DOS2 isn't a bad game, but it's review scores would make you think it's the pinnacle of modern RPGs, and 50 hours in and I'm still finding it all rather tedious. Combat is slow, but finnicky. You'll frequently accidentally hit your allies because the AOE highlighting is bad, or find you can't target something because of the wonky line-of-sight system whereby a waist-high wall prevents you from targetting enemies but they are still able to hit you. The elemental surfaces system is a neat idea, but it's so overused that virtually every single fight more or less immediately descends into a mess of elemental clouds and surfaces, such that it's not possible to move normally without being burned/poisoned/cursed/shocked/etc. and most attacks cause things to explode everywhere. The story is not particularly inspiring. The characters are well voice acted, there's a lot of NPCs and dialog, but I just didn't really find the characters or the world to be very engaging. It's hard to say exactly why, but - especially by the second act - the story, quests and characters felt like something that was just tacked on the top of a map full of enemies, hazards and loot. Like DOS1 I feel like the game would be better if it was actually a lot shorter, they set out to make a 120+ hour game but it ends up being spread too thin and most of the content is a bit lacklustre. Like DOS1, there's an entirely unnecessary and tedious crafting system, and the game is something of a loot-fest - magic items are everywhere but mostly don't have much character, just bigger numbers than what you had before. All in all DOS2 is just okay.
I played and loved the original Hidden and Dangerous games back when they were new. Coming back to it today I wasn't sure how well it would have aged, but I was very pleasantly surprised. H&D2 is a refreshing change from modern shooters: You won't see XP popups with bonuses for headshots or silent takedowns, there's no skill tree to unlock special moves and there's definitely no crafting system. Instead your men do get slightly better as you use them more, and there's a detailed equipment loadout at the start of each campaign. The game isn't open world, there's no checkpoints to capture, endlessly respawning enemies or sandbox to run around killing stuff for as long as you like. But you also won't just be moving from one heavily scripted and controlled gameplay sequence to another like in Call of Duty. Instead the missions are quite open and well crafted. You get your entry point and your objectives, a briefing and a map and then it's up to you to decide how to go on. Really this game is close to perfection in terms of features. The only major downside is the sometimes janky AI.
