i recommend this game with reservations. 7/10
STORY
you, along with a few others, are on a search and rescue to find the puftons on an island. as you are about to land, something shoots your plane, causing you to crash. you find kelvin, who was on the plane with you, but badly wounded and unable to hear due to the crash
PROS
what i liked about this game (and the original game, the forest) is that it does not hold your hand. similar to subnautica, the game doesn't tell you what to do. this encourages exploration at your own pace. for example, you learn to make fire with some branches. as you experiment, you realize "oh you can burn other things too"
at its core (in my opinion), this is a mystery game, with a horror flavor. and it's quite immersive. there are notes scattered throughout the island, and over time, you begin piecing together what has happened. i love how the game lets you figure these things out on your own
although a main component of the game is building, i appreciated that you don't really have to build. i'm really not into building. i was more intrigued by the story than actually building things. i did however have 2 files: one for the story, and then one to just build things. i appreciated how they allowed for a creative mode
CONS
-caves. they are too dark. even with light sources, i often found myself confused trying to figure out "wait, where am I?" the last thing you want when you're trying to find a way out is have enemies. that double pressure made gameplay quite stressful. even with turning enemies off, i often got lost. i'd go to a new direction thinking it was the way, only to circle back to the beginning. i wish the cave had some type of more markers to indicate "you've already been here"
-size/difficulty. it is too big. the game doesn't tell you what to do. which i often appreciate in gaming. but this game (along with the forest) doesn't tell you ANYTHING. you are often left guessing, which is fine for a smaller map. but this map is absolutely monumental. and the game doesn't necessarily indicate if you've already been to a place. sometimes, you'll need to backtrack, but i would be confused. "did i already go here? i don't think so. oh wait, i HAVE already been here and collect this item." and to get somewhere, it might take you 1-2 hours in real time, which i found to be quite tedious. i wish there was some type of marker system. maybe colors like brown for already explored or something. you are left to do your own mental map. so i created kind of my own system for marking which caves I've explored. once you learn how to make a tarp, it double functions as a save system as well as a "base".
-cheating. after about 40ish hours of gameplay, i got frustrated because i didn't know what to do and used the cheat system (as i did in the forest as well). i turned on a cheat where you can so super fast, which was really helpful as well as godmode (you can't die). but even with cheats, i still had a difficult time playing this game. i said to myself "wait, you are supposed to do THAT?" which i would've never guessed
there are some really cool ideas that i enjoyed in this game. storywise, the first game is much better. but this game is better gameplay wise. the new addition of your partner kelvin makes exploring the island more enjoyable (and less scary)
