Zeno Clash 2

Zeno Clash 2 expands on everything that made the first one a memorable experience. The story's more interesting, the lore's even more bizarre, the combat is improved with more moves and skills to perform and more items to use, the world's larger and offers a bit of exploration, and the game just has better pacing and is more polished than the first one. The game's still on the shorter side, and the story's still abstract, and there's a lot of room left for interpretation, and at the end you'll have more questions than answers. The combat still feels samey towards the climax. Personally, I enjoyed all the changes, and I think ZC2 is a better game for that, and I hope one day we'll get a direct continuation of Ghat's storyline.

Okay. I wasn't expecting much. Especially after playing the first Zeno Clash and thinking: "Well... that was certainly a meh video game." But apparently ACE Team looked at the first game, listened to my disappointment, and said: "Hold our ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ beer." Because Zeno Clash 2 is a spectacular comeback. And not just because it's bigger. It's hilariously different. The first game felt like a strange linear fever dream. This one basically said: "Screw corridors. Here's a semi-open world full of bizarre ♥♥♥♥. Go figure it out." And ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, did I have fun. The story follows the protagonists—apparently brother and sister—on a mission to rescue their captured siblings and fathermother while dealing with the most wonderfully ♥♥♥♥♥♥-up collection of creatures, monsters and weirdos I've seen in a game. And somehow... I actually fell in love with these characters. Which was unexpected. I came here to punch ugly monsters. I did NOT come here to develop emotional attachment to a bunch of beautifully ♥♥♥♥♥♥-up freaks. But here we are. The world is strange as hell, and you actually have to pay attention. There's exploration. There's stuff to figure out. There are collectibles ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ EVERYWHERE. And here's the clever part: those collectibles aren't useless garbage thrown around the map just to inflate your playtime. They actually feed into your skills and stats. So when you find some random shiny ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hidden in the middle of nowhere, you're not thinking: "Oh great, another useless collectible." You're thinking: "♥♥♥♥ YES. MORE POWER." That's how you make collecting ♥♥♥♥ worthwhile. The beginning is admittedly a little rough. If you haven't played the first game, you may spend the opening hours thinking: "Who the ♥♥♥♥ are these people, why does everything look like this, and why is everyone seemingly suffering from a collective brain malfunction?" My recommendation? Play Zeno Clash 1. Get disappointed. Question your life choices. Then immediately come back to Zeno Clash 2. Because the difference is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hilarious. It's like watching a mediocre opening act and then discovering the headliner has arrived with a flamethrower. This game is WEIRD. Not "haha, quirky indie game" weird. I mean WHAT THE ABSOLUTE ♥♥♥♥ AM I LOOKING AT? weird. And I love it. The enemies aren't just giant bags of hit points either. Some of the monsters and bosses require actual combat skills AND brainpower. You can't always just punch the ugly bastard until he stops moving. Sometimes you have to figure out what the hell you're supposed to do. And the bosses? ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. Some of the coolest and most entertaining boss fights I've encountered. The further you progress, the more interesting this game becomes. You start off as basically a weird elf-looking human whose primary contribution to civilization is: 👊 PUNCH. That's it. Congratulations. You're a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fist with legs. But keep going. Beat the monsters. Beat the bosses. Figure out the weird-ass world. Collect your mysterious shiny crap. Upgrade your skills. And eventually you're running around with superhuman abilities, beating the ♥♥♥♥ out of things that would've annihilated you at the beginning. That progression feels ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fantastic. And that's ultimately why Zeno Clash 2 works so well. It's short. It's strange. It's semi-open-world. It's incredibly imaginative. And it doesn't feel like anything else. No generic fantasy kingdom. No boring military corridor. No thousand-hour Ubisoft checklist simulator. Just a gloriously bizarre world where the developers apparently asked: "What if we stopped giving a ♥♥♥♥ about normal?" And then made an entire game out of the answer. Zeno Clash 2 is weird as ♥♥♥♥, surprisingly charming, genuinely fun, and absolutely worth playing. I expected a mediocre sequel. Instead I got a bizarre little masterpiece where I spent hours punching nightmares, solving bizarre problems, collecting shiny ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and somehow becoming emotionally invested in a family of absolute lunatics. Would punch again.