A brilliant and heart-wrenching story featuring familiar characters from the first game. It’s a tale of how the thirst for power and greed can blind people and drive them to do insane things, ruining the lives of innocent people. This installment offers significantly more variety in locations, companions, and story length. The game very skillfully alternates between feelings of hope and despair, calm and chaos, and confidence and doubt. Each of these shifts changes your perspective on your surroundings and forces you to either be on guard or relax, creating a positive emotional dynamic. It’s engaging to play through this story and anticipate what will happen in the next episode, all while admiring the beautiful graphics, the musical score, and the well-conveyed atmosphere of medieval France. The plot of this installment seamlessly complements the first and logically concludes the duology. [spoiler] Although I’d like to add that it would have been twice as good if the developers had included a branching path leading to two endings: a “good” one - where the De Rune family survives and continues to live a happy life in Marseille, having eliminated the threat posed by Victor and other antagonists - and a “bad” one - the one featured in this game. That would have provided motivation to play through the game twice and experiment with different tactics and decisions. [/spoiler]
Pros:
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[*]Atmosphere. The graphics, music, and level of detail in the locations - it’s a complete immersion in the story.
[*]Companions. Unlike other games, where companions are always taken away under obviously contrived plot devices, in this one - just like in the first installment - a companion (or even two) is almost always by your side, which helps you form an attachment to the characters and empathize with their fates.
[*]Intuitive gameplay. The interface and locations are intuitive and don’t require any extra steps to figure out.
[*]Story. It’s exciting to play through the game and unlock new chapters that bring you closer to the resolution.
[*]Variety. From Provence and the Mediterranean Sea to ancient Roman structures and dungeons, from rulers and military figures to bandits and pirates - there’s plenty to see in this game.
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Cons:
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[*]Minor bugs. Sometimes a companion can’t follow Amicia and gets stuck. Or rats teleport from the lower floor to the upper one. But these are rare occurrences and don’t affect the overall experience.
[*][spoiler]Victor de Arles’s death comes too quickly. For such a despicable character, developers could have come up with something more serious as revenge than just a blow to the head with a rock.[/spoiler]
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Overall, the game left a positive impression in terms of gameplay and a complex emotional impact from the story. That’s why I’ll be eagerly awaiting future games from Asobo.
