Red Matter 2 Review (Cleril)
Not the sequel I was hoping for. Firstly the atmosphere is ruined by the voiced protagonist and constant banter with Beta. Weirdly enough you even see her in a hologram as the introduction to the game never to see her face again (why put all that effort and budget into that?). Red Matter had a tangible loneliness which contributed to the atmosphere. Here I feel like I'm being led around a kids themepark. Beta constantly explains obvious plot points I already pieced together or could of done some scanning to figure out. This game makes me feel stupid due to over-explaining everything. The puzzles aren't even puzzles as the game gives you the solutions to everything right in your face. Diagrams tell you exactly where to put things and scanning screens tells you exactly what you're looking for.
In the first game there was a little bit of a sidekick voice over but they barely had dialogue. Beta here is telling me things I already know every 2 minutes. I walk into a new space and she tells me to solve the puzzle. Gee what would I have done without her.
The second main issue is the number of locations has expanded but as far as I can tell the game is still linear. Red Matter had better atmosphere because it took place in a single location where you pieced together the plot yourself by exploring every inch of it. Here Beta tells you everything while the environment plays at best a supporting role in story telling. Due to the increase in scope each environment has less details to tell a story.
Everything feels dumbed down. I didn't get to the shooting but when I saw that in the trailer it wasn't something that excited me. I wanted to explore a detailed lived in environment and piece together a story myself. Instead I get my hand held everywhere and "puzzles" that solve themselves. Judging from the reception so far on youtube and metacritic I'm just not the target audience here. The audience is for Quest 2 owners looking for PC level graphics.