I finished Horizon 2 recently. While it is a safe sequel that never risks too much in any aspect, it is well crafted enough to stay engaging throughout the playthrough even if it overwhelms you with cookie cutter things to do and that are only there to create the illusion of a living sprawling world.

Its combat remains fun with a bunch of weapons and elemental damage types, although I wish they’d expanded more on that by including elemental damage combinations. Still there’s enough variety to mix things up and avoid boredom. This is the best designed gameplay element but there’s still room for improvement.

Story had this ME2 air to it with the assembly of a team to tackle on the game’s antagonists, but the stakes aren’t as high here since you can’t really change the outcome of things. Things even take a ME3 kind of turn at the very end but it manages to land that twist a bit better here. All in all, it was safe, competent and enjoyable. That is good enough. Score: 8