Supraland: Six Inches Under Review (Vitlöksbjörn)
This game isn't Supraland 2 as much as it's "Supraland 1.5", or maybe 1.7 and the original DLC would be 1.3? Anyway, point is, you should only consider playing this if you've beat the original Supraland - it's a direct sequel, both mechanically and story-wise. That also means I'll be comparing stuff to Supraland 1 a lot.
In a nutshell: it's still fun, but it has nowhere near the amount of charm of the original. It didn't make me want to explore after I was done with the game, some latter puzzles were frustrating (beat them all by myself, in the end), and collecting chests felt pretty meaningless, more on that later.
Also, while Supraland 1 was a story about nothing really, this one's central theme is... class struggle? Don't get me wrong: I very strongly agree with the premise. But it's delivered with the subtlety of a freaking sledgehammer to the face, and it even has the rich bad guy say that fair treatment of workers is socialism. This ridiculous talking point is generally used in that weird country with the guns that I forgot the name of, due to their history with the Red Scare. Can we... not propagate those ideas, even to make fun of them?
Anyway, let's talk about the game proper.
The World
I'd say the main draw of Supraland 1 was the fun, interesting world - with plenty of little nooks and crannies that contained treasure. The hidey holes are still there, perhaps even better than before. But the world itself... it feels very insular? Small? Compact? Instead of having one huge area that contains many interconnected sub-areas, Six Inches Under is split into a hub area and a few "levels". For the most part, they aren't interconnected at all. There usually will be no reason to return to a previously finished area except to collect all the treasures that you missed. Some might like this approach, but not me.
Still, that also means that for the most part all the interesting pieces of a level will be in one place. Streamlined? Perhaps, but also boring - at least to me. Then again, I like walking sims, so rambling around is something I enjoy; you might not. The exploration aspect is just... not there.
On the other hand, the design is tight. It's pretty clear a lot of thought went into constructing the set pieces, especially when it comes to forcing you into a specific solution to a puzzle. Some might find this annoying, but I can't help but respect the way the game tells you "No, that's wrong. Find another way."
The Combat and The Chest Problem
This is probably the biggest change from the main game. There are no enemy spawners, no roaming baddies (for the most part); instead, the fights are taking place in designated arenas, and once you get rid of the enemies, they're gone. That allows the game to focus on the puzzles, which always was what Supraland was really about.
However: This, I feel, clashes greatly with one of the main appeals of Supraland 1 - collecting chests. See, chests always contain either some kind of upgrade, or money that you can use to buy upgrades in the shop. It's all about upgrades. Upgrades to what?
To your combat capabilities.
So even though the combat isn't really in the foreground anymore, you're still awarded for exploration with things like crit chance, extra health, ammo for your gun (which regenerates almost instantly anyway)... once you realise this, finding chests becomes a lot less exciting.
I feel like - considering the game's leftist undertone - this is a bit of a wasted opportunity. Near the hub area, there's an encampment of people cast out due to having no money, e.g. the homeless. Wouldn't it be nice if the chests contained gold that you could donate to help them build a better home? Everybody loves that kind of stuff. Or things like facility blueprints for clean water (they only have sewage). I want to get this chest so I can finally build Lv3 water processing plant and proper beds! I wish.
The Puzzles and The Tools
Here I feel like the design is much tighter - if a bit more difficult. Six Inches Under contains some of the same tools as Supraland 1, but it also has its own additions. In general, though, I felt as if I've seen a lot of that stuff before; many puzzles rely on the same old tools, even if used a bit differently.
What's nice is that there are these speakers next to the more difficult puzzles which tell you if you have all the tools that you need for this puzzle. This was also the case in the first game, but here they're more prevalent, and that's a good thing - you won't smash your head against a wall that you can't break.
Conclusion
Towards the end, the game kind of just fizzled out. I still beat it, but the ending caught me off guard - I guess I expected more? Especially since the last two areas were not that fun to me.
The writing is still great, maybe even better. There are unapologetic dick jokes, balls jokes, making fun of all sort of capitalist tropes. The game even makes fun of the first game's protagonist, highlighting his general "devil may care" attitude to, well, everything and everyone. This game's protagonist, Plumber "Indiana Jones" the Blue, is much more of a people's hero - well loved by everyone. That's also nice.
In the end, your enjoyment of the game depends on what you like about Supraland. Did you love the puzzles? This game's a refinement in that area. Did you like adventuring in the big world? That's what got downscaled. I liked the latter, so this one's a bit of a disappointment. See you in Supraworld, I guess.
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