La-Mulana 2

One of the best games I have ever played. Mixes the combat and platforming of great Metroidvanias with really deep and (occasionally too) difficult puzzles and lore. Highly recommend!

The main draw is the puzzles by far. Nothing else has you thinking outside the box like this game. It's a more user-friendly version of the first game, which was already great, without diluting the difficulty. The combat is really frustrating and cheap thanks to having intentionally terrible controls, but the puzzles and graphics make up for it. The art in this game is really pretty. If you're smart enough for a puzzle that's about intepreting clues rather than pushing boxes around, you'll love this game. Just watch out for the trapdoors.

La-Mulana was a legendary game that pushed the puzzle/adventure genre to the extremes. Sometimes it was a bit unfair, but at the end of the day it was a great game that really worked out your brain. La-Mulana 2 is an embarrassment to that game. Puzzles have been replaced with simple, clear instructions that usually involve running back and forth through the same few levels, collecting items. If you can't open a chest or figure out a tablet, 99% of the time the solution is to come back later with more gear and/or tablets. I guess Nigoro decided the puzzles in the original were much too hard, since they completely omitted them this time. The enemies were mostly harmless in LM, and they are as well in LM2. But this time, they aren't there to hurt you. They're designed to be as annoying and time-consuming as possible. They're also frequently placed on ledges and other inconvenient locations. The boss fights are just plain terrible. This is the most disappointing thing for me. They were arguably the best part of the remake, and very good in the original game as well. But the sequel's bosses are a joke. They're very easy, and like the smaller enemies, designed to be as lame and tedious as possible. Now finally, we have the traps. They were a fairly minor part of the first game, but in La-Mulana 2 they are absolutely everywhere. Instant death crush traps, trapdoors sending you back a few screens, inescapable pits, etc. They're all there, randomly placed throughout every level. Some are visible, some aren't. At the end of the day, it's just another huge annoyance that doesn't make the game any more difficult. In summary, La-Mulana 2 is a very long and tedious mess of endless backtracking, and nothing else. It is a game that is simultaneously both very boring and very frustrating. It's like going to work, except you're paying to be there. Also the music sucks, the translation is obnoxious, the items are recycled, and the hitboxes are even worse than the original.

La Mulana 1 was a great game. La Mulana 2 is even better. It has better controls, better enemy designs and even better boss battles (mostly helped by the controls) due to their new AI that was designed to be much more fair than La Mulana 1. The main reason for my ending score, is that La Mulana 2 didn't really fix the issues with puzzles. Having just finished the game, I can say it starts off MUCH better in terms of easing the player in, and the puzzles have quite a good progression and feeling of challenge to them. The issue comes in around two-thirds of the way through the game. The puzzles suddenly become incredibly obtuse, needing the player to backtrack to various old areas, with no real connection to the tombstones which give hints. Backtracking in and of itself isn't a bad thing, but when you're having to do it helplessly, desperately looking for any clue you can find to solve a puzzle it gets out of hand. Having to look things up online really takes the enjoyment out of what is supposed to be a challenging yet satisfying experience. I've seen online where there were clear translation issues with the game, which made puzzles nearly impossible to understand and/or actually impossible to know without resorting to trial and error. It's unfortunate, because I REALLY wanted to give this game a higher score... but I expected better from the devs given all of the complaints from the first game. If you feel no shame in looking up puzzles online, get this game, because it plays amazingly. But if you are looking for a rewarding puzzle and combat experience that rewards and respects your time and intelligence, maybe wait for a sale or an update. The game needs serious help on it's hints to the late game puzzles and some possible redirection as well. I'd go further in depth but am limited on text. So that's that.

I don't have a lot to say about the game itself, other than it's very reminiscent of the first game. Graphically it keeps the same aesthetic as the first game, but with added 3D effects that remind me of Castlevania Symphony of the Night. The music and sound work is also top notch, just as it was in the first game. Gameplay-wise, it feels like you have a little bit more air control, but it's still very unforgiving. Subweapons seem to be more plentiful and just generally more necessary, especially in boss fights. The game also does a much better job of easing you into the game without needing to read the manual, which is great since no manual is included. This brings me to the negatives. I like buying games on gog.com because they are DRM-free and come with a tonne of goodies. This game only comes with wallpapers: No manuals (online only), no soundtrack, and no trophies. The last one in particular is a bummer since the Steam version does come with achievements. Another knock against this game is that I have experienced some pretty severe slowdowns when playing it on my newish laptop (Acer Swift 3 bouth new less than a year ago). This isn't only in boss fights either: entire areas will play with my character moving like he's underwater. My gaming desktop handles the game just fine, but it would be nice to be able to play La-Mulana 2 anywhere. I hope both the missing bonuses and technical hiccups are fixed at some point in the near future, as I want to rate this game higher!