Glass Masquerade 2
Take this with a grain of salt, since I went in with very high expectations, but ... I was a bit let down compared to the original.
The jigsaw aspect of the game is still excellent, and the music is solid.
But I really wasn't a fan of the weird dark fantasy / occult theme, and while I had found the premise of unlocking a mystery intriguing as you play through the game, in practice it falls pretty flat.
The first is a problem for a few reasons: 1) dark fantasy is pretty overdone, 2) the images weren't just (trying to be) creepy, but they were definitely clunky, 3) while I can see wanting to stretch their artistic wings, meh. It just doesn't work.
The second is a problem because 4) All you're really doing is unlocking new puzzles. Calling it a "mystery" doesn't make it one. 5) Most of the text accompanying the puzzles was muddled at best and complete nonsense at worst.
For example, there was one bit of text about something like approaching life like walking on ice - with big long strides. I mean, it's a terrible metaphor, but it's also completely wrong. I dunno, maybe they meant it ironically, but after the first 8 or so puzzles I just stopped reading the text as it actually detracted from the game. Perhaps they just needed to sack the people responsible for the subtitles, Python-style.
Will I almost certainly buy their next game? Yeah. Do I hope they pivot back to their strengths (Which is making interesting, quixotic stained glass puzzle art) and abandon the trendy "oooooh, scary madness dark stuff!"?
And I'm not even scared of spooky evil clowns, but it was played out 20 year ago. And also meant I had to be careful about playing when my young child came in the room, because they are scared of evil clowns.
TLDR: It's fine, but the concept falls flat. I would replay the first game a zillion times by myself, and would also play it more with my child. The second game...makes me hope they chart a different course for the 3rd game.
Post edited August 19, 2019 by bler144