[h1]Twice the Content, Twice the Pain[/h1]
A punishing sequel, that makes the predecessor look like a cakewalk. Albeit, barring maybe the final boss I found the first three episodes doable on Veteran difficulty with some patience. With the final boss I had to look things up to get an idea of how to manage the patterns as it felt far too chaotic even with all characters and upgrades collected.
So all in all, what you could call the "normal" difficulty did push me often. At Episode 3's Final Boss, I was cycling through every character and trying to utilise the exact abilities and specific mechanics to squeeze out as much damage and ensure I can stay alive for as long as possible. It really does feel like the game expects you to push every character in your party to the breaking point.
Yet, despite my experience it seems you can beat this game with a single character (one of the achievements requires this), much like the first one.
This game gets mixed responses specifically due to its' difficulty. My assessment is that this game is focused primarily on managing your characters' abilities and mana points (and revisiting stages to gather stats upgrades) rather than on your platforming prowess like in the Castlevania games for the NES. Platforming and movement is still important here, but this game can be really relentless in certain sections, to the point that it is best to min/max the best character spells for optimal chances of your party's survival.
[h2]New Approach to Characters[/h2]
The balancing of characters feels substantially different to the last game where most characters were well rounded jack-of-all-trades, except for Alfred who was the main spell-casting support. The main cast of this game is more designed around very specific abilities they have, which differentiates their play styles a lot. It also means that in some scenarios, certain characters will feel poorly suited for the situation. For the most part, I enjoyed this change. It gives this entry a distinct feel and provides for new challenges. It also demands of the player to get properly acquainted with the idiosyncrasies of each character to gain advantage.
What perhaps didn't work as well, was that a character like Hachi felt like the optimal choice for most scenarios, he has a lot of HP, does the most damage sans-abilities, he has an invincibility spell, his hover ability can trivialise some platforming, and his downward crush takes care of annoyingly placed enemies. Hachi also has some solid 'i-frames' in his attacks as well. He does however, have a massive hitbox, meaning he's very vulnerable when he doesn't have mana, and he can be mildly awkward to control but otherwise it felt like he could steamroll through most scenarios.
[h2]Consensus[/h2]
Curse of the Moon 2 is a fun entry which, to its' credit, attempts an experimental approach in lieu of the previous game's more orthodox style. For the most part it succeeds, albeit I think I enjoyed the previous game more. People who are adept at old school platformers are going to get the most out of this game, while others might be put off by how this game may humble them. In short, YMMV.
