Decided to give it another shot (third or fourth so far), ended as usual - played through about half of the game and got stuck. I’m obviously missing some logic here but things just aren’t coming together, no matter what I try. Oh well, see you again in another year or two.

I wasn’t really planning on playing it right after Returns (don’t want to burn myself on the series or play style) and mostly installed it to see the difference between the two. Started playing anyway. I like it so far. I miss being a solo in a new place and the new hub doesn’t feel as cosy as the Seamstress Union but it isn’t bad. Having a proper story related team does make things different enough to keep things interesting. Tone of the writing is pretty different, more “standoffish” and grey than in the first game. I wasn’t full sold on the updated UI initially but it managed to win me over. I do however have way more issues with miss-clicks in this game. I’m not sure exactly why and while I recognise that it’s my own fault it didn’t make the resulting consequences any more painful unfortunately.
Enemy encounters seem to be a bit more balanced than in the first one and everything feels like an improvement for the most part. That said, there are some scenarios that were… not exactly unfair but definitely weren’t as fun as the rest of the game. It’s fine when there’s an option to scatter and run but that’s not always possible and it did end up affecting my enjoyment at times. Besides starting the base campaign I also looked into unofficial modules. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit disappointed by my research (there’s only handful of them and most are unfinished) but I did find 2 that might tide me over if I want more after finishing the story. I’ll take what I can get at this point. So far so good, I’d say. There are some things that turned out better than in Returns and some that don’t really hit the mark but as a whole it’s a pretty good follow up to the first game. I can only hope it sticks the landing as well.