Curtis Pistorius

The combat exceeds the first game which you'd hope for and expect in a sequel 10 years later. But the RPG elements have been done away with for a card system that doesn't lend itself well to a feeling of progression. The cards certainly allow for you to make a "build", but your builds are based around some repetitive action (blocking, knocking enemies down, swinging) and don't ever help with overworld exploration. In the first one there was backpack improvements, lockpicking, specific weapon types improvements, rage improvements. None of that exists in the sequel leaving all builds to feel kinda the same, with minor changes on how you get your toughness, healing, or damage. You don't really care which weapons to hunt for, you just pick the ones you like and go for that. The other part that certainly gets repetitive is the counter system. Same animation over and over and over and over again. I counter because it heals me but my goodness I hate doing it, fun the first 1000 times but gets real old after that. This one falls flat on progression but excels in combat. I would say overall that it's not better than the first game, just different which is unfortunate. They had 10 years to make the game, and no one gave them any feedback on the elements they are missing?