I was really looking forward to this new entry in this series, as I loved both previous installments. While NG was more like a side story, this one (as the title implies) is a full-on sequel to Death Mark, so we get to play as the ‘Spirit Doctor’ once again. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel like this newest chapter could live up to its predecessors, but still, it wasn’t bad, either.

The new gameplay elements include walking around in 2D environments, collecting and using stuff, sometimes with a companion who we can also interact with. This part reminded me of The Coma games (without anyone actually chasing us), and was a great addition, in my opinion, as the whole thing started to feel more like a classic, old-school point ‘n’ click adventure game rather than simply a visual novel. More interaction in these types of titles is always a big plus for me. With that said, the atmosphere somehow wasn’t as creepy as in the previous entries, and I believe it was not a good idea that 90% of the main plot took place in one location and its direct surroundings. Running back and forth between the same rooms and buildings in each chapter became quite tedious for me after a while, and not even the jumpscares worked too well. Though I must admit, the evil spirits still look terrifying, and we get many brutal, gory scenes, some even depicting suicide, so keep that in mind.

Overall, the story was OK, but the twists are not that surprising if you pay attention, and the puzzles are not that crazy difficult, either. It was nice seeing the old characters again, and some fun new ones. If you liked the series so far, give this one a try, but don’t expect anything too memorable.

This game comes with all the strengths of the previous games: good ghost stories, fun, likeable cast of characters, striking, creepy art, and good atmosphere created through sound effects, music, writing.

It also improves over the others with better pacing and handling of the Suspense Acts. They come up with an odd RPG-ish solution that gives the player multiple chances to guess the right answer instead of an immediate "Game Over" screen. It cuts the frustration I felt from playing the previous games way down. There are collectibles in the game to help improve the odds and amount of attempts during Suspense Acts. Thankfully they place them along the main path, so I didn't have to search the entire map every chapter. I was able to find most of them without having to resort to a guide.

It's the smoothest, most enjoyable Spirit Hunter game. I've been loving playing this every night, and it's been making time fly by quickly.

i literally JUST finished the game and i will start with my honest kind of negative opinions first then delve into the positive ones.

The sexualized images of female victims, women in danger or even almost naked depiction of underage girls that appeared every now then, although a huge shock, was nothing I didn't see in the first game but I still thought it would cease to exist or at least not happen as frequently with the second game so I was looking forward to this new installment.

Unfortunately, I've been let down. The focus on sexualizing women and girls who aren't of age is taking away from the horror and making the game feel more like an objectification simulator to me. I wish they would consider a change of direction and find new ways to tell a creepy and compelling story without resorting to cheap shots and fanservice. I feel like the game is losing its charm by trying to appeal to a certain type of male player rather than focusing on making a great horror game. The gratuitous sexualization of women who aren't even of age gives the game a creepy and perverted vibe instead of a scary one. It makes it feel like a game that's not meant for everyone, but only for a certain type of player to enjoy. It really takes away from the experience and it makes me sad to see a great game become this.

Now that I have said it all, again like the last game I loved seeing the team work together to fight off spirits, the mystery building up and the plot twists. I very much enjoyed the plot of the spirit we have been trying to destroy hiding in our circle as one of MC's friends. Although the parts where the two high school girls were hitting on the MC made me uncomfortable, I realized later on they were being possessed the whole time. I thought being in the school the whole time would be boring but it never was. I loved seeing Japanese traditions and rituals taking place in the game especially the last quest was very creepy. Overall, when the game doesn't focus on cheap horror game tricks like showing constant female nudity, it does a very good job of being creepy and mysterious.

Hopefully, if there ever is a 3rd installment, we are not exposed to any unnecessary indecent depiction of female characters.

Boy do i have thoughts about this game. I got my physical copy on feb 12 somehow so i blasted thru it.

general non spoiler review:

gameplay: 4/5
overall aesthetic: 3/5
story premise: 3/5
story execution: 1.5/5
new character concepts: 4/5
new character execution: 3/5
spirits: 2.5/5
returning characters: 3.5/5
cgs: -500/5
Yashiki: 3.5/5

gameplay is simple and solid, the 2d sidescrolling is visually a cool change of pace !! it kinda plays funny when turning around though but its endearing to me so i like it a lot. Also i like seeing chara height differences directly its super cute. i do like the story premise since it had a lot of potential. keyword had. the art in general is still nice but i am not a fan of most of the cg content.

if i had to rate the 3 spirit hunter games so far of best to worst (generally speaking): NG (peak) > death mark 1 (foundation) > death mark 2 (looks into camera)

i will say though i have room for Tolerance for this game because the devs did experience (haha) data corruption that wiped all of their work at some point. so that probably affected how the final game ended up being. this is my copium. (source: https://www.gamespark.jp/article/2021/06/09/109355.html)

if anybody wants my unhinged long ramble review i put it on my tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/iunner/744360498081021952/this-is-my-full-death-mark-2shibito-magire?source=share

Death Mark II brings us back to the spirit hunter series' trademark creepiness. While its highs never touch those of NG, or probably even the original, this game does spin an enjoyable mystery. I enjoyed this game myself, but I had a few gripes, most of which are probably explained when finding out the game was crowd funded. The first entry did get decent sales in its release, and NG, less so. I think given the stats, it's pretty cool a third game was released. That said, placing the game entirely in the school makes some sense given the overarching narrative, but I found the variety of creepy locales lacking. Schools are overdone, and I couldn't help compare to Another or Corpse Party. I wasn't really too into the running around aspect, but I think it does make sense--I remember becoming annoyed with some of the circular backtracking in the dungeon crawling way it was handled in the first two entries. So I think this is an improvement in gameplay held back by the budget. It could've had more atmosphere, I think. I think this style is almost too cute, contrasting with the horrible deaths & grotesque things this series is known for.