I played the original River City Girls around it's launch date, and while I know it's not a great game, I still found that some enjoyment could be wrung from it (playing with a friend most definitely helped). Everything is better with a friend. The sprite work is gorgeous and I liked a few bits of the soundtrack. The combat felt fine! Not bad, not great, just fine! This is due to enemies being complete damage sponges. That's about it, though. I remember a few things about the game, but its mostly faded from my puny monkey brain. Now onto River City Girls 2.

It's pretty much the same thing, huh? No, really, I have the same exact praises as I did for the first game. Except now that this is still somewhat fresh in my mind, I can mention a few things I didn't like! The writing is groan-worthy. I hope I'm not alone with wanting to roll my eyes when I hear a character in a game utter the word doggo or the phrase "bye Felicia".

Do you like going across the map to collect a macguffin then slowly bring it back to its destination, all the while tanky enemies bum-rush you from both sides? Do you like repeating this process for six to nine hours? Despite reaching the max level and nearly maxing out my attack stat (two points off) enemies still felt like they took a bit too much damage to fully take down. If my fading memory serves me right, a lot of the enemies that are present here are completely carried over from the first game. Even the map mostly feels the same!

I dunno, I think the game is just fine. I played this with the same friend that played RCG1 with me and we both agreed that it felt very samey. I can't help but think this games existence feels unnecessary. Like, sure, this game might be an overall better experience than the first game, but I don't care! Why was this made (aside from the obvious)? It felt like the same exact shit just longer. Besides the pixel art, I don't think it does anything inherently good or bad. It just kind of exists. Going forward, this might be my go-to example of a 5/10 game. Truly the worst fate any piece of art could succumb to, being completely forgettable.

Reviewed on Mar 04, 2023


10 Comments


1 year ago

I was really hoping all the issues that turned me off of the first game were resolved in the sequel, because I do find the sprite art very appealing and it's the main thing I find so appealing about these games, but that whole third paragraph pretty much puts me off from giving this the time of day too. Bummer.
Real shame that they kept some of the most irritating stuff from the first one.

1 year ago

A few of the reviews on here say that this game is an improvement over the original, but I honestly can't remember much about it to truly say if it is. If I still came away from this with a feeling of the same old shit then yea, probably not much was improved at all.

1 year ago

I'm going to assume the writing is very similar to the first and if it is. You're not alone on not being a fan of it. I like the first game but the writing kind of just make me groan looking back.

1 year ago

I still have the first game to play in the backlog, this is not encouraging lol.
Being ''more of the same'' is by far the worst route a sequel can take, unless it's predeccesor was absolutely perfect (which tends to not be the case, like in this). Really good review! I had this game under my radar but knowing that the writing and design flaws arestill here, I'll very likely pass it.

1 year ago

seconded, the writing in the first game is total ass

8 months ago

I genuinely hate how now with a cast of 6 they are all interchangeable so their personalities mean nothing. You may as well be playing 1 character who's talking to themselves the entire time.

7 months ago

I really liked the first one and I'm honestly not sure how most people seem to think this sequel is better. As you said, it's basically the exact same game, only way longer and with much more tedium. The map has barely changed at all! The movelist is more or less 1:1! I also think the music and writing have taken a nosedive. I loved the first game's soundtrack but there are only like 5 or 6 songs in this one that stand out to me. The writing in the original was cringey but harmless imo - here it's just constantly in your face with memes and fourth wall breaks. Not to mention the entire portion of the game dedicated to "kids always on their damn phones!!!!" shit. Just awful. They had an opportunity to improve the lesser aspects of part 1 but this game is so copy-paste and obnoxious that I doubt I'll ever want to play either of them again.

7 months ago

@Djungelskog - Sorry for the late reply, but yea as more time passes, the more I just want to forget this game even happened. It's the most nothing sequel. Nothing was improved, only worsened by bloating the game with trite nonsense. I also feel likewise in that I probably won't ever revisit these games; I just don't have it in me anymore.