Peace, Death! 2

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If you’re not familiar with the first game, it was a fun little game where we had to send clients to heaven, hell, or purgatory based on their features and traits. The second game still takes us to the same universe, but this time round the core gameplay is quite different.

We’re one of the reapers – workers whose job is to sort clients into the correct place after death. This time round the gameplay is not timed and we're not looking for traits in one client at a time, but rather we're presented with six clients at once and asked to send someone to the correct place. The early missions start off simply – we have angels going to heaven, demons to hell, regular humans to purgatory. But then with each new mission traits get introduced. Traits can be positive, negative, or neutral, and their combination is what determines where the client should go.

As the game progresses, more and more rules get added, as well as complications and other features that challenge us. For example, murderers would attack us if we don't sort them after a certain number of turns, or bureaucrat reapers who would change the question and we have to choose which client does not belong in a certain place. The game progression works nicely and gradually increases the challenge while keeping it fun at all times.

In addition to our main workday missions, we also get sidequests. The ones we get from our work colleagues follow quest lines, which we accomplish over time. If we complete them all, it changes the ending. We also get contracts, either from the bureaucrat or from the four horsemen. These contracts give us additional tasks to do during the workday, and completing these earns us extra money and rep. The side quests have also helped in world building and giving us more glimpses of what's going on in this universe.

There are lots of references in the game to fictional characters or real people. They're not necessary to know for completion of game's challenges. They're just there for fun. Overall the game has a light-hearted feel and is full of jokes.

The game’s visuals are fully made out of pixel art characters and environments. It’s all very colourful and beautiful, and the animations are superb. The music is also quite decent and enjoyable, especially the one playing during the workday.

I think this second game improves on every aspect of the first game. Lots more to do, more worldbuilding, and the game mechanics different enough that it doesn't feel like a repeat of the first game. For a game that gave me about 8 hours of engaging gameplay and jokes for one playthrough, it’s very cheap to buy, and getting it at full price is already a steal. What I'd really like to see in any future DLCs or in the next game are some extra game modes that diversify the existing formula so that there's more to do for those who completed the game.

For a more detailed review, check here: https://saveorquit.com/2021/10/24/review-peace-death-2/

A short gameplay video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57Qqdp8sIsg&ab_channel=SaveOrQuit

Peace Death 2 greatly improves everything about the original Peace Death, or almost.

The graphics, who were already great in the original, are now fantastic. Amazing pixel art with tons of animations and good world design, you can tell they've put a lot of passion into it. They also went all-in in the pop-culture references this time, to the point where every single character seems to come out of a game or movie... it can get a little too on the nose, but it's ok.

The sounds and music are also incredible, with great guitar riffs that elevate the experience even more.

They've also improved the story and metagame, as you're now an office worker having to deal with a 9 to 5 routine. It's an amazingly fun idea. Lots of stuff to discover and unlock too, it just feels like a polished game with a lot more replayability overall. I wish it was easier to skip the story and dialogues, but if that's your sort of thing, you'll have a great time with those.

So if you've read until here, you're probably thinking ''why doesn't the guy recommend the game then? what's his problem?''

Well the only issue with the game, and a major one, is that they've butchered the core mechanics and turned it into a confusing and frustrating mess.

The original Peace Death was inspired by Papers Please. One by one, you get to judge newly diseased persons, and they go either to hell, heaven, or purgatory depending on how they look. Your success depends entirely on memorization and observation skills. Do they have white eyes? Do they have a bottle of beer in their hands? You had to play fast for optimal points, and there was a nice, fun rhythm and tension to the game. A+ experience overall, super thematic.

I respect that they've tried something new in Peace Death 2... but it just doesn't work. You're now judging 6 characters at the same time, each having a whole bunch of emojis next to them, which are now the most relevant information in the game. You have to memorize the emojis, if each is good, bad or neutral (some being very confusing, is a shovel a weapon or just a neutral tool?) It doesn't feel thematic, it doesn't feel intuitive, the pacing sucks. It's a frustrating experience that's more akin to reading hieroglyphs than sending people to hell or heaven. No matter how much they've tried to upgrade the experience with graphics, music, story, quests and upgrades, the core puzzle of the game just isn't fun anymore.

For the same small price of $5, I'd recommend to pick up Peace Death 1 instead.

In what other game are you forced to send Forrest Gump and Jackie Chan to Hell because they had bananas and playing cards, while Hannibal Lecter and Alex DeLarge go to Heaven for their wide collection of hearts?