After finishing the first game, I’ve been playing this sequel pretty much since. The contrast between playing Pikmin 4 and this game has been quite funny to me. But I feel like I’ve completed this game to a point I’m satisfied enough to write about it. Now, while this game came out at the end of last year, having only played it just now, I’m fully committed to calling this my GOTY so far. The first game worked due to its sheer and overwhelming dark atmosphere and world building but the gameplay mechanics and random dungeon layouts were incredibly frustrating and while they were meant to be, they still detracted a bit from the experience. You really had to force yourself to continue each new playthrough after resetting from some silly mistake, a bad fight with the Crow Mauler, or just unlucky looting. Of course, you could argue for ages about how this is exactly what the game was going for and how it wouldn’t work otherwise and that’s fair to an extent.. Frustrating as it was, it still was part of why I liked the first game. Fear & Hunger 2, however, absolutely nails the formula to incredible success. The narrative is deep, the atmosphere is so thick you can feel it, and its visuals are haunting and grotesque. Much like the first game, this is a brutal game and will do its absolute best to ruin your playthroughs and your life, but there’s also just so much more polish to just about every aspect the first game was built on.

As far as narrative goes, F&H2 is still complicated to approach with a plethora of lore to be found across multiple playthroughs with different paths and choices to take. It is very easy to get overwhelmed and lost in terms of how to progress or what exactly is time sensitive and what events will occur regardless of what you do. However, whereas the first game did very little to guide you, here you immediately get a three day time limit and a map to explore the setting of this game, allowing you to have a far better idea of how to plan out a playthrough as well as a definitive time limit to do things. The passing of each day serves as a landmark that lets you know what kind of events will happen and move forward, giving you a better sense of the things you should finish or attempt to do within each day. The setting is quite large and open ended but surprisingly very easy to navigate even without the map. It won’t be long before you quickly learn the layout and have multiple instances of “Oh, this area connects to that area” allowing you to better path out each playthrough based on your current goals. Overall, it feels like a game that begs to be explored whereas in the first game your main concern was figuring out the best path through small and enclosed rooms and hallways filled with enemies that could easily annihilate you. That said, you still have to manage your fear and hunger amidst exploration. And while initially it may seem like you have tons of items, once you start getting more party members you’ll find your limited supply of food, alcohol, and healing items dwindling ever so slowly.

Combat remains largely the same where the best approach to combat is simply to not enter combat in the first place. If you do enter combat, it follows the same structure as before where most enemies are a puzzle you have to figure out and approach like a boss fight. Some enemies you want to cut off limbs, some you will realize you do not want to cut off their limbs, and so forth. Either way, This game is no less brutal than the first one and going into any encounter without preparation or knowledge will quickly lead to death or permanent mutilation of your characters. One notable addition over the first game is guns you can use in the overworld and let me tell you, guns are ridiculously powerful. Careful use of guns and ammo management will make various parts of the game trivial and it’s honestly a welcome addition. Of course, ammo is extremely scarce as all loot is randomized each run, so you will often have to make decisions on where you feel it’s best to use your ammo on but ultimately adds a layer of strategy that often works in your favor. For the most part, the gameplay mechanics remain largely the same and it is still an extremely difficult and unfair game where you can easily lose alot of progress from a silly mistake or unlucky rng.

