I've never played the first game, so I cannot compare it.
This was pretty good. It's a dystopian adventure that takes place in an extremely beaurocratic society. The main character must crawl his way up out of the mud to get to the top. There are different ways to do this. You can be a good guy, a bad guy or a somewhat evil with a touch of awkward good bad ridiculous guy. The things you say and the choices you make can change different outcomes.
The parts I enjoyed were the grinds, the side quests and the various opportunities. The grind is what you have to do on each floor in order to get paid and gain authority. Some of it is kind of fun. Side quests involve helping someone, or yourself, with different objectives. The various opportunities involve obtaining literature or info that enable you to watch shows or read books to improve your skills or dialogue options. These can result in further side quests or advantages.
As I said, I liked the grinds, but at the same time, they can become quite monotonous. So, I can see a lot of players losing interest because of that. Also, the maps are very linear. You can only move around along one rail-like line through all areas. I always wanted to move my analog stick in the actual direction I wanted to go, but my guy would just walk slower. Even after several hours of playing, I still caught myself doing that. A little annoying.
There are a great deal of achievements to get. I consider myself an achievement hunter, but a great deal of them require multiple playthroughs, and I consider this game to be a bit too long to keep my interest in such a hunt.
In the end, if you think you'd enjoy a fun little monochromatic dystopian adventure, go ahead and give this a try.