TLDR: Everything that made the first entry interesting and light hearted fun is now caked in layers of dookie. Be kind to yourself and go get Taco Bell, you'll have a better experience than with this game. And yes, I'm including the -bathroom- time you're going to get.
Story: Just like the previous entry, no real meat here. There are different questgivers to talk to, just like in the first, but only Kovac has voice over now, rendering all other NPCs less interesting and boring. Some of the H2S playable characters make an appearance, that was a nice touch. And the ending is garbage.
Gameplay: This was the saving grace of the of the previous H2S, it was simple, cut and dried. The fun came from exploring, unlocking resting areas by clearing a horde, crafting new weapons, the little funny ''Kovac's rules'' skits... Now all that has been replaced, in this entry, with the implementation of overly trying to add content that in the end doesn't work well. Before, a headshot meant aiming at a head long enough so the reticle would ''lock on'', guaranteeing the head shot for triple dmg. Now, you've got to aim at the mid section of the enemy to get the head shot. While it doesn't sound so bad, when you face off against hordes, itjust doesn't work since you can't really see where their bodies are amongst the crowd. Your reticle will end up hoping from one target to the next and you'll have a difficult time shooting the one guy you meant to. It's frustrating.
The inventory was replaced by a system of max weight, which could be good, but isn't alphabetically organised... sure, there are tabs that separate weapons, armors, healing items, etc, but it is still a giant mess. Weird to think I preferred the limited slot inventory of the first How to Survive.
There is still the thirst and hunger need, but resting is gone. So no skipping nights.
One of the main reasons for my disappointment in this title game was the way quests work; once you accept a quest, it will teleport you to an area (swamp, city, sewers, etc) and you're there for the duration of that quest. Meaning once you've completed it, all that's left to do is warp back to camp. There is no real exploration, no new places to go to, no new path to discover. It's just, talk to this quest giver, get warped here, grab this and do that, head back, rince and repeat. Certain quests have certain rare mats spawns so, expect to replay it a lot.
Completing quests earns you xp, which you can use to level your camp, your character and learn skills; more rifle dmg, melee dmg, more health per heal, etc.
The camp, where you can build and upgrade very few buildings, requires some rather rare mats later on and you'll be replaying missions to find the mats you need to upgrade the buildings. Generally speaking grinding can be satisfying, as it gives you an edge in most games, but not here since everything levels with you.
Buildings upgrades are locked behind the camp's level, which also caps (the camp's lv) behind a ''Kovac's challenge'' every few levels, which is a giant horde attacking your base and attempting to destroy everything you own. So if your defences and placement are inadequate, prepare to rebuild everything you've already done. Establishing your base in a smart location is primordial, because having to redo your base elsewhere is a huge pain. It's important to lv intelligently as every time you level up your camp, the enemies all get tougher... Meaning you'll need to spend your xp on your character, camp and skill evenly, and make sure you've upgraded your buildings enough to craft the latest weapons and armors. It sounds good, but it's tedious and annoying.
Graphics: Some areas are acceptable, but the majority of the buildings' insides look worse than Silent Hill's textures on PS1. That's hard to do, but they managed to accomplish that.
Audio: I was in a hurry to finish this game, so everything bothered me.
I read some of the reviews before purchasing the title and I thought, come on, it can only have gotten better, yeah? Well, no. I wanted to like this game as much as I liked the previous, but in the end I just wanted it to be over. And considering how long it took me, I REALLY wanted it to be over.
