Ziggurat 2

First Ziggurat was an excellent arena shooter ,and Ziggurat 2 is an improvement of any element from the first game. I experienced the game on the hard difficulty and it was (surprisingly) hard , and the hard part in my experience comes mainly from a little unbalanced boss encounters. Every weapon and hero is fun to use and now they have special effects and passives ,so using them is like using tools ;pick the right one to do the right job. And of course there are weapons that are just broken but i think it is an intended design. Amulets are now working a lot better, actually encouraging the player to use them ,and again there are a lot of them in the game. The game is filled with old enemies and a couple of new ones that will ruin your runs. Not everything in this game is so good. (It might be because I played on hard but)... there is nothing more irritating than “ homing projectiles”;and if you get to a room with not so good architecture it is really easy to find yourself in chaotic situations ,losing half of your health or entire run just because too many enemies are shooting at you at the same time. It has happened a couple times,in my play true. The story is rather scarce but fun ;beside limited story screens, the most fun I had was reading descriptions on some weapons those are giving the idea that there is something more in the world of Ziggurat. As for the heroes, they not only have different stats but they have their unique abilities; oh… and they even add dash to the game (definitely not broken *wink ) ,it really helps with traversing arenas. In the campaign there is an additional progression system that is pretty much making every run a little bit easier, additional damage there ,extra health ;stuff like that. The music and ambient are a great ;field with magic and mysticism. Ziggurat 2 is a really good game full of improvement ,and it was a really great experience to play it ; for me it is a 9\10 game field with magic.

Ziggurat 2 improves upon the first game in every way in my opinion. Here's why I had so much fun! - Campaign Mode: So now you can gradually unlock characters, amulets, perks, weapons, and permanent passive buffs by completing the 3 or 4 available missions. This is a Roguelite with procedural generation, so the available missions constantly change in mission type and layout. The campaign mode also has a "new game plus" option via its "ascension" system. Each level of ascension increases difficulty, but also keeps everything you've already earned as well as increasing the maximum cap of mastery points you can invest into the numerous "perks". - Permanent Progression: You can now earn "mastery" points that you can put into these perk trees. You can subtly improve healing or mana drop effectiveness, damage output and damage received among much more, There's about 40 different perks you can invest mastery points in and while it makes the game a little easier, it's not game changing. - 5 difficulty modes: Ziggurat 1 only had 3 difficulty settings, so this is a welcome change. I found the second hardest difficulty mode to be my sweet spot. It's a very hard game, but as I'm about to mention, there's a much bigger emphasis on skill now. - 12 unique characters: in Ziggurat 1, each character only had different stats i think. Now we get characters with different stats, skills, and gimmicks. You now have one unique ability per character. Some make you temporarily invulnerable, leeches life from enemies, collects all items in the arena, summons friendly monsters or can make your character invisible for a moment. These definitely change the way you tackle fights. Also with the introduction of the "dash" ability, you have much more control and simple strafing won't keep you alive. - Classic Mode: All of Ziggurat 1's game modes are available here too for fans of the prequel! Graphics are really good too and didn't crash once. Earns an easy recommendation!

I was quite a fan of the orginal Ziggurat when it came out. I was surprised to see a sequal came out and I heard nothing of it. I may be late to the game, but it does not disappoint and is worth its price.

About 4-5 hours in. So far, the weapons have some nice variety and it doesn't feel like five of the same thing with different skins. Characters have unique special abilities that set them apart, but are similar enough that it doesn't feel like you need to learn to play the game all over again for each one. You do need to get used to using the special abilities and switching weapons as you go through if you want to clear levels out. It takes a bit to figure out the progression sequence for equipment, but once you get it, it's pretty easy to work with. My only frustration thus far is you start out incredibly weak. If you want to try it out, get next to the idea you will die a bunch of times early on just trying to level up enough to be able to survive.

Improved formula over the original. Making something that was good even better.