May Assassination #2 (SG Win / PoP Pick)

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It's been a year and a half since I played the first Figment, so I don't remember much of it, but I have the feeling this is more or less the same thing with very few changes.

The main gameplay elements are still here - some adventuring, a lot of puzzling (mostly good), a lot of combat (mostly bad and dare I say, entirely unnecessary). And while this time the game feels a bit more confident with the pacing, the visuals, and the songs, it falters a lot on the grating and insufferable banter between the two protagonists, and the heavy-handed emotional notes it tries to achieve throughout the story.

What's great here - in the first game, a lot of the areas felt very samey, differing only by the puzzle mechanic you were using to solve them. Here you have a lot of distinctive areas, with the Maze and the investigation bit my favorites. The way the game takes elements of mental health, neurology and psychology and conceptualizes into gameplay elements and story elements is quite frankly, incredible. The musical numbers are really catchy, and the payoff at the end of the game is really well done, particularly after the story dragged for the first 80% of the game.

What's not so great - combat is still a big part of the game, and is still as bad as it was in the first game. It overall feels shorter, probably because it is. Collectables are hidden in the level but not in a fun "let's get out of our way to find them" way, but rather on a "let's paint this collectable with the same color as the background" way, which is just dull. And the dialogue between Dusty and Piper, man, PLEASE, these should be an option to shut them up because they are the worst.

It's overall a shorter game that does very little to be a sequel rather than an expansion pack for the first game, but this is not entirely a bad thing. More confident on visuals and on metaphors, a bit lacking on pacing, combat, and dialogue, Figment 2 is still worth your time if bought on a discount