Saros

Ah OK there is an optional room type that is a lot riskier, just takes a little while to show up.

Have tried the third boss twice now and nearly got ‘im second time around, but fell just short. It’s a big jump up in intensity compared to the previous two. The second goes down incredibly easy if you have a good Prominence equipped.

Really struggling to warm to weapons beyond the smart rifle - that absolutely shreds rooms in a way the others don’t quite manage so far.

Making good progress - got through a few bosses on the first attempt (though their patterns are a lot more interesting than the first batch) and triggered some substantial story stuff. So all rocking along nicely now.

While I miss some of Returnal’s interesting gameplay tensions and difficulty choices, I’m learning to appreciate quite a few of the changes here. It feels a lot more generous in letting you choose how long a run you want to do - I can now happily cut out the first biome or two and still hit the ground running with a capable loadout, which is good when a run can last 60 minutes plus. In Returnal I felt more like I had to start from the start to be sufficiently levelled up for the later levels. There is a bit more challenge tailoring than initially appears, like several levels when you have more control over when the eclipse triggers.

There’s always compromises when you remove some interesting gameplay tension, and I’d be lying if all changes are for the better (I really miss the converting spare health items to permanent health upgrades mechanic, though there are more ways to boost your health bar here too). It’s a less hostile game, for better but definitely for worse too. But I think everything balances out well enough, and while it isn’t quite the challenge the first game was, the more the game progresses the more I’m settling into the mechanics and vibe.

Main frustration is the weapon pool getting bigger and throwing out lots of weapons I don’t want before I get one that I do.

Special kudos to how bassy and ominous the score and sound effects are.

No spoilers but the ‘Shepherd’ fight is one of the best bosses I’ve fought in a while. Proper eerie spectacle mixed with some gloriously creative bullet patterns. Loved it - thankfully the bosses just seem to be getting better, even if I’ve cleared most of the mid game ones first time around.

Was cursing the game holding back a weapon upgrade I wanted for aggggessss into a long run, and then I got a level 65 smart rifle just before heading into the boss 😅

Rolled credits last night, though the game flags some post-game stuff so probably will do another run or two to see that through if it's a fairly reasonable ask.

Last level was a bit of a jump in difficulty, so it took 5-6 attempts. It was less so the boss that was super challenging, though it does have a few moves with very specific dodge timing that can put a not insignificant dent in the health bar. It's more trying to survive the various enemy gauntlets before it with enough health, as there are some seriously chaotic battles with bullet sponge powerful enemies that can take time to whittle down. More time fighting means more time for your health to be chipped away. Was struggling to make it through with enough health for the boss, but finally got through with a full health bar and took down the boss pretty handily.

Anyway, not quite done, but had a great time overall and most of my impressions above still stand. While it loses some of the core difficulty and interesting tensions of Returnal, the core gameplay remains a joy to simply play - rarely has arcade-style gameplay been translated so vividly to high-fidelity 3D - and what the game loses in raw challenge it makes up for a game I'd hope a lot more people will be willing to see through to the end. Or at least see how fecking spectacular the Shepherd boss fight is :)

Finished the main post game quest and ‘true ending’.

Fairly straightforward process - basically just another run needed. But spoilers for last area and boss below:

Parry works very well for red homing attacks that have a bit of a telegraph. Can do a decent bit of damage. The timing is generous enough I think but the fact you can late parry but take the damage still is a bit of a bummer which perhaps discourages the player from trying it. Sometimes the bullet sprays are too chaotic to take the second to prepare for a parry generally too - best in bosses in my experience.

I experimented a bit with other weapons in the post game. Had some good runs with shotguns, hand cannons, and different non-smart rifles. Very dependent on stats and perks, though - some similar level guns can feel like a big leap thanks to a single different perk attached.

Yeah consensus seems to be it gets a boost second time around alright, so feels like you really need to know how to navigate its patterns to survive long enough. Still not a fan of that rush attack it does, but otherwise it is a fun fight.

Just on the skill tree, I’m usually not a big fan of skill trees in modern games but I think this one works well enough. I think a decent run basically showers you on currencies, so you get meaningful upgrades from run to run. Things like proficiency increase are super noticeable in game. It definitely slows down in the back half, particularly the purple nodes which get very expensive, but otherwise I reckon it’s down pretty well as far as these things go. Though overall the only real challenge for me was that final boss mentioned above - not a whole lot to worry about given the upgrades. Even the optional extra hard areas didn’t give me much trouble. And just like Returnal, ultimately a full one from biome 1 should mean you’re pretty powerful for anything the main path throws at you.