CONCLUSE 2 - The Drifting Prefecture

This game is crazy and I appreciate that.

Two hours in the game overwrote all of my saves from the first of my three save files and I lost an hour of progress. It is hard to want to continue after that, especially because there isn't much here as is. The game tries to channel silent hill and hits some of the notes, but the puzzles (at least, in chapter 1) are really nothing but arbitrary thoughtless obstacles and the combat is hard to stomach. The enemy design is cool and the vibes are pretty good, but the weird anime design of the main character and dialogue is jarring and discordant in a bad way. Its unfortunate because I this is normally exactly the sort of thing I like and it might as the game goes on, but it doesn't do anything well enough to capture my attention and push me to stomach the bugs and setbacks.

Didn't like the essay ramble I wrote before, here's the summary bullet points: -Game ends teasing a continuation -The game is disjointed and unpolished in every way -Surreal soppy stuff happens -Grimy horror vibes -Tedious but doable to make progress -Bugs weren't too horrible -Strategy guide covers up to the start of the drifting prefecture The whole long essay ramble: So.. Uh. First things first, the game ends teasing a continuation. This is not the conclusion. I'm okay with that. The structure in Concluse 2 is extremely loose. It's more like a slurry of mini anthologies held together very loosely with the connection to the all-significant substance that is 'concluse'. The drifting prefecture part is disctinctly different, strangely separate from the main plot. It factors in, but it's like a large scale splice-in, you couldn't even compare it to DLC. This game.. has a personality. It's unique. There were many times I felt unease and tension. The limited visibility, the jank and sense of uncertainty of progress, the constant lowering and shifting and being moved out of familiar space. Black void, rust, basements, sub-basements, sewers, factory esque spaces, little metal rooms …

Overall, this game was very intriguing, and I kept playing just to see what weird thing they could come up with next. Some aspects were a total wtf, but overall it was amusing to play. Can't wait for number 3!

Underrated and kinda hidden gem. I had an amazing time from start to finish. The atmosphere is incredible, deeply immersive with absolutely wild lore. Concluse 2 is truly a unique game. It’s honestly impossible to find anything quite like it. Sure, it’s a bit janky at times... there are glitches, broken animations and some other bugs but nothing that stops you from completing the game. It’s been a long time since a game pulled me in this hard, which is why I’m surprised that it remains under the radar. Some of the negative reviews feel pretty unfair, especially coming from people who didn’t even get past Chapter 1. Right after that, you get that brilliant Drifting Prefecture chapter and it will blow you away. The ideas and plot twists throughout the game can get absurd in a good, interesting way. I often found myself thinking “how did someone even come up with this?”. The sound design is superb with ambient audio doing a fantastic job. The music is just beautiful and fits perfectly. I genuinely hope we can get Concluse 3 someday. Please, let us finish what we started. I really want Michael to succeed. Thank you.

i was so enthralled with Concluse as the original video series, before it became a playable game. the story was mysterious enough without telling you much that it kept you interested, and i was forgiving of the fact its "PS1" style wasn't really PS1 but just low quality assets thrown in Unity. but again, i still loved it. Concluse 2 takes what the first "video-story to game" did but *tries* to explain everything. and it makes you feel like you just smoked crack before playing the game. the story by now feels like it really is just being made up as the writer goes along, with whatever first idea comes to mind. the start was a bit odd but i went with it. then suddenly [spoiler]i'm pulled through a TV by some ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ FNAF-type mascot which becomes recurring longer than it needs to be and just makes me think i'm playing some fangame[/spoiler]. on top of that, sprinkle unskippable cutscenes despite having seen them and save points in the worst spots possible, forcing you to replay the cutscenes and the entire section of the game you just barely got through (all in the same section). and on top of *that*, there's just many generally unexplained gameplay mechanics and puzzles that litera…