TLDR: An OK horror story combined with an honest look into one of the creepiest and extensively miserable facets of online existence. Only play this if misery porn is your thing. Staring into an abyss can be compelling or even fun, eyeballing these particular depths was not fun for me. But I do believe that you can not play this game without developing a distaste for an Influencer's existence. I admit this might be a me thing, because I look with deepening horror at this business of turning your own life into a product. Seriously, if I ever want to warn someone away from this career path, I'll have him or her play this game. There is no self-reflection, nothing is learned. I can’t find a single ounce of sympathy with any of these people even though their life is in danger and the plot tries, unsuccesfully, to redeem them in the end. That's not my framing, that is the inescapable implication of the script. The game’s main four characters are influencers, and as a consequence, they are a bunch of miserable, ♥♥♥♥♥♥, morally compromised people. But the main reason I felt little enjoyment while playing were the characters. There were a few minor snags: Some of the riddles you have to puzzle out were very obscure, and, to my mind, there was way too much dross to sift through to find the few nuggets of usable information within the timelines of the various social media apps on the phone. So if Simulacra 2 is a whole lot more of Simulacra, and I found Simulacra quite compelling and mostly fun to play, then I must have enjoyed playing Simulacra 2, right? Unfortunately, no, I didn’t. The FMV production values have gone up, the inevitable creepy pasta is quite a bit creepier. The simulations of social hacking have been implemented more gracefully and more challenging. There is now a mechanic where you can store facts that you have discovered as a kind of file on the phone, and use them to confront people with them via chat. Gameplay-wise, things have been improved and deepened quite a lot.
That makes the whole endeavour a bit less creepy, even though the characters of the story and the protagonist himself express a whole lot of disapproval of the invasion of privacy aspect of the proceedings. This time, the justification is justice, because the owner of the phone is quite dead, and you might be a cop, or a cop's little journalist helper. This sequel sticks pretty close to the footsteps of its predecessor. Another trip into the uncomfortable territory of violating simulated people’s privacy for a good cause. Another story tinged with horror and sci fi elements. Another Simulacra 2 is more of Simulacra 1: More data to search, more people to hack, more cringe to endure. Simulacra 2 is more of Simulacra 1: More data to search, more people to hack, more cringe to endure.
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