First of all, this game has one of the very best soundtracks of any game - it is simply superb. The aesthetics are great, the vibes are great, and the gameplay is solid. Do yourself a favor and play this - it sits near the top of my "cozy" list of games.
The heavy hand of woke is perceptible in this one--gotta have that black disabled lesbian front and center!--but it's not *that* bad. The gameplay seems solid, and the graphics (especially) and design (somewhat) are certainly upgraded, but idk, I find my main takeaway being "meh." Maybe I should have waited a while after my (second) playthrough of the original to dive into this one. But the bottom line is, the more I play the sequel (I'm now on The Clockwork Mansion, so about 1/3-1/2 through), the more I just want to play the original. Also, the story seems kind of... dumb. Randos show up and execute a coup, and everyone is just fine with it? They simply turn on Corvo even after everything that happened in the first game? Not believable at all, but OK
I know some people will see the word "woke" and dismiss this review, but sorry not sorry. Game is woke garbage, shoving LGBT2QIALOL+ crap down your throat. Not subtlely, not well integrated, just propaganda. Also the strategy component sucks, it's even worse than kingdom management from Kingmaker. And the characters all talk like teenagers from the 21st century. Like, great, in this medieval fantasy world everyone talks like a tween on tiktok. Yayyy, so immersive!
I rolled my eyes when GOG first let a couple of sex games on the platform and people complained. Live and let live, if you don't like it don't click it, etc. Now the store is suffused with them. I don't want to see my store feed filled with this crap, and I know I'm far from alone. Not to mention plenty of kids use this platform, presumably.
On my Dell gaming laptop, the game runs, but it inevitably crashes after a while. The crashes may be getting more frequent, not sure. I have to alt-tab back and forth in order to ctrl-al-del, use arrow keys to get to it in the task list, and hit alt-e to end it. Only other way is to restart computer. Too bad, I really liked the atmosphere and writing so far.
I'm surprised no other reviews mention this, but: I found the game design to be VERY frustrating. I've played a few games like this, most recently Amnesia and Layers of Fear. I very rarely had to refer to a walkthrough to progress for those. I had to refer to a walkthrough like 10 times in the first hour for this one. Starting with the very first things you have to do, like putting the box on a particular desk (that is shining, except it looks like it's just sunlight, because it's right under a window with sunlight shining through), and if you put it on a different desk, the next audio line won't trigger when it should (when you find the attic locked). And on and on. Doing "story mode" doesn't affect this, because these aren't puzzles. Making basic progress is painful. Stuff that isn't intended to be a puzzle becomes one. I'll give it another try, but currently very frustrated with the poor design.
I've honestly never had this problem with a GOG game before, even ones where people complained of this. But I can't get this game to start. Tried running as admin, in various compatibility modes, nada. Looked for help here and elsewhere, nada. Just won't launch.
I loved Kingmaker despite its flaws; played it twice. Wanted to like this but finally gave up on it. The few pros: great music, fun if unbalanced combat, fun mythic system. Now the cons. Yes, the game is annoyingly, cringily woke. Could be worse, but still pretty bad, as others have covered. Uncritically reproduces the currently culturally hegemonic morality as presupposed orthodoxy (multiculturalism, internationalism/globalism, pro-LGBTQIABCD+, etc.). Only the gay romance option triggered for me; no way to say "I'm straight". Almost all fighter/tank NPCs female. Etc. Main issue here: how heavy-handed and forced it all feels. Tons of bugs, which might improve over time. None were game-breaking for me, and I didn't experience any crashes, but I only made it about halfway before finally losing interest. *Very* poorly written. Immersion-breaking language like "getting wasted"; where Tolkien wrote "As you wish, I care not", this would read "Okay, I don't care". Nurah hates the PC and blames them for her whole life even though she just met you... would at least make some sense if it were Galfrey. No realistic reaction to Woljiff's betrayal available. Etc.: I could go on all day. Unbalanced af. Highly customizable difficulty just ends up meaning you'll either find fights too easy or too hard. The worst of postmodernist literary conventions (subversion for subversion's sake). Demons that are good, Aasimar that are evil, etc. Literally why even have angels and demons if you're going to do this? Alignment system feels like a joke. Writers' understanding of morality reeks of the superficial pseudo-profundity of the eternal graduate student who's read one or two books by Nietzsche and never progressed further. "Lawful" might as well be evil half the time. A thousand other small things-e.g., "Do you want to meet with the traveling merchant?" + only option is "continue"- but I'm out of words. TL;DR a huge disappointment. Worst of all, lacks the charm of Kingmaker.
This is a great game. But the DLC Dead Money is honestly not fun. It's a boring and tedious slog; incredibly annoying. By the end, I regretted starting it. Everything else about this game is 10/10. But stay away from Dead Money; the few gold bars you'll get aren't worth it.
They should just have made a movie. Not only do cutscenes easily constitute over 50% of this game, much of the "gameplay" is a walking simulator--in which you walk from one cutscene, sometimes just a few feet, in order to trigger another cutscene. Sometimes you walk forward and talk to someone; sometimes you come out of a cutscene with the person you need to talk to right in front of you. Oh, and the story is mediocre at best, trying too hard and pretentious, and the characters are awful. There is some good writing buried in the game, and the voice acting is fine. And the shooting--on the rare occasion you actually get to kill some Nazis--is pretty great. But seriously, it becomes a chore just to get to the shooting segments.
