Red Matter 2 (2022)

Red Matter 1 was ok. It was short, focused and had a somewhat interesting story.

Red Matter 2 is four times longer and four times worse. Here are 7 reasons why:

1. Puzzles are not challenging.
2. The story drags on too slowly.
3. The way they pronounce russian words is terrible.
4. They added platforming and it's so slow and unsatisfying, that I switched to teleport locomotion to save time and skip platforming "challenges".
5. The protagonist and his protege dialogue is nauseating.
6. They even made the (previously robotic) AI computer print cringe emotional dialogue on his print cards.
7. The mysterious creepy atmosphere that was in the first game is replaced with dull environments.

Diagnosis: not a fun game, even for puzzle enthusiasts. Watch a "let's play" before buying and think.

I remember liking Red Matter just fine, but I'm intensely disliking the sequel. Puzzles are extremely basic and don't make sense in the context of the world. The story doesn't make any sense and the two main characters are a couple of dullars that don't seem to be able to grasp even the most obvious stuff.

As well as the walking simulator sections and environmental puzzles that carried over from the first game, this one adds combat an platforming. Both are terrible.

Platforming relies on the suckiest jetpack in gaming which combines with the slow fall speed to turn every jump into tedious waiting. Every single segment is an unbearable and obvious crawl that requires zero effort or skill and provides no challenge.

Combat does get challenging, but only because you only get a pistol with terrible aim with which to shoot at the enemies' tiny weak spots. The health indicator is one of those "vision turns red" but one that doesn't manage to actually convey that the next shot is going to kill you. The first enemies are pretty ineffectual, though, so shoot-outs are mostly boring. Then you start to get waves of literally infinite flying drones and then it gets just frustrating.

Yeah, the game looks pretty and has all those reflections and dynamic shadows and whatever, but it doesn't tell a coherent story with engaging characters and mechanically hovers between meh and terrible. Perhaps after playing Half Life 2 in VR I'm souring with today's VR scene. That game has pixels the size of your head and polygons that you can count with your fingers and toes and still feels more modern and innovative that this dreck.

Red Matter 1 is one of the most highly regarded VR experiences, and Red Matter 2 brings it to the next level.

It is downright unbelievable that these graphics were accomplished using the Meta Quest 2 hardware. Reflections, particle effects, high quality textures, this world has such an impressive graphical sheen over it.

The story is a great continuation of the first game and answers some mysteries while showing you some new ones.

This game is excellent and is a worthy successor to the first game.