its not a bad game by any means - the fact that darkness feels like even more of an obstacle than the first is pretty cool and the monster encounters feel genuinely dangerous.

however, this just doesn't feel like it was made by the same team behind SOMA and Amnesia: TDD. this game has the last tangible atmosphere out of either of those - and though i'd consider it to be scarier than SOMA - the story kinda falls very flat in comparison. SOMA has, in my opinion, one of the most well written stories to ever be in a video game. this game's story is definitely not bad, i'd even say it's quite good, but it just doesn't feel nearly up to par with frictional's more recent output.

on the gameplay side of things, the game feels way too linear minus some small more open ended parts (the highlight being that first fort area in the desert). i also felt there was a huge overuse of the indoor alien temple settings, which all look nearly identical to each other. it looks cool and is surprising the first time but i much prefer the desert setting, which i felt went underutilized. if you couldn't tell, i just finished the game so my thoughts are kind of scattered, but being a huge fan of frictional games and following every little thing they do - i was kinda disappointed by this game. i'm still gonna play every game they make as soon as i can though.