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I admire that they went a different direction with this one and they did not just try to remake the first game, but bigger and (hopefully) better. I will not cast my vote whether FP2 is better or worse than its predecessor, because I kinda feel like it would be similar to comparing Cities: Skylines to Civilization VI. I would say the game is definitely worth purchasing. Try it out, and if you don't like it you still have 30 days to refund it. -0.1 stars though for the camera controls. Whoever decided that this slipperiness is a good idea was wrong.
The game looks like it could be a worthy successor to JA2, but the amount cattle manure the game stacks against you is quite a turn off. You can't buy ammo online. OK, then I live off what I loot. Every 5th/6th-ish enemy is lootable, and not all of them has ammo. Uh, okay, then point blank shots and knives in the back is what I will operate with. Basic enemies without helmet almost always survive a headshot, quite frequently two, and a few times even three. You cut their throat with a stealth melee attack, and they happily run around, alert every enemy on the map, and next turn they empty their magazine into the guy who snuck upon them. I don't know about others, but I certainly don't enjoy this.
This is not the DOW2 I played 10 years ago. Where is the tactical pause? I would not even have bought this, if tactical pause had not been present when DOW2 was first released. But okay, I paid for it again, I might as well try playing it again. 9 hours in the campaign, and today I get a "Sign in change has occured" message in the main menu. What? Why? The name on the top of the screen is my GoG username. What happened? Anyway, multiplayer options are suddenly greyed out. I don't care, I don't play multi. Okay, continue campaign. It loads. But... Why is my Commander called "TestName"? Ok, relax. Let's restart. I exit the game. I got my desktop back, but... Game stays on the taskbar, the mouse cursor still has DOW2's style, and I can't click on anything. Ctrl+Alt+Del works, I can start Task Manager and see the game's process is still there, but not responding. With some keyboard hocus-pocus I can kill it. Nice, mouse works again. I start the game again. I get the "Sign in change has occured" message again. What? Why? Oh, well, let's see a new campaign, because I don't want "TestName" to be saved into the ongoing one. Game crashes after 2 minutes into the first mission. So, I write this review and seriously thinking about refunding this piece of s... software.
I don't usually take chances with games without many reviews, but I felt adventurous this time. And I really hope my future impulse purchases will never be worse. I'm only 3 hours in, but so far I very much like this game. What we have here is a TPS ARPG with procedural dungeons and apparently some light base building elements. The latter is needed to unlock more skill options; for example hiring a blacksmith will enable you to learn armor and weaponsmithing. I have not yet delved into crafting, so I can't tell if it's worth or not, but hey, the option is there. It's an indie game, so don't expect spectacular graphics, but I wouldn't call it ugly either. The animations are okay too, and I was surprised that we can actually climb over obstacles like fences or such instead of just having a way too unrealistic jumping height. Oh, and we have (as far as I can tell) randomly triggered executions when we defeat an enemy. And not just one, but for the long sword I counted at least three different variant. All in all this looks like a superb game so far, but let me mention three things I think should be worked on. 1. Dodging. Sometimes it feels laggy, in two different ways. Sometimes your character just doesn't feel like doing it when you press the button, resulting them getting punched in the face. But especially against bosses with wide attacks, sometimes you are already meters away when they play the attack animation and you still get hit. Did not die (yet) because of it, but I think there's room for improvement here. 2. Day/night cycle. When in a dungeon with open sky, I think night comes too soon after starting a quest, and it lasts too long. Might be just me, but I felt like I was fighting in the dark most of the time. Caves and underground ruins don't have this problem. That's all from me, take a look at the game for yourself. I think you will not regret spending money on it, even at full price.
(Disclaimer: I played only one game yet, and stopped because I very well saw what will happen. Review may or may not be updated at a later time.) This game is awesome. And it will make you despair. Currently Frostpunk looks like a game made in the "losing is fun" spirit. Let's put it bluntly: I don't like those games following this direction. Winning is fun. A hard earned victory is even more fun, but doing everything in your power and see everything go down the drain... No, that's the opposite of fun. I'd love to make a reference to a quote from a certain fantasy TV-series, but winter is already here when the game starts, and it will get only worse. Fast. I don't yet know if it's story related, or was a random event, but on the third day I got a -20 degrees dip in temperature, and what's worse, it didn't get any better later on. Yes, I got some nicer (ahem...) weather for a short while, but then it went back to -40C within days, and at the start of the third week the 5-days forecast didn't even show another temperature raise event. So, when the cold hit, I stopped, because neither of the following options were deemed as worthy of continuing: 1. I compensate the cold with turning heaters and steam hubs on, and putting the central generator into overdrive periodically . That would make my people "warm" (not worse than chilly) for two days, but I couldn't keep up with the coal, so everyone would freeze to death after 3 days. 2. I don't compensate the cold to make things running for longer, but that would only make my people fall ill and it would cause frostbites which would lead a quick rise in number of amputees, which would lead to not enough workers, which would lead an eventual drop in coal production, and everyone would freeze to death after an unknown amount of time. I'll try again, hoping that the initial -20C drop in temrperature was only bad luck.