Since I played both I wrote individual reviews for each game, as a whole though this remake is a solid 9.

Klonoa 2 Lunatea's Veil -- 7/10 [NOTES] Played this for the first time using the remaster, since I never played the PS2 release I can't compare but I can compare it to Klonoa 1 which I've played a lot of. Klonoa 2 has a shorter jump, it takes way longer to move, shoot and do anything than it did in Klona 1. The game is slower paced and it feels like it's the "stereo typically" ps2 2.5D platformer. None of this is inherently bad, but coming from the fast paced platforming of Klonoa 1 to 2 feels a lot worse. The environments for levels is incredibly varied but the problem seeps it when the game starts having you revisit levels with different conditions. Klonoa 1 did this as well but not nearly as many times as Klonoa 2 does it. Not that these revisits are worse or better than the original, but it does get stale when I played for around 5 hours, did everything and didn't see as much as I wanted to. Klonoa 1 does the better job than 2. I'm currently replaying Klonoa 1 and will mention anything if my revisit finds me more fond of 2 than 1.

Klonoa Door to Phantomile [Replay of Remaster] -- 9/10 [NOTES] Pretty damn fuckin good, ps1 release is always and will always be a 10. The updated visuals are fantastic, much more noticeable coming from 2 to 1 as 1 was pixelated ps1 sprites. The gameplay itself is still the fun game it was on the ps1, albeit I found this version to be more floaty than the original, with a few issues with inputs though I'm willing to blame my controller. Highly recommend, though maybe play the ps1 version :3
-2023

Let it be known that this double-pack served as my introduction to the series and that I have not played the originals. This review is purely about the games themselves rather than the quality of the remaster.

That said, these games were such a welcome surprise! Klonoa himself moves fairly slow and doesn't have too many fancy moves to his name, which I initially thought would hinder my enjoyment, but I found that it worked very well for what the game was aiming for. Levels encourage exploration and light puzzle-solving (especially in Klonoa 2) on top of its platforming challenges, and they all work together nicely.

The atmosphere of these titles is breathtaking. I'm a sucker for dreamlike worlds, and Klonoa absolutely delivered. Colorful visuals are accompanied by the games' incredibly dreamy and smooth soundtracks, combining to form an experience that feels incredibly nostalgic even on first impression. Klonoa 2 especially grabbed me with its soundtrack, sprinkling in bits of drum and bass and jazz amongst its usual dreamy feel.

The Klonoa games also feature light storytelling as part of their presentation (more than the average platformer) and the stories told add to their personality! I didn't expect the emotional moments these games threw my way at all.

Ultimately, I can't help but recommend these games! The movement takes a bit to click, but once it does, things fall in place nicely, and you're left to enjoy the ride.

Surprisingly really good!, I wasn't expecting that. The story is really really good (how did the funny wahoo cat rabbit almost make me cry??????) The game themselves ultracharming, with really good characters, music and pure joy in general.

And the tone changes in this game what???????????? Hello?????

I didn't even know anything about Klonoa (I thought it was from Sega, like Billy Hatcher XD) and I bought it blindly because it was at a cheap price.
If you have the minimum curiosity about this game, buy it, it will surprise you as it surprised me and for the price you get quite the quality for your money, you won't regret it for sure.

Wahoo! Klonoa best boy

2.5D Klonoa just never clicked for me and while this remaster finally got me through both games; I didn't have a ton of fun and it wasn't much more than a facelift.

I cannot tell you the amount of times I've tried to play Door to Phantomile over the last 25+ years. From original hardware, to emulation, to emulation handhelds, to emulation on Steam Deck... It was always a few levels and shelved. There was something there that kept me coming back for another attempt. I eventually found Klona happiness in Moonlight Museum for the WonderSwan and the two GBA games.

With this love of 2D Klonoa games; I was determined to find the fun in the more popular games. I force fed myself the Reverie Series. Door to Phantomile showed that the Reverie was just a facelift as quality-of-life in something as simple as the gem count was lacking. I ended up not going for the 100% I found so much fun in from the 2D entries. I beat it. I felt indifferent.

And after a month+ long break I just mainlined Lunatea's Veil. FFWD'ing cutscenes (the single QoL addition), going for no collectables. I had a lot more fun with this entry. The maps were more polished in the presentation, making the 2.5D make a little more sense. The puzzles had a hint of a challenge towards the end. But I was playing and beating it out of spite more than anything. And I didn't care for the repeated level angle to it.

I'm just a 2D Klonoa person in the end. It's me, not you 2.5D Klonoa. I'm sorry.

Klonoa is cool as fuck! The two games included in this collection are incredibly creative with its mix of 2D and 3D, as well as various stage gimmicks that the game always finds ways to make feel fresh. While neither game is very long, nothing overstays its welcome and from beginning to end they’re just really fun games. Of course, this what I would say in a review of the two games as games, and not as a modern remake.

I don’t mind that the game doesn’t look as polished as other 2D platformers that have released in even the last decade because the art direction makes up for it, aside from a few ugly looking areas. I just really wish this game ran at a stable frame rate. Even as someone who can barely tell the difference between 60 and 30 fps, this game’s frame rate bothered me at times. Aside from the frame rate overall not being smooth, there are occasional frame drops when there’s too much on the screen, and for a remake of a game that’s over 20 years old, and a game that doesn’t look like a modern release, it’s a bit of a problem. Especially for a game with the mechanics of Klonoa, with really fun aerial momentum based puzzles and platforming. The mechanics are so fun that I’d almost buy a whole game in the style of the optional unlockable challenge levels.

Overall, while I can’t say much about how it compares to the original games, I can see how long time Klonoa fans could have been disappointed by this. However, as my first time playing a Klonoa game, I loved this. Although the first game has a much stronger story that almost made me tear up at the end (I probably could have cried if I wasn’t holding back my tears with every bit of my soul because of the embarrassment I would have felt crying to Klonoa), the second game has such better level design that I have to say I liked the second game more. If you have any interest in the game or enjoy other 2D platformers, I’d recommend playing this, or emulating the original games. Here’s to hoping for a new Klonoa game.

[Only Door to Phantomile!]

I actually own the original PS1 Door to Phantomile, but I've never played past the first two visions (what the game calls its stages for some reason), and pure convenience (mainly my PS3 not reading discs particularly well and the controller also not being completely reliable anymore) led me to now play this remake instead.

And, you know, it's a fine remake. It looks a bit cheap and the cutscenes lose a lot of power when using in-game graphics rather than just reusing and upscaling the very charming FMVs of the original game, but at least the absolutely fantastic soundtrack and charming, gibberish voice lines haven't been touched at all. The core gameplay of Door to Phantomile also feels basically just like I remebered it, which is to say that it's good. Nothing remarkable to be honest and the game does play basically the same from the first stage to the last, though the difficulty curve feels does amp up at a good pace and the game's short enough that its fairly few gameplay ideas never really grow stale. The 2.5D also still looks great, which does suddenly make me wonder why basically no platformer released after Klonoa tried a similar approach with it's stages that wrap themselves?

Anyway, it's a fine platformer, though there are certainly better playing ones with more interesting mechanics than just jumping around and throwing inflated enemies. Surprisingly, the biggest strength of Door to Phantomile lies in its writing. It's deceptively simple and starts out like the most generic platformer you could ever imagine, but gets progressively more interesting throughout the game, and manages to have some surprisingly though provoking moments and dialogue that will stick with me for quite som time, plus the unbelievably sad ending that I had somehow not spoiled myself on before playing the game. I didn't cry over it or anything, but it certainly made me feel some type of emotion, and isn't that all we want from our games, truly?