sandwiching" and compressing her emotivity and emotional intelligence into the last 4 chapters, making the story progression too fast and badly designed. Sometimes the game itself felt like a Nexflix series, while completely forgetting what made the franchise great: the stealth mechanincs, the complex level design and the deep - yet troublesome - relationship between a brother and a sister, bonded by a tragic fate. This...didn't seem needed, as Amicia was already a great character, despite her flaws and traumas.[/b]




Thanks for reading and for bearing up with me, leave a comment below if you have any questions or observations, have an amazing day/night, feel free to follow my other reviews at: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32344423/

[h1]Spoiler free review, with a short and a longer version: Short version:[/h1] Buy this game if: ✅ You were looking for a sequel where a more direct / less subtle approach to stealth based areas is allowed [b]and heavily encouraged[/b]; ✅ The claustrophobic environments from the first game weren't that much up your alley; ✅ Even though you've enjoyed the previous game, you are now looking for more linear and less stealthy game; Don't buy if: ❌ You wanted to see a deeper and meaningful story; ❌ Character development is a "must have" when playing a sequel for you; ❌ You're not into games with a way stretched plot, made unnecessarily long; ❌ You've loved the first game graphic, horror and thrilling elements; they're mostly gone into this game, which is much more linear and cinematic; Verdict: a stretched 7.5 (just for the voice acting and the graphics/environments) Time required to finish the main game: 15 hrs (advice: do not play at the lowest difficulty setting); Time required to complete it at 100%: 22-25 hours (a NG+ is required to max out skills and tools); [h1] Longer version:[/h1] 1- Let's start with what's great: scenery and voice acting: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3035675484 Hugo's and Amicia's journey touches now more cities, verdant bluffs and pictoresque cities from the South of France and (i guess) northern Spain, leaving back (for the most part) those chaotic and rotting places you've seen in the first game; Voice acting remains suberb and the details, animations and costumes kept being well done and a real pleasure to be seen; [b]2- What...feels really out of place:[/b] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3035675860 a) The change in scenery and atmoshpere is for sure a welcome surprise, however this messes up the whole story a lot . Forget getting into the Bishop's laboratory and the older battlefields, those are completely gone to push Amicia into a whole different character; b) Amicia (especially in NG+, even at the highest difficulty level) becomes a war machine, thwarting/ negating the stealth mechanics in some chapters; c) All The Rune's family members are grown into their role....probably too much, becoming even more bonded and self absorbed than before (yes, even their mother) but heavily influenced by one another, swinging from temper tantrums to other destructive, nonsensical and homicidal tendencies with too much ease; d) The plot was too stretched: out of the 17 chapters which constitute the game, only 7-8 were actually impactful and needed, both from the gameplay perspective and from the story and lore side, which felt well shown visually, but poorly explained. [b][u]e) The developers focused too much on making Amicia a "war+men-killing" machine, while rushing, "sandwiching" and compressing her emotivity and emotional intelligence into the last 4 chapters, making the story progression too fast and badly designed. Sometimes the game itself felt like a Nexflix series, while completely forgetting what made the franchise great: the stealth mechanincs, the complex level design and the deep - yet troublesome - relationship between a brother and a sister, bonded by a tragic fate. This...didn't seem needed, as Amicia was already a great character, despite her flaws and traumas.[/b][/u] Thanks for reading and for bearing up with me, leave a comment below if you have any questions or observations, have an amazing day/night, feel free to follow my other reviews at: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32344423/