OLD REVIEW:
[h1]They deny you! They deny you! Not one of them. Not one of them![/h1]
So, I found that this game was free a long time ago (guess it's only been about a year and a half) and decided to hunt achievements in it. Of course, there was a problem...it's an early access game with very little explained on what to do or what's going on.
[i]Freakshow 2[/i] is a possible sequel to...another game that does not appear to be on Steam. So if there's some sort of knowledge between projects, I'm completely unaware of it. You move from room to room and monitor your asthma before you die while you solve light puzzles. Big problem with moving around, however, is that several rooms have the same background...so if you're in the main hall, it will look exactly like your bedroom. Trust the map more than your own eyes to have a better understanding on where you are. Fortunately, if you're an achievement hunter, a guide exists courtesy of the developer. Of course, after a year of being in Early Access and with the presence of a guide from the developer, it appears that development on this project has stopped. Whether it will become a finished product or will remain what it is appears to be unknown.
Backgrounds look unappealing and the characters are furries...so if you're not into that, then it's a good idea to turn away and look at some other games. There are some minigames which are somewhat decent, but with an appearance that may seem like they're amateur work (and no, I'm not saying I could do better). Fortunately, the audio while you're playing isn't really all that present aside from the circus music in the title screen and minigames along with the work of the voice actors...which is more or less hit-and-miss.
So...do I recommend [i]Freakshow 2[/i]? Only if you're an achievement hunter, like furries, or want to support the developer's progress in his career, then go for it. Personally, I cannot recommend this product due to simply not having any fun with it. I had to rely on a guide to figure out what to do and the story made absolutely no sense. Perhaps the hidden audio tapes could have answered some of the questions, but it would have been better to have a story mode that tells a story rather than having a story you had to look for (similarly to [i]Five Nights at Freddy's[/i], but people seemed to enjoy that one...maybe the same crowd might enjoy this?).
1/10 I wish this developer well, but I just didn't have a fun time.
NEW REVIEW:
[h1]Anniversary...and apparently a complete reboot.[/h1]
Just about everything you remember of [i]Freakshow 2[/i] has been completely scrapped and replaced with a new coat of paint and a few planks making it now [i]Freakshow: Anniversary[/i], a far more lenient experience on the player while still drawing inspiration from [i]Five Nights at Freddy's[/i] with you playing a child trapped within a creepy carnival building/tent...I'm guessing building...
The main game is separated into two sections of gameplay this time around: First person wandering and third person wandering. First person wants you to take care of various tasks before sending you off to bed...which enters the third person segment which I'm assuming is only a dream as you wake up back in the same bedroom...it's not very well explained.
You get far more minigames, but a short and easier main game which focuses far less on jumpscares and with a few more visuals than its previous version. Everything is explained better this time around, so it's easier to find your way around. However, this is faulted with the lack of scope and a decent explanation as to what's going on...none of the endings elaborate on this.
After completing the game, you can purchase various elements of extra content with the credits owned by completing the main game. This mostly consists of minigames, a hint on how to get the good ending, and a few other things that don't seem very important. The minigames appear to be basic flashgames and puzzles that you would expect from a basic top-down Zelda game with very low difficulty.
I'm not sure why the developer has chosen this direction for the title, but it's hard to say whether it's good or bad. While this product is better than what it used to be, it's hard to recommend this as a good game.
2/10 Personally, it would make more sense to develop a separate title rather than to scrap the first one entirely.
