There are some aspects of this game that I really like and would love to see in more open world RPGs. First and foremost, of course, how you can scale large enemies to attack weak points. Another cool thing is that you can walk across the roofs of the cities. Or that you can have up to three pawns (as opposed to at most 2 companions in Bethesda games). That you can easily switch classes (or vocations as they're called here) is also nice. Other aspects of this game, however, are mediocre at best and downright terrible at worst. The open world itself is passable, but with no mounts, limited fast travel, limited stamina, and frequently respawning mobs, traversal of the world is a chore more than anything else. Even more so since there is a lot of backtracking. Story and side quests and the writing in general are mostly meh, except for the terrible, cringe-inducing Aelinore questline (that you're better off ignoring completely). The very first quest in that questline [i]should[/i] make the arisen an outlaw in Gran Soren for the rest of the game, but apparently the duke magically forgets all about it once the quest is finished. Board quests are the worst kind of fetch quests and escort missions. Yet you're kind of forced to do at least some of the escort missions, because those build your relationship with NPCs. The quest design in general is bad. There are some side quests that provide relevant lore, but become unavailable if the player finishes [i]Lure of the Abyss[/i] before finishing certain other quests. Crafting is passable, but the amount of curatives and crafting materials is insane. Loot is plentiful, but lackluster. There's also the problem that you have only a single save. Bottom line: the game is absolutely worth a try if you like open world RPGs. But I definitely recommend waiting for a discount, and playing with mods that fix the stamina and savegame issues.
There's a difference between casual exploration and aimless drifting. Unfortunately this game falls in the latter category. It also doesn't have any story to speak of, and there aren't many interesting things/locations to discover (aside from the cave maybe). On top of that, the UI makes things more difficult than they need to be. For example, to open the map you need to open your PDA first. Which you can't use while riding your sled (meaning that every time you want to check the map during exploration you need to get off the sled first).
Other people have already said most of what needs to be said about this game, so I'll just summarize briefly and address some points that I feel are relevant. Graphics are worse than in the first game, particularly the character models. Writing is bad and seemed to get worse as the game progressed. Voice acting is done competently (I think the voice actor for Falk did a particularly good job by making the character sound a bit like a text-to-speech generator). Combat feels more fluid than in the first game, but I still hate how you can accidentally hit neutral NPCs (fighting the same enemies as you) and have them turn hostile. The jetpack now feels like an actual jetpack. Fast travel is good and not having to worry about carry capacity is also nice. Exploration and Companions are fun and hold the game up throughout the first 3-ish chapters. However, towards the end the game relies way too much on repetitive "kill these hordes of enemies" and "raid this former (yet again)" missions, which took a lot of the fun out of the game. The end boss was a joke. And then they pulled basically the same sequel-bait ending from the first game: "impending doom by super-powerful alien threat." There is fun to be had in this game, particularly early to mid game, but definitely wait for a sale before you buy.
This game is probably as close to an interactive comic book as you can get. Sure, the mechanics in the sidescroller sections could've used some more polish, but even as they are they work well enough. The art style is great and fits the theme very well. The story is pretty depressing, but I suppose that's to be expected from a dystopian plot like this.
While this game certainly does fall in the category of point & click adventures, it's not exactly a typical example of the genre. Instead of picking up and combining objects you pick up clues from conversations with NPCs to identify suspects of the crimes you're investigating or unluck more dialog options with other NPCs. Gameplay in this respect is more similar to the "Sherlock Holmes" games than it is to "Monkey Island" or "Broken Sword". Unfortunately combining the clues is mostly automatic here, unlike in the "Sherlock Holmes" games where you combine clues interactively to reach a conclusion (which is a more satisfying experience). Also, there are some (rare) situations where an item inventory would have been a more fitting means of interaction. That the game may prevent you from identifying the correct culprit if you manage to alienate an NPC (something other reviewers have criticized) is correct, but something I would consider only logical, because in that situation your character is lacking the evidence required to substantiate the accusation. The game has a working save/restore feature to deal with this kind of situation. All in all the gameplay is satisfying, though, and the Steampunk setting is done quite well. What doesn't work so well is that the game gets quite preachy far too often, which detracts from the experience. The voice acting is average at best. And even with 2D graphics: if you move character sprites towards the front or back of a room you need to scale the sprites properly, otherwise it'll look like the characters are growing/shrinking as they move. All things considered I'd rate "Lamplight City" an above average game, if you can tolerate its preachiness. Otherwise you may want to avoid it.
This game, while beautiful to look at, has a bit of an identity crisis. It's trying to be both a colorful 1940s adventure game and a dark Lovecraftian horror game, and ultimately fails at being either. It's still fun to play, but the fact that it can't decide what it wants to be really detracts from the experience, at least for me.
