Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Almost, but not quite"

8/10

Generally maintains overall high quality of first installment

Visual realism, sound design, and mood still eerie with some great scares

Less atmospheric and lesser sense of horror than first installment

Story still doesn't quite come together

Length still on the short side

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A few weeks ago Shining Gate Studios, lead by Fredrik Westlund and Johannes Rae, released their second installment of Decay onto XBIG. While fans of Decay Part 1, who were privy to some fantastic old-school horror maintained by a strong visceral mood, may not get everything they were hoping for, Decay Part 2 is still a solid entry in the ongoing series.

If you're new to the "franchise" I'll direct you to my review of Part 1 to get the scoop on basic gameplay features and mechanics. Assuming you're familiar with that, let's move onto what Decay Part 2 offers in comparison to the first installment. Part 1 was so successful as a game primarily because, while it utilized a fairly basic point and click adventure model along with an inventory system lifted directly from early Resident Evil games, what it really excelled at was atmosphere. The incredibly detailed objects in the game, the strange lighting, the sense of mystery were pervasive and persuasive, and I can thankfully say that on the whole Part 2 continues to do well overall, with one exception.

Yet despite that exception (which i will come to shortly) Decay Part 2 offers a few great scares for your money. I literally jumped out of my seat at least once while playing it. On top of that, Part 2 offers more in the way of clever puzzles than the first installment did. Where Part 1's puzzles seemed a little detached or "random", Part 2's for the most part seem to fit into the overarching mode of the game in a better way. On top of that, it feels a little easier trying to figure out what to do at any given time, with more obvious clues as to how to proceed, which keeps the game moving forward rather well. You'll also get to partake in a mini-game or two, which are included seemlessly into overall game.

Not to say that you'll have a better sense of what's going on than in the first game, for the most part. While the end of the game does seem to reveal some key elements that we'll look to be drawn out in the future, for the most part you'll still feel rather clueless as you wander about the old building trying to figure out what's going on.

The largest drawback to Part 2, in my estimation, is that the heavy atmosphere which was so thick in the first game (beginning with finding yourself hanging on a noose!) looses its edge in the second installment a bit. The hallways and rooms don't seem as frightening this time around, and the lighting overall feels less weird and foreboding. While you'll still get some good shocks, Part 2 delivers less of an intense experience as the first installment, which leads me to hope that Part 3 will up the ante to keep up riveted throughout the rest of the series.

Overall, Decay Part 2 is still an excellent horror indie game and, despite its brevity (coming in at 1-2 hours) is still definitely worth playing if you enjoyed the first game. For 240 MS points, you won't go wrong.

8/10