2/5 ★ – bugzeppelin's review of Still Life 2.

Deeply taxing experience, even going into it knowing it was going to be rough around the edges. Its been some time since beating it (using that word loosely here) and now my feelings are probably closer to stockholm syndrome but that's just how I am. Two stars- of LOVE. Its horrible, so unforgivably broken. I could look past mostly everything, everything being Jank, Silly Puzzling, & overall Nonsense. But I was a victim of the basement stairs bug and was only able to continue on with the Still Life self flagellation because someone was kind enough to leave their saves up on a website that still worked. I would try to warn you how to avoid it but I was told I'd be fine if I didn't use the computer before getting all evidence (this is during, I think, the house second phase as Victoria) and I still encountered it and it completely prevents you from continuing the game. So just lay down and let it happen I suppose. Story and overall execution is yes a enormous step down from Still Life 1, but I think it has it's charms. The fine arts angle of the previous two games is traded in for the torture-appeal of Saw, which sounds like it's betraying a core tenant of the series but I don't mind this because art was more Gus' connection. The grittier, (stupid) procedural elements from Victoria's segments in Still Life take over here cause this is her world. You could also see it as just another form of pervert art, just this killer's art is film. Though if you like torture stuff it doesn't really deliver either. If anything it feels less violent than Still Life which I think is sad. You can die way more and in more ways but they didn't have the budget for unique death scenes, SAD. Veryy frustrating puzzling (of course). This resident evil inventory system they tried here really does not work in a inventory based adventure game, just another step to add tedium where there was already plenty. But a lot of it I just don't wanna harp on cause I started abusing a hint guide too hard near the final sprint to the point that I just didn't earn it and didn't give things their proper time. I got too paranoid from the bugs and I couldn't tell when it was my fault anymore when things weren't working, I let it get to me. It was victoryless, that's the way she goes.. I was a beat dead log by the end, I really would've given it a few more breaks but that's the other thing is the last segment of the game is so bizarrely padded I thought it was about to end like 7 times and it just kept going. Which I like if I'm enjoying myself but I was not. I kept pushing thru cause I thought it would finally be over and I could be freeee, but they just kept on sending me back and forth fetch across the house for random nonsense. The layout is burned into my brain (and I like that actually!). I really didn't enjoy an amount of it that was entirely too much to say that I did; the bugs were the biggest factor in that. My games can be bad but I need them to Work 😭. Even still I think about it a lot, I feel a bit shock-bonded to the characters. Why can't we remake bad games why do we have to remake ones that were already great, give ol' Paloma and Vicky another shot. Pretty much the biggest factor in why things came out so crooked in the first place was because the original team from Still Life got dissolved. Though I can't see current Microids doing thaaat much better (Not a dig at them, just financially...) It's a bit crazy that it came out at all, which I am happy it did but Still Life deserved better. Not that this duct-taped together thing isn't special too.