Recently I was playing NOLF 1 which I think truly is amazing game for multiple reasons so obviously after finishing it started sequel asap. Problem is I'm not having much fun at the moment. It was ok until Chapter 4, where I am currently, which introduced army of Soviet soldiers materializing infinitely out of thin air. One of the cheapest difficulty boosters ever and it doesn't even make any sense in-game. Playing on highest difficulty it became just unfun slog killing all immersion and if this is normal practice throughout a game I might consider skipping it entirely or playing on easy.

So will it get better? Does it have similar quality in terms of story, dialogues and remarkable level-design as first one?

The new "RPG" mechanics feel kinda forced and unnecessary but on the other hand encourage for exploration which is ok I guess.

It's been quite a few years since playing it, but I remember playing it several times, and enjoying it quite a lot.

I also do recall lots of respawning enemies. In the end, that affected my strategies; but I still was able to stealth-around a lot (my preferred playstyle). So, I still enjoyed it.

I'd say, "yes, worth playing".

Meh. I could maybe swallow it if twas some linear corridor shooter but for a game with semi-open levels, backtracking and accent on stealth, encountering enemy coming from a place I just was at is terrible design.

I liked it, but for whatever reason the enemy count always seemed higher and it seemed more action oriented.

There is some weird issue with the tricycle chase that requires changing CPU settings or something and I never bothered to figure it out, so I have not been able to finish it since the very first time a long time ago.

Well, you asked for opinions on "worth playing", not "is the design poor?". :)

Maybe because I like to play stealthily, and have as few "kills" as possible (ideally - zero), the respawning didn't affect as much as a "gun runner". After all - every NPC I didn't kill, was an NPC that didn't respawn.

/shrug

Is this the one with the cat massage?

I prefer both. Sneaking and killing. In NOLF 1 dealing headshots with scoped crossbow was too satisfying to miss :P

I own them both and recently sold them. Both games are good. Part 1 is the better game but part 2 should not be skipped if you enjoyed part 1.

If you mean the soviet base outside areas in the game, that area seems to have either a bug and/or feature where guards keep spawning every now and then.

Your best bet is to do the following:

Stay hidden(which can be done more easily by improving skills like hiding time, movement speed, hiding enemies speed, etc)

Take out any game enemies you need to in areas where it's easier to hide them(away from patrol/spawn areas...in the case of the outdoor soviet base areas, that would be places like the darkened barracks)

And lastly, don't do anything that might get them to sound the alarm(which makes even more enemies spawn)

Once you're past those soviet base areas it gets a bit easier, as enemy spawning happens(iirc) very little on average after that.

i finished both back in the days and even liked NOLF2 more than the first part overall. So i would advise to try to "overlook" the shortcomings and just try to enjoy it for what it is. Have to admit i have not played neither of the game in the last 10ish years so can't really comment on them possibly aging really bad though

Both have their moments. NOLF 1 was revolutionary, but janky as hell. NOLF 2 was far more polished but didn't feel quite as "huge" as the first game did to me. Genuinely felt that they were both great though - and worth finishing.

Then again, I even enjoyed Contract J.A.C.K., so could be biased.

If you have an itch to play them, you should check out NolfRevival.....it's a site that hosts all 3 games, modded to work on newer OSs(better resolution support, squashed bugs, etc). Also: I played the first one and most of the second not too long ago, btw, and imo they seem to still hold up well :)

(note: they seem to be still online more or less at the unofficial blessing of the rights holders....as said rights holders know of them but haven't taken them down over the last several years)



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Never finished that one(in part due to lost saves/data due to HW failure on an old PC), and found it a bit lacking compared to the intractability the first two had, but it seemed quite nice.

It's sort of the weird cousin of the three. A pure action game, but fun if that's what you're expecting when you install it.

As for the rights situation, I got the impression they would be happy to re-release it through GoG or other platforms if anyone could work out who all the rights holders actually are. It's a mess somewhere between Fox, Activision, Sierra, Warner and Monolith. If anyone can unpick that, they deserve a knighthood!

Cheers that's good to know!

Stick with it. The infinitely respawning enemies is limited to a few areas and you can ease the frustration by using one of two cheat codes (press T then enter god (for God mode) or poltergeist (for invisibility)) to breeze through those parts. It's an excellent game with some great (and very funny) levels and enemies later on.