SIMULACRA 2

Review

Ease into your chair and prepare yourself for this continuation of the SIMULACRA universe. In this iteration, you will have new advanced tools and a mosaic of widely branching narratives spread across 2 characters that are continually altered by your choices. You will have the choice of playing as a junior detective or a reporter who is recruited by a special department at police headquarters. With only one piece of evidence, you must find the truth of how a young woman & interweb influencer ends up dead on a case that is already closed. Lives and livelihoods are on the line, there is no room for mistakes.

Use the tools at hand to unlock the pieces of the puzzle as you discover who is guilty and bring peace to a young lady taken from the world too soon. This is no ordinary mystery; as you begin to discover more about the victim, a seemingly sinister force makes itself known that complicates matters even more. Gather evidence from the victim’s phone that has seemingly been purposely wiped, and use it to reconstruct lost data to build your case. Are you ready to begin your journey for the truth?



Released on Jan 30, 2020, by the developer Kaigan Games and published by Another Indie, it is tagged as Indie, Simulation, Psychological Horror; I have added the following tags: Choices Matter, Multiple Endings, Thriller, FMV. It features two playable characters, a detective and a journalist. As an FMV it relies heavily on prerecorded video in full 4K resolution; the acting was excellent in its presentation. The branching narrative depended on the choices you make to unlock your ending for the story. A built-in hint system is available, should you find yourself stuck and needing a little help. Continued lore from the first game about Simulacra. The storyline is entertaining and engaging as you piece together the truth. Exceptional, imaginative mechanics; digging into what makes the game tick was exciting.

What an incredible play; I was glued to this one from the start!  The more I dug into it, the harder I was hooked. I came into the title with no expectations (as I normally try to do); everything about the title was fantastic, from the narratives and storyline, to the mechanics, to the live video – it was all meticulously designed. I have been interested in the genre for some time, owning just a few assorted titles, and I admit that I was quite excited to have the opportunity to review this one. I do wish I had have played the first title beforehand, but no regrets . . . I will get it later. With 11 hours for my first playthrough and possibly many to go, it is great value per hour of play. I look forward to trying the other character when I can take the time to see how that story plays out. In the end, I am rather blown away by the overall quality of the title and look forward to any continuations in the series and/or other releases by the developer.

My only real complaint is that I would have liked a manual save or save on exiting for when I wanted to close out the game, so as not to have to redo parts that I had already completed. There is no controller support, but I am not holding it against the title as it is a mouse-use only game.

Achievement Hunters will want to note it will require multiple playthroughs to 100% the title. I unlocked 7 out of 27 my first playthrough.

 

Review written by DamageInc.for Zeepond.com!


Positives

+ Delightful Live-Action Video in 4K
+ Exhilarating Story
+ Imaginative Mechanics
+ Hint System
+ Replayability
+ Steam Achievements

Negatives

- No Steam Trading Cards (at this time)

Review Summary

Simulacra 2; A Mind-boggling Psychological Thriller, with a twisted paranormal mystery to solve in this continuation into the SIMULACRA Universe. An impressive example of the FMV genre in full 4K resolution that had me glued to my chair.

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Zeepond Rating: 9/10

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