21 minutes in - this game is absolutely awesome. I liked Slash or Die 1 even with its shortcomings, but SoD 2 is a perfect example how to make an okay-good game a lot better.
The animations are super fluid, higher frame rate, a cleaner art style while still having the grim fantasy setting
One top complaint was for the first game that you could not dash while running, breaking the flow and sometimes causing to be hit - it's fixed here, making the gameplay more responsive.
Experience levels (unlocking abilities FOR purchase) is removed, and soul - currency - gain is at least double of the first game, if not more.
Coupled with the faster gameplay and soul-gain it took about 10-15 minutes of gameplay to unlock an ability, more health, an extra dash and two bonus damage, making me oneshot everything I've encountered up to level 2's beginning. And this is awesome. The game is mostly about managing your stamina (dashes) and your positioning, sometimes against 5+ enemies of 3 types that shoot, run and charge at you at various patterns and timings.
I recommended to people about SoD1 to file-edit themselves just one extra level of hp, stamina and maybe speed to make the game fun, instead of mediocre grind against boring enemies at the start, likely taking more than an hour for a new player because of the slower gameplay, stamina regen and soul-income. The dev ended up speeding up the too slow progression - and making the game so much more recommendable by that. Though with this comes a difficulty change too, or at least some unexpected things. First game's enemies from 3rd? level are in the start of level 2, and that really makes me curious what will I have to face later.
In short, the game runs great, the first boss is cool (and I'm really looking forward the others, based on trailer), it's more responsible, and has about the same challenge and enjoyment as the first, while taking way, way less time to reach the fun part, respecting the player's time. It's a great forward step in every aspect.
edit after finishing the game: Still a good game :D
Balance is mostly good. Bosses are high risk high reward fights, it's a bit pity they have so low hp - with maxed characters you can kill the first two bosses with one or two rotation of attacks with two characters, while the boss only attacks one. A bit pity, after all they have 3? different attacks each.
Knight is strong with highest hp (most use of a revive), agile with his dashes, deals high damage. Really cool first hero.
2nd hero (reaper?) is a lot better than barbarian was in 1st game (at least he doesn't get damaged while he travels to his attack location - teleport instead of a jump) but such a pain to start out with him. Fixed range teleport with circle AoE + low movement speed and damage = lot of running away to be able to land 1 damage. Slower but strong against bosses, almost broken against final boss because of the teleport.
Rogue: Very fun and rewarding to play. Fast, lowest hp, damage and stamina, short dash, but can double-dash with each stamina to do the same highest damage as reaper. Double dash also gives mobility, ending up dodging a few chargers/shots then unleash very high damage.
