Monster Ops 2

Interesting story, but not a enough content for its price (around 30mn)

See my review on Monster Ops 1 for a full run down of the presentation - the Pros and Cons featured in Chapter One are unchanged in Chapter Two. My take away from this one is rather less charitable, given how short the game is for the price point. For the length, I put this on parr with a $1.99USD Otome game and that's being generous, I think. There's also half the amount of choices and achievements compared to their free "season premier". It's following our second MC, Wraith, this time, which I thought would be enlightening, but instead of cute, Southern idioms, we get brooding, by-the-book monologues with very little of that edge that was hinted at in Chapter One... Oh! And we also get these weird insinuations that Tide is a "puppy" which gave me the ick. (Look, we can call Tide a golden retriever, but laboring on about him having "puppy-eyes" and following people around "like a puppy" is just infantilizing.) There were only a couple times the writing made me laugh out loud. The spicy scene actually has some faux movement in it that wasn't present in the first chapter, which was a marked improvement, but doesn't rescue the chapter by any means. It also employed more of that …

"Monster Ops 2" is an Adult Visual Novel (AVN) detailing how our SPEC OPS soldiers "ENGAGE" themselves with alien beings who emit SPELL-BINDING SENSUAL pheromones!! Our soldiers S3XUAL responses are apparently being studied by their scientific superiors!! ART: The artwork in this series is VERY EROTIC, and sensually AROUSING, showing our jock-soldier STUDS having HEATED S3X with humanoid aliens, equally rendered with MUSCULAR-CUT BODIES!! It's SENSUALLY-DRAWN 2D ARTWORK, rendering hardcore PASSION--ENCOURAGES carnal, primal, & orgasmic SENSATIONS!! STORY & SUMMARY: Although very SUCCINCT, these episodes are EXPERTLY written!! Produced with underlying humor, the writers situate our heroes SEDUCED by PRIMAL urges and surrendering themselves to utter S3XUAL ECSTASY!! In this way, our ACTORS are set up for sequential escapades of unbridled LUST and DEBAUCHERY!! HIGHLY-RECOMMENDED-VISUAL-STIMULATION-!!!

I feel like the $5 per episode is pushing it given how short these are. I really enjoyed it, but the choices don't matter much. I think in this episode one has a game over, but the rest were just alternate dialog. One choice is really poorly written/handled, since if you pick it it just skips having any conversations at all and moves to the next scene abruptly; I guess it's not a spoiler, but you can choose to sit with the other guy or not. Sitting with him you have a conversation. Not sitting with him there's like two lines of internal dialog and then it cuts to the next scene that happened after the aforementioned conversation. I feel like even though you play the character who leaves to eat alone they could've had it so he overhears the conversation between the other guy and the monster to justify writing some extra dialog to give more reason for the choices. That's probably my biggest gripe of this series thus far. It just feels a bit light on content for the asking price. I'd recommend it easily on a discount. I otherwise enjoy the writing and concept.

the writing right up my ally

Monster Ops 2 builds directly on the foundation laid by the first entry, continuing Y Press Games’ episodic approach to storytelling while placing even greater emphasis on character dynamics and tonal consistency. Rather than trying to expand the scope in dramatic ways, it refines what was already there—tightening the focus on its central relationship and leaning further into its hybrid identity as both a sci-fi narrative and an intimacy-driven visual novel. It feels less like a standalone sequel and more like the second act of a serialized story, where the groundwork has already been established and the goal is to deepen engagement rather than introduce entirely new ideas. The narrative once again revolves around elite operatives tasked with confronting dangerous, unnatural threats, but this broader premise serves more as context than as the main driver of the experience. In this installment, the spotlight shifts more decisively toward the evolving connection between the protagonists. Their relationship becomes more layered, moving beyond initial familiarity into territory shaped by trust, tension, and emotional vulnerability. The contrast between their high-risk missions and the…