The sequel seemed shorter than the original (though it's been years so I might be remembering wrong) and I would have enjoyed more actual digging considering that's the title play mechanic because by the time I'd completely upgraded my pickaxe and punch there was nothing left to mine. There were still some respawning mobs to grind if I wanted to buy enough cogs for every upgrade in the game but without more map to explore there'd literally be no point. (Having every upgrade isn't part of the 100% comopletion achievement.) Despite feeling a bit shortchanged on the length of the game it was still every bit as fun as the original and I recommend Steamworld Dig 2 only fractionally less than it's predecessor.
I don't understand why so many devlopers put so much time and effort into polishing every aspect of their games except the actual gameplay. Small frustrations like a recipe system that requires 3 ingredients but only provides 4 inventory slots to carry a dozen-or-so different items to the progress-halting issue of the third character's unique ability being so unreliable it'll cause your death more times in five minutes than in the entire game up until that point will make you wonder if anyone bothered to playtest this game befoe it was released. Greak isn't bad, per se, and until the third character joins your party its fairly enjoyable; but it seems like a missed opportunity to make something that could have been truly outstanding.
If there were half-stars, I'd give Owlboy a 3.5 rating instead of 4 stars. The story is good and the idea of carrying a companion to provide firepower (using the second control stick) is original, plus the game switches things up enough with new game mechanics to keep it from getting stale, but the Metroid-esque gameplay still seems lacklustre somehow. Backtracking is minimal, with all items in each "dungeon" area being collectible on your first visit, which is both good and bad, as this means there is no reason to return to these areas with a new companion to get unreachable items because there aren't any. The first area has fireflies revealing hidden items, but the only way to find all the coins in each area after that is to hug the walls -- all the walls -- which is tedious, and you need every coin in the game in order to get all your companions' upgrades. I prefer to avoid walkthroughs, but for this game, watching someone show you where to find the coins you missed will allow you to complete the game before boredom sets in. Continuing the game after the end-scene may seem pointless as you will respawn at the start of the final battle, but there is a light in the hallway immediately to the left (if you don't initiate the final scene) which allows you to return to the past. Assuming you got the third golden disc (easily missed -- you must replay the final level from the start if you didn't get it), returning to the past is the only way to insert the third disc in the final pillar and get the full backstory. Note that completing the game after doing this does not change the ending. In summary, if you enjoy mildly challenging platform games where you're playing for the storytelling as much as anything else (Bastion comes to mind), Owlboy, while not great (so get it on sale), is definitely fun and seldom disappointing.
I'm only about halfway through the game, but so far Crookz is fun despite the random crashes every couple of hours. Fortunately, the game autosaves every time you do something so the crashes are only minor annoyances; though the achievement for completing a heist (if you launched the game through GOG Galaxy) won't unlock if a crash occurs. Hopefully they will unlock when replaying a level after unlocking all the thieves' skills and I'll update my review if I confirm if this is the case. The first few heists are easy, but not boringly so as you're still learning each thief's skills, what each tool does and security system does, and how the guards react. The one and two star levels only require patience and can be played almost entirely in real-time, but once you hit 3-star difficulty the game starts to become a real challenge, requiring genuine strategy, split-second timing, with multiple thieves on the move to do different tasks at the same time which you'll need to carefully plan out in pause-mode. Though there are many ways to complete each heist, from the 3-star difficulty and up, you will have to think carefully about which thieves to choose and what tools to bring, giving the game good replay value. Overall, Crookz is a good stealth strategy game. Yes, the guards return to their patrol routes after hearing a noise of seeing something out of place as is typical of this kind of game, but the developers have taken that into consideration and made that part of the challenge. (Maybe Skilltree/Kalypso will incorporate a heightened search mode with a countdown until the police arrive if they make a sequel.) One last note: Apparently there is a crookz.exe ransomware which Malwarebytes (and maybe other antivirus software) will confuse with the Crookz.exe game file, so be aware that you will have to make an exclusion if you don't want to keep reinstalling the game.
Everything about this game is great -- combat, navigation, trading, exploration, factions, graphics, music are all excellent and make this game worth buying. I can't imagine anyone not enjoying this game. Unfortunately, by the time you hit the third or forth system, the game starts to become a grind if you spend too much time taking missions, mining, and/or trading. You'll probably already have the best ship fairly early on, and though there are better weapons and systems to buy as the game progresses, they're just better versions of weapons and systems you probably already have. I'd recommend trying to focus more on completing story quests rather trying to amass credits and exploring every sector of each system, and hopefully you'll be able to finish the game before it starts to feel repetitive.
Others have described this game in more detail (with frequent abuse of the oxymoronic word "metroidvania"), with it's great gameplay, multiple upgrade systems, variety of weapons, magic, and (often adult) humour, it's a must-buy (seriously, if you like 2-D Metroid-like games, buy this now), but there are two negatives other reviews frequently overlook. The first annoyance is the time it takes to travel back to tough boss rooms when you die, because you respawn in the centre of the map when you die. This can become annoying the third, seventh, umpteenth, etc. time you die trying to kill a boss; but that's an old-school game mechanic which isn't unreasonable in a game like this so it can be forgiven. The second negative is a bit more tiresome, however. Before you travel back to said room with the boss that just killed you, you will need to grind and grind and grind for Kill Points to activate weapon skills to have any kind of chance to kill said boss if you're character build (yes, you get to choose your gameplay style -- buy this game!) uses weapons rather than spells. Having to do that umpteen times is the opposite of fun. Worse, it's not only after you die, but even when you simply save and quit. Games should not punish you for having to eat, sleep, or go to work. If you have amazing reflexes you might not need maxed-out weapon skills, but I think typical players with average skills will (I certainly do), and that turns enjoyment into a boring chore very quickly. Despite my gripe about grinding, the game easily still deserves four stars and ranks right up there with all-time favourites like Metroid and Mega Man.