Frozen Synapse 2

I'll split this into reviews for the single- and multi-player due to how different they are. First the multiplayer: It's Frozen Synapse. Again. It's more polished with minor changes to the commands you can give and a new weapon type and some other fix-ups, but overall it's simply more FS. Which is good. And disappointing, kinda? I mean the game is good, great even, but it doesn't feel like something you'd be asked to buy again for the miniscule amount of changes. Then there's the singleplayer, the city mode. It's idea is big, it plays as a cross somewhere between X-COM Apocalypse and Frozen Synapse. The thing is, it also feels very confusing, underbaked and frankly underwhelming. It lacks the polish which made Apocalypse memorable. FS's combat mechanics cannot float something of this size either. The UI is underwhelming and hurtful more than helpful. Overall... it's rather disappointing. If this had been "the single player DLC", I would have said fine, optional expansion, there's people who enjoy this. It'd still be kinda meh, but alright. But the way it is, I can't truly recommend this game. Damn am I really giving FS2 a negative review? :(

All the bugs are fixed and the game plays great. Single-player is fun and multi-player is a blast !!! Very good sequel which brings new gameplay elements, new units and some random generation in missions. What more can you ask for?

I will focus on the singleplayer in this reveiw as that is what the big change is from its predecessor even though the multiplayer is very good (unfortunately only a handful of people are on at a time from my experience 19:00-21:00 GMT). Pros: + You can really imagine any scenario happening irl as everything is simultaneous unlike many other games of simlar genre. + Lots of unit variety spices up the matches. + City game adds another layer of stategy to the game and it is very fun to climb your way up the food chain so to speak. + Rewards good play as there is no rng, everything is deterministic. (Lots of mind games in multiplayer) + The game is clear on why you win/lose a fight (whether its cover, range, stillness, etc) + Soundtrack Cons: - Bugs. Not game breaking but there are quite a few from turns not lasting 5 seconds (no long turns) to unresponsive menus. - Poor AI at times. While the AI is usually not too bad, keeping you on your toes, there are times when it is straight up dumb (sending their leader into a place I am keeping on lockdown via gatling fire as an example) - Poor explanations at times (I am still confused about what each level of diplomacy does and why factions accept different agreements) Overall this is a great experience and anyone who likes strategy games like xcom but wants something that directly rewards skill will love this game. Quick note for if you buy this game: Get your key off the gog website (not galaxy) to enable multiplayer.

As of launch, too buggy to be worth it. I have tried playing the tutorial several times, and have either experienced crashes, or clicked a wrong button and was unable to correct my mistake, as the game thought I had selected the correct action and moved on to the next part of the tutorial.