Basically, if you liked the first game, as I did, buying the second one is a no brainer. The general game loop is very similar to the first one. You generate biomes, add nature elements and fulfill the wishes of the settlers. While this sounds rather simple, the different combinations and synergies provides you with a nice challenge. All in all, the game is more like a puzzler then a god game. What I like in Reus 2 is that you have much more influence over the world. For example, you can come chanhe the size of the biomes, you can decide where the settlers are building the city and you can even choose their projects. Moreover, the game also introduces a new era system. This also results in different buildings that influence your cities. They also removed the real time clock and replaced it with a "era points" system, and you have to select three giants from a pool of six. As you are experimenting with the different biomes, settlers, giants and eras, you'll gradually unlock new features. Thus, every run feels different and provides new challenges. If you are into calm and relaxed puzzle games, I can highly recommend Reus 2. P.S. it works flawlessly with Wine
First things first, this is not Kerbal Space Program. Do not expect a sophisticated editor to build interplanetary rockets. Or somewhat realistic physics. You play as a rocket hobbyist who got into home made model rockets because you saw a Startube (the in-game YouTube) video. Over the course of the game you interact with several very quirky people and craft some rockets that go from something you could build in your garage to completely insane models that break any laws of physics. Eventually you might even send a rocket to space. The game consists of three parts that work together quite nicely. The 1st part is the Startube part. While you progress through the story, you'll get some videos with real actors. The acting was a bit over the top but the videos are well made and real YouTube videos are often much worse. But if you can't handle the whole YouTube culture you shouldn't play this game. Besides watching videos you'll also get messages from a broad range of quirky people who'll give you challenges to get a reward (usually more parts for your rockets). The 2nd part of the game is the crafting a rocket editor. At first it is extremely basic and looks like it is drawn with crayons. But it will get better after chapter one. You also have to buy new parts but money won't be much of an issue as the parts are not consumed even when the rocket explodes. The 3rd part is the launching of the rocket. The way it is filmed looks really nice to me. Again, the YouTube (and later SpaceX) style was captured very good. However, the same rocket flies a bit differently with every launch and you can't really control them directly. It simply flies (or doesn't) depending on how you built it. That's okay most of the time but gets super annoying with some of the "targeting" challenges. I definitely enjoyed the game and was nicely surprised. The story itself is good to keep you entertained, has a nice anarchistic touch and I definitely want to build my own model rockets now.
