Hands of Necromancy II first playthrough: Episode 3 + E4M1
0The final episode of HoN2 features a reasonably strong array of maps, and it seems M3 may have once again stolen the show as it did in E2.
Of course, E3 must answer the question of who is responsible for the resurgence of all of these monsters, and delivers a pretty intense boss fight.
Unfortunately, it follows that up with the absolute worst part of the game in the form of an escape sequence featuring constant "earthquake" effect which is extremely annoying and makes it basically impossible to see anything. Fortunately there is a setting for this, but it requires digging through the full GZDoom menu. It would have been one thing to have a short earthquake when the boss first dies, but keeping it on for the entirety of that section is an inexcusably horrid design choice, and combined with yet another cutscene with extremely weak writing, does not end the game on a particularly strong note.
In addition to E3, there is one more map to play, which may have originally been intended as a secret map, and I'd have to guess it might've been intended to coincide with E2M3. It's quite unique, but also arguably problematic in terms of its design, so I can appreciate the devs excluding it in its current state.
HoN2 provides plenty of entertainment value, and it's great to see the team put out another whole release just a couple of years after the first one. That being said, I'm still partial to HoN1 for its hub design and soundtrack.