Ghostrunner 2

At its core, Ghostrunner 2 provides largely the same first person action-platformer experience as the first game. However, about every aspect was touched in some way and these changes seem to have been divisive among the player base. Some sizeable additions are the game being bigger, having few large non-linear maps, and introducing a motorcycle.

Refined bladerunner experience

Story doesn't feel like an afterthought this time. Every few levels, you as Jack return to Climbers' base to confer with your allies. The Climbers were a rebel faction in the first game, opposing the Architect and Mara the Keymaster. After Jack cut the latter two down, the Dharma Tower was thrown into chaos, and now the Climbers are one of the factions trying to become the one to govern the mega structure.

Jack is sent to put an end to a faction of Hammers that are growing in power. Behind them turns out to be a small group of ghostrunners. Taking them down then becomes the goal of the game.

Same but different

Jack now holds his sword with both hands, upright on the side. I suppose it makes more sense than the horizontal one-handed rest from the first game but due to it, the sword's blade is now barely visible. Holding parry brings the blade into view, though, so it's fine -- you can still admire the cooler designs.

Enemies (outside bosses) die again from one hit -- as does Jack. Fortunately reloading a checkpoint is still instantaneous as well. Accepting that deaths are frequent will keep frustration at bay. Bigger arena encounters with a lot of distance to cover between enemies do have potential to become annoying, though, because you have to (re)play so much to get a checkpoint.

With the exception of the mainly-platforming one, I didn't enjoy the boss fights in Ghostrunner 2. Having to deal damage to a typical health bar didn't feel right. I think I got carried through the final boss by the passive perk that triggers an electrical blast from perfect parries. It seemed to deal several regular slashes' worth of damage.

I don't remember the exact ability arsenal you had in the first game but I'm pretty sure it's not identical. In addition to the energy-using Shuriken, Shadow, and Tempest skills, you also get a long-cooldown ultimate ability, chosen from eventual-five options. I was really bad at deciding when to use my ultimate -- and rarely ended up doing so. I might as well have used it every time it was up instead of trying to save it for the most optimal spot that then never came.

Love it or hate it

The motorcycle is quite the whiplash upon the moment you get on it. On foot your dash/temporal boost slows time down when holding the button but on the motorcycle you only go faster -- it's like an antithesis to the regular gameplay. The motorcycle levels also come in an almost opposite order one would expect: you're immediately in a constant high stress chase sequence but later things are more leisurely and progress is more on your terms. Checkpoints are frequent on the motorcycle too, though.

The game's large, open outdoors level was quite a questionable inclusion, if only for finding collectibles. You can ride straight to the mandatory objective markers if you so desire but the travel time between encounters is admittedly still quite long. As I was playing the game on Epic (where it was given away as a freebie), I didn't care to go for 100% completion -- and that would've been quite sweaty thanks to the no deaths achievements and the roguelike-inspired mode -- but I did still do a thorough playthrough. I found all collectibles and got gold medals from all the hidden challenge terminals.

One More Level really should've added an instant restart button for the challenges. It is quite common, even outside the challenges, to end up falling to an awkward spot that doesn't instantly kill you but from where you can't continue either. The motorcycle is to get stuck in geometry, too. Wall-running also tends to trigger unnecessarily when you're just trying to climb onto something but that's not too common of a problem.

Despite its slight issues, Ghostrunner 2 was a fun experience. Music was fitting once more and the game ran smooth. It's truly the premier cyber ninja experience.