This is, quite simply, the best puzzle game I've ever played. This is due not only to the puzzles themselves (which strike a wonderful balance of simplicity and challenge), but also to the wonderful world that has been crafted around them. Every corner is considered- every new vista revealing a new marvelous wonder- unpeeling one layer after another. The fact that this experience is consistent all the way through to the end is a sheer testament to the creative will. What more is there left to say, but that upon finishing this masterpiece, one wishes they could play it all over again for the first time.

Overall, a very strong effort from Remedy. I felt Control's writing was a bit better (ironic given the theme of this game), but this is a worthy follow-up in many respects. If there's one thing that really disappointed me though, it would be the lack of real reward for the side pursuits. For creating such a handed crafted world, I was baffled to find that there was little to no reason to seek out the remainder of the major collectibles in the game. At least two of the trails simply conclude with a large stash of resources. For a game with so much emphasis on writing and lore, I feel this was a missed opportunity to reward players who were interested in further immersion by providing additional story or teasers for future content. As is, they are largely only worth finding for the payout of each individual find.

Quick aside, I think it's ridiculous that this console port was released in such an unfinished and buggy state (all my save data corrupted...) Shame on the developers (or whoever was in charge of the timeline) for rushing this out and giving no warning in-game about the major, game-ruining issues at launch.

Now that that's out of the way... I did really enjoy seeing all the creativity and artistry on display in this one, even if not all the art present in the game is rendered with the same level of technical excellence at times (obviously understandable with a small production!) However, as much as I liked the art, tone, premise, etc. the gameplay itself doesn't feel quite as interesting or polished. There is a general sense of not quite reached potential throughout. Perhaps ambitions had to be tempered to meet deadlines, or creators grew too impatient with parts of the process along the way. This is felt especially in the clunky combat and lack of clear onboarding for players (despite some valiant attempts being made.)

In addition, the writing (obviously a pretty integral part of a game like this) is similarly stunted overall. It's certainly not bad persay, just relatively bland and unimaginative in comparison with the rich art style and (most) ideas presented in the storylines. It often feels as though the writer perhaps lacked the vocabulary tools necessary to properly convey their ideas the way they envisioned them. Plenty of attempts to include vivid descriptors and leverage strong, foreboding prose are made, to be sure, but most of it doesn't quite stick the landing- further contributing to the sense of a slight lack of polish overall.

It never feels good to point out things like this in passion projects made by small teams of dedicated artists, but these are important to call attention to nonetheless, so that we can continue to push each other to strive for excellence in the medium, and to perhaps encourage each of us to consider working with others who might bring strengths to the table that we ourselves might lack. A better writer would likely have gone a long way in helping to convey the unique, ambitious ideas on display here. As is, the overall experience is often an intriguing one, but one that never quite reaches the heights of greatness that it aims for.

I still enjoyed my time with it nonetheless!

Interestingly enough, while I would assign the same rating to Portal 2 that I gave to the first entry, it is a step back in some ways (though certainly a step forward in others.) I found some of the "sequely" aspects to be a detractor from the strengths of the first's sparse, but intriguing world & storyline. The constant wisecracks from your new companion are humorous, but sometimes grow annoying. And the story itself, while fleshing out the world more, doesn't seem to ultimately stick the landing as well as the first game does. The added complexities of the puzzles and other quality-of-life improvements, however, are a welcome step forward.