Hands of Necromancy II

This was released in 2024? The controls are atrocious. There's a row of items in the item bar and I can't select them in any common sense way. I'm not sure if it was taught in the tutorial because I was too confused about why my character randomly stopped moving or doing what I said. I thought the game was stuttering or crashing, but it's just the tutorial removing your control over the character randomly. Do I really need full control removed for that long just so I can read "press E to interact"? No I don't. It's just annoying for no reason. OK so I restarted the tutorial to find out how to select items in the item bar. The text disappeared before I could finish reading it. Cool. It said something about "POV1". That's not a real key. There's nothing on a modern keyboard, mouse, or gamepad that uses a key called POV1. When it was telling us how to use an item, it said to either press ENTER or POV3. Nevermind the fact that ENTER is a horrible key to assign for item usage, but POV3 is also not a real key. Upon reviewing the control mapping, you can cycle through items using ], [, POV1Right, POV1Left, the left/right mouse wheel clicks, and dpad. I guess the mouse wheel clicks are OK, but not ideal and having to run my entire hand to the ENTER key is nonsense. OK we can just rebind stuff. Fine. But this mundane clerical work should be done by the game creator before the game is bought and downloaded. I mean these binds are just awful and nonsense. There is also no explanation of what the difference is between the 2 classes or the difficulty levels. Bonus points for the game muting in the background, but the game sometimes highjacks your computer if you alt-tab so you can't reliably multitask with the game open on one screen and something else on the other. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I'm not sure why. I was unable to alt-tab over to update this review with the game open. So that makes the 2nd time I had to force close the game before finishing the tutorial. Some people have said the game is running their CPU up and causing system hangups. Kind of sketchy. I will continue to play but man that was an annoying and frustrating way to start a game. If I had any kind of life I would not have reopened it after being annoyed the first 2 times. Since I have no life I will give the game a good 20 minutes or so in the first level to start getting good. edit: ok the gameplay is pretty good and almost makes up for the early frustration, but it's not great. most FPS magic games are complete ass but this one has some fun mechanics. playing on the hardest difficulty so far and it feels fair. the transformations are pretty cool and adds a bunch of variety for exploration and combat. however, the enemies are not that interesting mechanically. they are kind of boring to fight and don't require much strategy outside of kiting or LOSing ranged enemies. The transformations are cool, but the only times you'll use them for exploration is at the obvious parts that can only be accessed with certain transforms. you won't use them in any creative ways. the game is also way too dark and some enemies just blend into the background a lot of the time. it's ok for some enemies, such as the wizard things, because their attacks light them up and show you where to aim. but for others, like the flying gargoyle things, it's just annoying trying to find them as they fly around and blend into everything. the level design is not very captivating so far. I've only played a few levels but they are pretty simple without much to see off the path laid out in front of you. you go to the only area you have access to, get a key, then go to the next, area, etc. There's no puzzles or anything like that. One more thing. you're a necromancer who can resurrect enemies to fight for you, but the summons have bad pathing and will wander off and not follow you everywhere. if you go up an elevator or something, then you will leave them behind. sometimes they seem to teleport to you if you go far enough away but since maps are pretty small you can't always go far enough away to trigger the teleport. seems like a waste of the transformation mechanic to not give us more to explore and find

Disappointing how the new character's morphs and arsenal aren't as fun to use as the original character's, since most of them are visually superior. A rare case where fun matters more than beauty. Well, she reminded me of my stupid second ex semi-girl/boyfriend anyway, so at least I have a real excuse not to play as her. This one still doesn't have proper checkpoints, but at least this time I didn't get lost often, since it's a lot more linear compared to the first game. And it's just as fun (since I'm using the old character), plus the levels are visually more interesting too. It'd be better if it was an expansion for the first game, since it's still exactly the same game, except with a new character with new morphs, three new chapters, four new items and a few new enemies, but whatever.

not very fun. levels a mazes easy to get lost in needing endless backtracking. enemies are great at pathfinding and hitting you, but become useless after you necro them. constant ammo shortage even on easy. it just throws endless ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ at you to make sure you don't enjoy yourself.

More of the same except no metroidvania and a new character to play as. Again, can’t wait for Egyptian retro FPS Profaned.

Another amazing feat of level design, challenge and retro-greatness.

