La-Mulana 2

 PC
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 10
  3. Negative: 1 out of 10
  1. Destructoid
    Aug 15, 2018
    If you believe you’re ready to take the plunge on a journey that just might end you, La-Mulana 2 is highly recommended. Just be sure to look out for false tablets…and don’t stand still too often…oh, definitely listen when the game tells you to stop reading.
  2. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    Jul 30, 2018
    If you’re a fan of old school Castlevania-esque games then this is the ticket for you. A perfect recreation of the mould, but filled with its own strange story and theme. For those of you who aren’t this is a tough recommendation. You’ll need a lot of patience to get to the oddities I found so compelling, but if you want to know what Indiana Jones would be like if he fought mecha-dinosaurs instead of Nazis… well, you absolutely do want to know don’t you?

Awards & Rankings

68
#68 Best PC Game of 2018

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 18 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 18
  3. Negative: 4 out of 18
  1. naroom
    Sep 2, 2018
    10
    This is the sequel that La-Mulana deserved. The puzzles and traps were just perfect. Played it blind, took 40+ pages of notes, finished inThis is the sequel that La-Mulana deserved. The puzzles and traps were just perfect. Played it blind, took 40+ pages of notes, finished in about 100 hours. There's an absurd amount of content here. And there's no grinding; it took that long because it's a big, deep game.

    It's a huge improvement over La-Mulana 1. When you solve a riddle here, the game gives good feedback about what happened where, so you know what to do. The puzzles are actually fair, and some of the harder ones have multiple clues. The music is excellent, the art is a lot better, the engine is vastly improved.

    There were some bugs at launch, but they got patched out in the first few weeks, along with difficulty tweaks.    … Full Review »
  2. Techbane
    Aug 20, 2018
    5
    Let me be clear about one thing up front: I like La-Mulana a lot. It has issues, but does what it does well. La-Mulana 2... is not La-Mulana.Let me be clear about one thing up front: I like La-Mulana a lot. It has issues, but does what it does well. La-Mulana 2... is not La-Mulana. My best guess is that they ran dry on time or money and rushed it out the door; there are still, at time of writing, DOZENS of potential soft locks and save-bricking glitches, and while the aesthetic of the game is superb and they make more of an effort to ease you into things (by making puzzles and bosses in the early game WAY too easy), the general design feels very half-baked.

    Even ignoring the fact that it's easy to accidentally brick your save...
    - The translation is choppy to the point where a critical part of a hint for a late-game puzzle was omitted entirely.
    - Strategic enemy placement and variety is way down, and "hurr difficulty" enemy spam is way up.
    - Bats have been deliberately recolored to blend into the environment.
    - Instant death traps and generally dickish pitfall traps have about tripled in frequency and are much more often completely unmarked rather than having some warning signs to intuit.
    - Progression is much less intuitive and more subtly railroaded. Both the first and second areas you're likely to unlock are actually late-game areas that offer nothing of value for their exploration at that point other than death. Where in LM1 you could often be chipping away at something like two to six major overarching puzzles simultaneously, you are instead punished for trying to explore here. In LM1 every area you could access from the Guidance Gate was intended to be accessed at that point in the game and each one let you make significant progress. In LM2 you're basically handed a series of baited mousetraps that you must jab at until you find the one that DOESN'T snap shut on you.

    The later parts of the game will still legitimately test your puzzle-solving and boss-killing resolve, but frankly the uphill battle with artificial difficulty it takes to get to the genuine challenge isn't worth it.    … Full Review »
  3. Metaman1
    Aug 2, 2018
    10
    A masterpiece without equal, La Mulana 2 punishes the meek and rewards the stubborn. If keeping notes and being mercilessly crushed for theA masterpiece without equal, La Mulana 2 punishes the meek and rewards the stubborn. If keeping notes and being mercilessly crushed for the smallest transgression seems unappealing then do not even consider playing this game; though if challenge is what you seek then look no further. To call it a Metroidvania would not be doing it justice since only a minor percentage of progress is made by upgrading your arsenal. Indeed, your own personal knowledge is what is being upgraded. If you ever find yourself stuck, try revisiting some areas. Ruminate on what you've learned thus far. Examine your notes. Hit a few walls. Odds are that you will discover something you didn't notice the first time you went through with your newfound experience.

    While most of the bosses are noticeably easier than in the first game, this is mostly thanks to your main character's greater air mobility and stronger subweapons. To compensate the platforming has been made considerably more difficult and enemies in general provide a whole new level of danger, such as projectile-throwing skeletons that cannot be destroyed or valkyries that zoom to the other side of the room to blast you with ranged attacks whenever you get near.

    The puzzles are top-notch and no doubt better than the first game. Puzzles only have one solution yet still reward creativity thanks to being so varied. No two puzzles feel the same, and while cowardice will let you avoid many traps some puzzles can only be solved by displaying carelessness. Paying attention to the tablets and learning about the inhabitants of each branch is sure to work in your favor. For example: If you find yourself in an area inhabited by foolish warmongers, the solution to the block puzzle is to simply swim through lava without protection. If a pedestal has an obvious crusher overhead but the tablet says "Believe", the key is to not run away after activating it.    … Full Review »
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