I should be honest and warn you beforehand that I am a backer of the Kickstarter campaign, thus possibly too invested to give you an unbiased opinion. That said, I really believe that this is probably the turn-based game with the most creative, elaborate and merciless encounter design I ever played. I have played many classics both old (Baldur Gate, Temple of Elemental Evil) and new (Age of Decadence, Underrail), but never before I have been ambushed by Psionic giant bugs surrounding and stunning my party, never before tripped by a vampire Death Knight in a pit while his undead retinue was poking my mages with polearms, never before assaulted by lizardmen while trying to reach for loot suspiciously placed in a water hole. And much, much more. Like its predecessor, I could list all the features (turn-based, OGL 3.5, emphasis on tactical encounters) of this game but this would not give you the slight idea of how special it is. Contrary to many CRPGs with the same characteristics, every fight here is a well-designed challenge with no uninspired trash mobs wasting your time and patience. I cannot stress how much I never had the feel of my playtime being so much respected. Each minute of KotC2 was spent painstakingly weighting my options, looking for the best course of action to take at each round of combat or deciding which choice to make during level up. Your cunning will be tested but winning one encounter is not enough: every spell you cast, every HP damage you take is a precious resource which can only be replenished at far between resting places. Over-relying on consumables will lead you to not having them in a crucial fight, so even these will not save you from poor judgment or strategy. My conclusion is this, I will stand for it: Knights of the Chalice 2 is a new classic, rising on its feet to say its own among the giants of his genre. And he found me glad to hear his voice.
