Hands of Necromancy II first playthrough: Episode 2
0Completing an episode once again flows directly into the next, as it did in HoN1, with all items carrying over. This effectively means that the maps need to be designed in anticipation of picking up the first two abilities rather quickly in the case of starting the episode from scratch, which unfortunately means it misses out on more interesting progression potential. E2M1 also seems to be in a rush to give out a lot of advanced weaponry...
This episode starts off with 3 maps in a row by Shades, with the third being one of the strongest maps of the entire game - arguably too strong, even. E2M3 feels like it ought to be its own standalone experience entirely. (It even reminded me of at least one Quake map I've played.)
I felt like E2 becomes quite a bit weaker in the middle with m4 and m5 - the former due to committing surprisingly early to flight transformation, the latter due to insufficient lighting and floors/walls that sometimes blend right into each other problematically (to the point where I almost overlooked a doorway). I found the levels thereafter to be far more compelling once again, and was rather blown away by the sudden environmental storytelling in the episode's final level.
One of this game's new - and worst - additions is spiders. Not because I'm arachnophobic, but because the darned critters end up being effectively invisible in a lot of environments (far more so than the snakes ever were) and can snipe from a mile away. This only becomes worse when compounded with inadequately-lit environments, which are certainly sometimes a thing, and unfortunately this series still has yet to learn the lesson that some other modern GZDoom-based games have learned about independent lighting on enemies being a good thing.
With how E1 ended, I was a little concerned we might be in for a re-fight at the end of E2, but it has its own unique boss (well, for this game; it's very reminiscent of a boss from the first game). That leaves us wondering who's behind this whole resurgence of monsters, which we'll have to find out in E3...