Recent reviews by Dustylo

✔️Interactive plot with unique dialogue
✔️Well-developed characters and what they represent
✔️Available in a dozen languages or dialects
✔️Replayability

⚠️Invasive imposed choices
⚠️Some questionable camera shots of the futuristic city

❌Lack of voice-acting, lots of subtitles
❌Occasional inconsistencies from a narrator's POV

Screenplay

I was pleasantly astonished by the way that each new episode kept me involved and interested. Each and every brand new face added to the plot and brought something interesting to the main story arc. Everyone was well developed, and it never felt forced or out of place. The flashbacks and the parallels in time between the Diaz Brothers AKA “the Wolf Brothers” and their relationship was for sure a strong-hitter and a stand-out in the empathy department for me. Sean’s struggles reflecting into Daniel’s actions, and forced maturity come across as frustrating sometimes. But what makes up for it is how well established the setting is. Perspectives, choices and opinions are huge in this game. It’ll be remembered in my head for its lovely diversity in backgrounds, all sorts of backgrounds. The link between the first game and the second one is actually one of the only shortcomings of this game for me, as it did not reach the depth it truly should’ve. It felt more unnecessary and like an afterthought more than not. Given that oppression is a recurring theme within the game, I wished it had been portrayed with greater intensity and emotional depth in order to truly convey the constant feeling of injustice. However, certain scenes never fully captured the authentic essence of reality. More often than not, they felt overly sugar-coated, which, in terms of immersion, influenced me to make decisions that were counter-intuitive—resulting in outcomes that were less impactful and deviated from genuine reactions one would expect in such situations. I wasn’t asking to be traumatized, all I wanted was to put myself in the characters’ shoes and choose accordingly to me.

Technical

Freaking fantastic in almost every aspect. However, I could not ignore the visual bugs that happened from time to time, but other than that—nothing really could bring the score down other than one thing: the lips not syncing with the voice actor’s amazing work. Oh and, one more thing. Facial expressions are so important, neutral faces deserve some love too! Anyways, I’m being nitpicky. The details in this game make up for everything in my mind. The HUD was also perfect.

Gameplay

We came a long, long way since the first game! The multi-tasking is efficient, and your curiosity will remain better than ever. You can unlock seemingly “secret” interactions at unanticipated times, which count as rewards for you taking the time to explore the game and most possibilities if that’s how you wish to play this. I could go on all day about how much smoother and coherent the gameplay overall is, but that’s enough. Of course, as does every videogame, it has its fair share of bugs. Surprisingly, clipping issues are nowhere to be seen. I don’t take that for granted, if that was the case otherwise I could not have taken this game so seriously.

Soundtrack

An absolute triumph that deserves a whole ton of recognition. It really improved the scenery of it all, and I would not replace it for anything! If anything, I’d add more tracks to bits where they were missing. In instances where silence does not help in any way to embellish the moment, why not put on some music ? Good music, at that. Why not adjust the mood a tad bit? Oh and, the voice actors slayed! As they always do.