The sequel to DW, does it satisfy players craving for more horror and puzzle? Will it make Lovecraft smile from beyond?
+More intractable characters,like Loath, Inn Keeper,Nyelotahpsomething.Well,three.But hey, more than in DW1.
+Plenty. I mean, PLENTY of secrets. These are bonus things that you will find if you really keep your eyes peeled. To be frank, plenty of the secrets are impossible to discover unless you refer to a guide(google it, and I highly recommend it because the secrets are worth it!)
-+Great graphics. Surreal atmosphere and decent horror events. You relies heavily on flashlight or torches to see(but there's no puzzles that relies on this)But do not expect much gore and blood, the horror level from 1 to 10, to me, is 5. Dw2 is quite conservative on the horror.
+Much adaptation from H.P. Lovecraft. There's a lot of connection to Lovecraft works that he would smile even-though his jaw is probably rotten and gone, or, sue the DW2 company. The story, the secrets, the atmosphere, all related to Lovecraft.
+The game plays smoothly, no lags, no bugs, no errors(eventhough I seen complains of stuck doors, etc. So save often!).
-+A proper closure to the story of the mad Howard.
But... Imo, the story is at the best, decent with a touch of blandness. Lovecraft trick(horrifying revelation, hence, Lovecraftian horror), isn't used here. You know what will happen. Unlike in DW1. At one point, you traverse through an ancient city filled with despicable horrors. Yet, you do not see it. Howard describes it to you in word and skip to the end of the city. Dissapointing. The city could add much horror value to the game but players are not given any chance to see it, because the screen only show darkness, and you have to imagine the horrors within your mind(see what I did there?). Bad, just bad.
-+The puzzle is decent at best. I didn't find any ingenious puzzle though. There's arranging torn papers, finding clue in documents by underlining, finding hidden objects, solving locking mechanism. DW2 adapts the same mechanism from DW1, where events are recorded in a neat mental notebook. Sadly, combining two or more thoughts isn't used much. One puzzle, the locking mechanism to the book in the cellar, is frustating as you must trigger an event to solve it, that is, fiddling with the mechanism again and again until Howard realies:Oh, this is wrong. Must find another way. Proceed with the game!
-+There's 2 endings. Lovecraftian style. But there are, as I said, only decent. It provides closure(to a point), but nothing WOW. Also, you could miss one ending if you forgot to take one item, hence, refer to guide!
Summarised, DW2 is a beautiful game, bland story and puzzles but has good length which is worth the rent(it has no replay value as the 2 endings are all at the end. Just save before the end event and you could see both.)
Similar game: Penumbra series(focuses more on physics-related puzzle, unlike DW2).