Hands of Necromancy II

I don't see much of a difference between this game and its predecessor. so this is basically my review from the frist game: To be completely honest, this is not the kind of game i like to play, still, i think it is a good game and can be awesome for many other people! Hands of Necromancy II is one of those old-timey games, with dates graphics, bit weird controls (despite the control overhaul) and the very typical kind of map. There is exploration or hidden nooks and crannies, shapechifting, combat, platforming and a bit of puzzle solving if you want to call it that. I think it is a pretty balanced game with a lot to offer, i just persoanlly don't have the nerve to sit through this kind of game for long. The only difference i can see between hands of necromancy I and II is that in the second game you can choose between two character classes, the second game looks a bit darker and in a way flatter than the first one. The second game also feels much more difficult than the first.

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.

good

Didn't get to play the first, but this one is great. The combat flow makes spells feel punchy, the necromancy mechanic is novel and well integrated, and the puzzle mechanics add shapeshifting to keep things interesting (w/ metroidvania style level progression).

even better than the first

A love letter to older classics. Can recommend if you like the genre.

🎬📺 SESSÃO DA TARDE APRESENTA… Prepare a pipoca… apague as luzes… porque hoje a aventura vai ser… sobrenatural! 👻✨ Em um mundo onde a magia foi esquecida… onde monstros espreitam em castelos sombrios… e onde apenas um feiticeiro ousa dominar as artes proibidas… surge Hands of Necromancy! 💀🧙‍♂️ Inspirado nos lendários clássicos Heretic e Hexen, esse jogo traz de volta aquela época em que a aventura começava com gráficos cheios de personalidade, corredores cheios de segredos… e monstros surgindo de todos os lados! Mas aqui tem um detalhe… você não é um herói comum. Nada de espada brilhante ou armadura reluzente… você é um NECROMANTE! 😈 E quando o perigo aparece… você responde com magia negra, feitiços devastadores e poderes capazes de fazer qualquer criatura das trevas pensar duas vezes antes de atacar. Castelos abandonados! Templos amaldiçoados! Masmorras cheias de armadilhas! E hordas de monstros prontas para testar se você realmente domina os segredos da necromancia. ⚡ Tudo isso com aquele visual retrô irresistível que vai fazer qualquer fã de Heretic e Hexen sentir aquela nostalgia boa dos grandes clássicos do PC. 📢 Prepare-se para ação, magia e muita aventura! Porque às vezes… para derrotar o mal… é preciso usar um pouco de magia proibida. 😏 🎮 Hands of Necromancy — Uma aventura tão cheia de monstros, feitiços e nostalgia… que até os mortos vão querer jogar! 📺 Hoje… na Sessão da Tarde!