It's better than the first game in some respects (the spooky forest atmosphere is lovely, for one thing) but unfortunately the same trading quest puzzle returns, and this time has a hidden object fetch quest choke point that makes it more obvious how aggressively linear it is. It's not that linearity is a bad thing, but the first game gave you access to the magnet before you'd talked to anyone, and instead the pies here are a fetch quest where your reward is the start of the set of trades.

More than anything I think the game coasts on charm, and I just don't find it that charming. Maybe I just don't have the stomach for twee, or maybe it's that the game just feels a bit too Tender Frog House to me. It's not the creators' fault how people respond, but I'm still allowed to be vaguely frustrated with the ~everything should be "wholesome"~ discourse that this series is probably used as a prop in. Does color my view a bit.