The Fall Part 2: Unbound

Does a good job of continuing the concepts and charactes of the first. It has some "needlessly obtuse" puzzels that end up being drawn out click fests of running in circles trying every option. Some other reviewer used that phrase and it is apt. The writing is great and most of the voice acting is on point as well. The biggest dissapointment is that it was clearly intednded to be a part 2 of 3. And Part 3 is very unlikely per the developer. See video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjJd37oXUxI Big fans will enjoy part 2. Casual fans might be better off sticking to part 1.

The Fall Part 2 does a lot to improve over the first game but it also does a lot worse. It adds in combat in a couple different variations and both were enjoyable to me. You have some gunplay when playing as Arid going through the virtual network world and some hand to hand combat as One. The game adds new characters that Arid takes over in over to achieve certain goals and they were distinct and interesting. The voice acting was also well done across the board. I was going to knock the game in having faux choices early on but it actually gets explained later on so I gave that a pass. The story was overall pretty decent. It starts a bit convoluted and slow but gets better. The game includes an optional video that explains the events to the first game which is a nice touch. The last act of the game really annoyed me though. It included a lot of backtracking between hosts and really highlighted the game’s biggest fault in my eyes: lack of explanation. The game would introduce various mechanics but do very little to explain them or nothing at all. I didn’t even know I could change perspectives or hosts later in the game and that is required in order to proceed and solve puzzles. I can respect not wanting to hold the player’s hand but there is a middle ground between that and what The Fall Part 2 did. The puzzles in the last act were also a little more annoying. I dislike when I just have to start clicking on everything randomly instead of having a solution make sense. This is especially bad with a certain puzzle where you have to do things in a very specific order but are given no hints at all as to what that is. The graphics were decent overall. The game did a good job of having distinct looking worlds for the three hosts you encounter. The lighting and shadows were the best part. I did find the aiming kind of clunky as well. There was an option to adjust the sensitivity but for the life of me I could not figure out how to edit it.

What you get when you start up here is a solid and interesting title, but one that is obtuse and at times a bit buggy in ways that will actually get in the way of figuring it out. It has a lot more variety then the original game did and even improved on some of the clunkier aspects of combat from it, but it needs to be compared because unlike many sequels, this one really does depend on you playing the first one first. If you are looking to try the franchise out, stop right here and go play The Fall first. But if you have and want to continue the adventure, come on in. Just don't be ashamed to grab a hint or two along the way.

A continuation to a strong start but the concepts it introduces only scratch the surface of its potentiel. Objectively better than the first but since it doesnt follow throughon its concepts, leaves something to be desired.

While I think the gameplay in and of itself is mediocre, neither bad nor good, the way it is utilised to support the narrative and the differen character arcs is just excellent! Additionally I really appreciated the overall message of the game, particularly in regards to how valuable another persons perspective can be. Even the clunky combat serves the narrative! The visuals are rather artistic and I deeply enjoyed this "late-night" atmosphere this game had.