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No More Room in Hell 2

No More Room in Hell 2 Early Access Impressions

Perhaps we should make some more room in hell for all the bugs that need throwing down there.

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The culture that has arisen of games launching unfinished is a huge double-edged sword. On the one hand, it doesn't feel good to know you're rolling the dice when you buy a game that's in early access, throwing yourself to the mercy of the current build and enrolling yourself as a playtester. On the other hand, you can remain positive about the game, as it's not finished, isn't claiming to be, and will get better over time.

Those are my thoughts pretty much summarised on the new No More Room in Hell 2. A highly anticipated fully fledged release, spawned from the beloved mod, No More Room in Hell 2 has been out for nearly a week now, and as you can see from the reception on Steam, it's a pretty mixed bag in terms of player responses right now. The bugs and performance issues have been gone over by many, so I won't be giving them much time here, besides mentioning that they are present, and while they are being worked on, an older PC will struggle, and you will see quite a lot of glitching here and there.

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Before we get too embroiled in what's not working so far in No More Room in Hell 2, it's worth noting that there are a good amount of positives in this game, enough to give me hope for its future. First off, the zombie design is really good. The open map might not be to my taste personally, as we'll get into, but it definitely helps create a more eerie environment, where zombies can pop out from any corner. Their groans and hisses cut right through you, and they're tough enough to put down that you do need to team up if you want to have a chance of survival. Sound as a whole was a real strong point in the few games I've played, immersing you in the hopelessness of the dire situation you find yourself in that evoked the original well.

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The atmosphere, when it isn't ruined by bugs, is well-crafted, too. Survival seems hopeless right from the outset, and even as you build your arms and armour up to fight the living dead, you can get swarmed and killed from out of nowhere. It's a tough experience, and you should be prepared for characters to die over and over, especially in the early stages where you're not necessarily going to find a buddy. With polish, this is the real thing that stands out as giving the game a sense of hope, as I can see myself playing with friends and enjoying the despair of it all, similar in ways to the first game.

No More Room in Hell 2

Unfortunately, that about does it when it comes to the good of this game. There are other things that impressed, like the visuals, but then add in the bugs and performance issues and you can't really say they're a net positive. The gore and violence is fun, but melee combat feels very janky, which is a big problem when it's what you rely on to survive early. Some zombies will take three bats to the head, while others will absorb what appears to be a killing blow without hesitation, despite being in the same group. It leads to a feeling of unfairness when you're wiped out by a pair of zombies that proved suddenly immune to the swings that brought down plenty of their kin. The speed of runners also makes those zombies incredibly tricky to track in melee. You can of course climb or outrun zombies, but melee combat remains something that was better in the original game. Guns prove superior, but there's no guarantee you'll find one before you're run down and ripped apart. Dying often wouldn't be such a big deal if the game didn't make your character feel like a precious resource that grows the more you get them out.

As mentioned, I'm not convinced by the whole new extraction take on the gameplay. The map being open creates an eerie vibe early on, but unless you're playing with friends, it doesn't incentivise you to team up with your fellow survivors. People who are more experienced hack and grab, and half the lobby is dead within the first ten minutes. If you were hoping to hop on the mic and survive with strangers, it'll all depend on who you end up with, and travelling around the open, empty space alone proves to be more dull than it is spooky once you're used to getting dropped in the map. The tighter, claustrophobic feel of the original helped it feel unique, while this just seems more of an extraction shooter with zombies, one that isn't very fleshed out at that.

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Speaking of what made the first game unique, of course there is no infection or suicide in No More Room in Hell 2. It's coming, somewhere down the line, but unlike in the original, where you can get infected by a zombie and either turn on your allies or end it all to give them a better chance of escaping, you just die here. While we know this feature is coming in time, right now it once again makes this game feel less like a true successor to the original, and more like a zombie game inspired by it. Other, smaller changes, like dropping the inventory wheel, might seem more modern on paper, but rid No More Room in Hell 2 of the simplicity that made the original so instantly compelling.

No More Room in Hell 2

I have to admit, I've not spent a lot of time with No More Room in Hell 2, largely because it doesn't incentivise you to spend that time. Not yet, at least. The bones are strong enough to let me know that one day this game will be what fans wanted it to be, but right now the flesh around those bones is weak, deteriorated. The open, bloated map makes running alone less exciting, and the lack of some stand-out feature from the original linger in your mind throughout your playtime, making you wonder how on Earth they miss this stuff out. Still, at the end of the day it's a solid zombie extractor, if you don't mind the bugs.

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