🔥 HANDS OF NECROMANCY II – EL PODER OSCURO EN TUS MANOS - https://youtu.be/PUKkqs5Fkb4?si=PJGuNsncIL6CkQlS DESARROLLADOR / EDITOR: hon team / fulqrum publishing LANZAMIENTO: 16 de septiembre de 2024 GÉNERO: action fps, dark fantasy, boomer shooter, magic, metroidvania light PLATAFORMAS: pc (windows, macos, linux – steam deck compatible) Encarnas a un poderoso nigromante —o a su sucesora— que busca dominar las artes oscuras y frenar amenazas demoníacas con hechizos, armas y transformaciones. El juego retoma lo mejor del retro-fps clásico con elementos modernos, incorporando poderes mágicos, caminos alternativos y decisiones tácticas en combate. Todo gira en torno a absorber poder del enemigo… y devolverlo multiplicado. 🎨 APARTADO VISUAL | CLÁSICO CON TOQUES MODERNOS ✔️ Estilo retro 3d pixelado con atmósfera lúgubre, evocando títulos como heretic o doom, con sombreado e iluminación moderna. ✔️ Escenarios variados: criptas, templos, desiertos, zonas industriales, cada uno con rutas opcionales y zonas secretas. ✔️ Efectos visuales de magia y transformaciones bien integrados, sin perder claridad en pantalla. 📌 Gráficos que respetan lo clásico, pero ofrecen suficiente dinamismo para el jugador actual. 🎮 JUGABILIDAD | SHOOTER MÁGICO CON OPCIONES Fps frenético de la vieja escuela con un giro mágico. Usas armas tradicionales, proyectiles oscuros, habilidades especiales y necromancia: puedes levantar enemigos caídos como aliados temporales. Cada personaje tiene su set de habilidades propio y desbloquea rutas únicas. Además, las transformaciones demoníacas sirven tanto para combate como para exploración, añadiendo verticalidad y secreto. 🔥 CARACTERÍSTICAS PRINCIPALES • Dos personajes jugables, cada uno con armas y habilidades únicas. • Mecánica de necromancia: revives enemigos para ayudarte temporalmente. • Sistema de transformaciones: desbloquean habilidades especiales y rutas ocultas. • 27 niveles divididos en tres episodios, con diseño amplio y repleto de secretos. • Banda sonora oscura con instrumentos electrónicos y coros rituales. 💥 DESAFÍO | MAGIA, MOVIMIENTO Y PRECISIÓN ✔️ Combate rápido, con necesidad de gestionar bien la munición mágica y los tiempos de invocación. ✔️ Jefes variados, enemigos con patrones agresivos y oleadas sostenidas. 📌 El reto es constante pero equilibrado, invita a aprender y adaptarse sin frustrar. ⏳ DURACIÓN Y REJUGABILIDAD ✔️ Campaña de 12–15 horas dependiendo del nivel de exploración. ✔️ Alta rejugabilidad: dos personajes, rutas divergentes, secretos, logros y mejoras. ✔️ Soporte confirmado: modo aracnofobia, balance y contenido adicional previsto postlanzamiento. 📌 Ideal para partidas largas y segundas runs con builds diferentes. 🌟 VALORACIÓN FINAL TRAMA: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (9/10) – oscura, directa y funcional; cumple como hilo conductor. JUGABILIDAD: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (9/10) – ritmo ágil, poderes divertidos y niveles muy bien diseñados. GRÁFICOS: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (9/10) – pixel art moderno con estilo propio y ambientes marcados. SONIDO: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (9/10) – efectos potentes y música envolvente que refuerza la atmósfera. NOTA FINAL: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (9/10) ✅ RECOMENDADO SÍ. Hands of necromancy ii mejora todo lo que ofrecía su predecesor y lo lleva más allá: hechizos, transformaciones, necromancia y acción clásica refinada. Es ideal para fans del retro-shooter que buscan algo más que disparar. Un juego completo, desafiante y estilizado que demuestra que el poder oscuro también puede ser brillante. 🔗 https://store.steampowered.com/app/2706450/hands_of_necromancy_ii/ #handsofnecromancyii #boomershooter #darkfantasy #steam #finalbossproject

Una, muy buena secuela. un juego que recuerda a HERETIC Y HEXEN. Muy pocos FPS de magia. muy recomendado.

Muito nostálgico e divertido, apesar de muito desafiador e frustante em muitos momentos. Gostei demais! Devo jogar mais em breve para poder comentar melhor sobre determinados aspectos e, enquanto isso não acontece, eu indico jogar para descobrir por conta própria!

HoN 2 is to HoN 1 like Doom 2 was to Doom 1 - an expansion, using pretty much unchanged (coding-wise) game, and adding new monsters/weapons to new levels. As such, i will only be covering the new stuff here, and for the things that remain, see my review of the first part. First of all, there is an additional character added that you can play. She has a different, but related, weapons. Nevertheless, for her i think its even more the case of "use just a single method" for each weapon. Its also cool, that she gets her own set of transformations. There is a ton of new enemies, and frankly? Its great, they do feel like they fill niches. The only two monsters i am not quite a fan of, is the Lizard and Reaver. The former is so bugged, that it usually kills itself while attacking. I think i got hit by it only once, and only because i wanted to see how it kills itself. The latter, seems to be a weak version of the Lemure. It might be because i played on the hardest difficulty, and melee enemies are far more dangerous. As far as maps go, its a mixed bag. On one hand, the maps are well designed, with good encounters. On the other hand, there is no "theme" while playing, i moved from forest to a skytomb to caverns, pretty much back to back. Furthermore, while the episodic format is cool, it would be a good idea to force "pistol start" when starting each episode. Releated to the above, there are voiced cutscenes between episodes. The addition of them is definitely interesting, though to be frank, the way the characters say stuff, feels... inhuman? unnatural? People don't tend to talk like that. Each episode ends with a boss, and the first boss feels like a filler, the second one i think is recycled from the first game, and the third one is pretty interesting. New additions also add more inventory items, which on the surface level is great, but in practice the player has too many items - and you need to add hotkeys to them to reliably use them in combat. All in all, this is a better title than the previous one, Are there free mods/TC's for GZDoom that are better than this? Definitely! But i still did enjoy this game.

More linear but still just as good