Usually, fans of anime and Japanese RPGs only need to hear a few words: “This is a new game from Compile Heart!” To trigger a conditioned reflex and their hands reach for their wallet. The authors of the Hyperdimension Neptunia series do not knit brooms, but they always draw beautiful cute waifu and tyanki, which are the heroines of their projects. However, in the case of Death end re; Quest 2, you still have to explain.
Girl stuck in the game
The first part of this visual novel/JRPG hybrid played on the theme of virtual reality, which is not uncommon in anime, and real characters stuck in it. This time, a girl named Sina Ninomiya got stuck – she was among the developers of a MMORPG for VR called World’s Odyssey, and after the project was closed due to lack of funding, she disappeared.
Then she was discovered by one of her colleagues in the form of a virtual character on an unexpectedly earned game server. At the same time, Sina, of course, had no idea that she was created from program code. The matter was complicated by the fact that due to errors, the world of World’s Odyssey was flooded with monsters.
As you can see, in the first part there are very bright, lively colors.
The horrors of our town
The action of Death end re; Quest 2 takes place in the same computer game setting, here you can meet the same Sina and some other characters of the first part, but another girl, Mai Toyama, is in the lead role. In the first five minutes, in a state of passion, defending herself, she kills her father – a tyrant and an alcoholic, after which she ends up not in a psychiatric hospital (after all, a teenager – they managed a course of psychotherapy), but in a shelter for girls in the town of Le Shore. Mai, in principle, wanted to come here – it is in this shelter that Senaya, her sister, who has not responded to messages for a long time, should be.
Now compare with how the colors have changed in the sequel.
Immediately, local hooligans, led by a pretty girl (and there are no others at Compile Heart) Vina, begin to spread rot on the new pupil, and soon she is also brutally killed. Did Mai do it? It is not that simple.
Here is Mai. As you can see, the girl really has character.
Le Shora, and the orphanage itself, is a strange place. After midnight, girls are forbidden to go out into the city, and it soon becomes clear why: it turns into a local branch of Silent Hill – strange tentacles crawl along the streets, monsters crawl out everywhere.
In addition, as in another game from Compile Heart – Mary Skelter: Nightmares, such a monster periodically starts chasing the heroines. We didn’t have time to escape – the end.
Here you can remember Nemesis from Resident Evil 3.
Yes, in Death end re;Quest 2 the mood and atmosphere have changed – now it is almost pure horror. Which is not surprising – one of the authors of the plot was Makoto Kedouin, the creator of Corpse Party, an old but cult horror (with JRPG elements, of course). Therefore, there are many murders in the game …
… And these are the pictures.
They hit gently, but it hurts
It’s no surprise that Death end re;Quest 2 takes it’s story and atmosphere. The game is generally more of a visual novel than a JRPG – in the original, a balance was maintained in this sense. No, everything is in place here: leveling, discovering new skills, selecting equipment, battles and exploring locations, when our female combat squad led by Mai leaves the shelter and goes to run around the neighborhood in search of answers about what is happening around.
You can hack cameras to find chests and hidden passages (this was not in the original).
The combat system is familiar to Japanese RPGs, although there are a couple of nuances. Firstly, here you can kick enemies against the walls of the arena like soccer balls – this way they receive more damage, and if, while bouncing, they hit one of our girls along the way, then they give them even more acceleration.
Opponents are still fighting each other.
Secondly, during your turn, you need to combine different attacking and defensive techniques (maximum three at a time), which can unlock a completely new skill. In addition, girls are free to move around the arena, collecting scattered bonuses and choosing the direction of attack.
In the design of monsters, the authors also focused on Silent Hill.
True, at later stages, not only bonuses, but also extremely harmful muck will begin to scatter across the field, and the longer the battle lasts, the more of it – this “chip” was not in the original. Finally, when receiving damage, our cuties become furious, and then enter the aggressive Glitch Mode, causing increased damage and turning into such cute half-naked furies.
It seems that this mode was invented only for the sake of fanservice.
Girls, blood and romance
However, in the sequel, all this gameplay part, which is about fights and pumping, is perceived for the most part as an appendix to the one about history and conversations with numerous girls in the orphanage. Especially in the first half, when we are actually forced to run along the same streets and fight about the same enemies without getting much resistance even on hard. 
Some bosses do not really have time to deal damage to us.
The original was more diverse in this sense. In addition, purely technical problems become apparent during the JRPG part – optimization during such walks is clearly lame. Yes, then the situation changes slightly – there is more variety in locations and a challenge from opponents.
Still, Death end re;Quest 2 is first and foremost an interesting, atmospheric visual novel. And the image of the main character plays a decisive role in this. Mai has been through a lot, she is strong, purposeful and obviously more mature in brain than many of the orphanage around her.
Mai’s historical meeting with the heroine of the first part.
And at the same time, there is something dark in this girl (which some pupils directly tell her about), which cannot be controlled – but how could it be otherwise if she killed her father? This is what makes her image so captivating. Well, in general, there are a lot of well-written girls with their cockroaches and gadgets.
Mai, is that you?
And apart, of course, are the relationship between the main character and her roommate Rotti, who either frankly sticks to our heroine, or so shamelessly and straightforwardly tries to become her best friend. Or just stupid, which Mai, after meeting the inhabitants of the shelter, is no longer surprised.
In such games, the authors ate the dog on how to choose the right angles.
In any case, their funny relationship becomes an excellent occasion for piquant situations and pictures. But, of course, the notorious agenda in Death end re; Quest 2 doesn’t even smell – pure fan service. But even if this happens, it is pure coincidence.
It’s just that Rottie tripped and fell on Mai. Yes…
***
As a result, the attitude towards Death end re; Quest 2 is ambiguous. On the one hand, in terms of gameplay, the sequel brought little that was new, but in some ways it took a step back – less variety and challenge, more technical problems. On the other hand, the story itself has somehow become more intriguing, mysterious (and darker, of course), and the images, atmosphere and style have become more intense.
Yes, it could have been better, but I did not regret the time spent, although the rangers from Wasteland 3 reproachfully looked at me from the shortcut on the desktop. In any case, this is a coolly drawn and fascinatingly told anime story with beautiful chicks from Compile Heart and Idea Factory (God, I didn’t think that I would ever say such a thing and understand what it was about) – for connoisseurs, that says it all! Well, for beginners, of course, it is better to first familiarize yourself with the original.
Pros: fascinating story; strong and mysterious image of the main character; a lot of interesting dialogues, situations and cute, albeit with their own cockroaches, girls; nice, as always with Compile Heart, picture; great voice acting, including in Japanese.
Cons: battles and pumping look like only an appendix to the part about the visual novel; compared to the original, there are few innovations, less variety in locations and less challenge from enemies; there are problems with technical execution and optimization.