Where the game shines, much like the first game, is its grim story and characters. The game takes place in the 1940’s, centuries after the events of the first game, and centers around fourteen characters who get on a train that gets stranded on the outskirts of a town known as Prehevil. All of them have a nightmare telling them to participate in the Festival of Termina, a battle royale where only one person can survive and enter the game’s ominous tower that looms in the distance. Of these fourteen characters, eight are playable, each with their own backstories and reasons for being here at this fateful event. Each playable character has its own strengths and weaknesses that you will need to learn and take into account if you are to survive these three days in Prehevil. Take Marina, an occultist and the dark priest of this game. Alone, she’s quite weak at the start and entering combat is ill advised, but she is able to greatly buff party members and even use necromancy to get herself a few good dead dudes to be a meat shield for her should you be unfortunate enough to enter combat. Once you get rolling in spells however, Marina is quite a force to be reckoned with, even more so when you start recruiting party members. Then, we have Olivia who excels in botany and is able to harvest many of the plants found around Prehevil which other characters cannot, of which you can turn into potent healing items or toxic vials and the like. However, on top of not being particularly durable, she’s wheelchair bound, making her overworld movement and battles a bit unique. Olivia cannot go up and down stairs on her wheelchair, so you’ll have to get off and crawl, very slowly mind you, should you need to traverse stairs which can lead to death if you're cornered at stairs by something you really don't want to engage. In battle, Olivia can be knocked off her wheelchair, forcing you to waste a turn to get back on it, and in a game where every turn matters, again you will certainly die to this. If you’re unlucky enough to have Olivia’s arms severed, she will be unable to use her wheelchair, rendering her practically useless. I think you get the idea at this point. Each playthrough is a learning experience and you’ll have to take the time to learn not only the layout of the map but your chosen character and how to approach every encounter. Their unique mechanics aside, I found every character to be quite likable or surprisingly intriguing. There’s much to learn about each character and their motives, not to mention certain events happen only when you play specific characters, which makes doing multiple playthroughs a more enjoyable experience than the previous game. As brutal and macabre as this game is, there’s still plenty of sweet and goofy moments to be found between the interactions of each character. I’m quite fond of Marina constantly referring to your selected character as “the sleepy one” at practically every moment you meet her throughout the game’s story. Honestly, I really like Marina, period. Everyone is here for a reason and learning about each character, becoming acquainted with them, and ultimately seeing their untimely demise or survival make this a more emotionally engaging game rather than simply seeing gruesome things happening to them like in the first game. That’s not to say the first game was weak in that aspect though, but it’s definitely clear that far more depth went into the characters this time around than before. That said, figuring out how to successfully complete character quests and the like is still an ordeal without any guide and time sensitive at that so it’s not an easy task by any means. It’s a game of trial and error and a very time consuming one at that. I have to say it again for emphasis, this is an incredibly time consuming game of trial and error, especially if you try to play without any sort of guide or help. Even with a guide on enemy/boss strategies or quest progression, a simple mistake, an unlucky miss, or bad coin flip will send you right back to your previous save point. And whilst saving is far more forgiving than the first game, saving will usually advance time forward. Each day is separated into morning, evening, and night. And as you might guess, within each time of the day, different events will occur, move forward, become unavailable to do, and so forth. The passing of time isn’t as bad as it sounds though. You won’t miss severely crucial events, but rather more of “Oh I wonder what happened to this character” or “Huh, how did they die? Could I have saved them?”. As you get more familiar with the game and start going for more favorable outcomes, you’ll start doing much more in between saves, which makes losing progress all the more frustrating and time consuming. As a note, It’s actually quite possible to finish most of the game on the first day and something you have to do if you’re seeking to save as many of the characters as possible. Though I’d personally recommend surviving all three days as your selected character first and foremost, and only try to save more people or explore different events once you’re much more familiar with the game.

Last thing I want to quickly add, and it’s something I didn’t mention when I talked about the first game either, is that the music and sound design is hauntingly phenomenal. Just listen to each game’s title screen theme, which you’ll be going back to very often, to catch a glimpse at what I mean. In both games I found myself jumping many times at just the sounds themselves. The atmosphere this game presents is so thick and overwhelming it’s difficult to not be on edge constantly and you’ll be left wondering whether that sound was really just an ambient sound, or perhaps something actually tangible in the game that could come after you.

I like this game alot, I really do. I find myself often gravitating to very strange and odd series and this is one I’m glad to have given a chance to, even if it can get frustrating at times. Despite my glowing praise however, I have to heavily emphasize that much like the first game, this is not for everyone and I cannot recommend it without putting huge disclaimers. Masochistic difficulty aside, this game does not shy away from extreme gore, mutilation, nudity, and just awful things in general. This game tackles alot of sensitive themes ranging from mental health issues, sexual violence, and child abuse to name a few. And for many people this series will certainly cross the line in regards to just how much is acceptable before things become gratuitous and too much. I said before that character interactions can be sweet, goofy, and even funny at times, but it’s exactly those moments that serve to accentuate all the horrific things that can and will happen to them. I really can’t recommend this game unless you’re already a fan of dark media such as this, or you’re coming in from the first game. And if you are, then you were going to play this no matter what most likely. Other than that it will probably be your morbid curiosity that pulls you in. Either way, I would definitely recommend any of the numerous videos out on youtube if you’re mildly interested in this series’ lore and world which I find to be really engaging and fascinating. If you do decide to play this game however, then I wish you good luck.