Lovecraft's Untold Stories 2

After sacrificing their sanity, three of the first game's protagonists find themselves locked away in a psychiatric hospital. And this is where they will once again do battle with the forces of evil. The gameplay in Lovecraft's Untold Stories 2 is very similar to the first game, but it has a whole new artistic direction with pixel art replaced with a cartoon aesthetic.

Following the success of Lovecraft's Untold Stories in 2019, we couldn't wait for the sequel. And now it's here! Lovecraft's Untold Stories 2 is an action RPG with rogue-lite elements that picks up the story exactly where the first game left off, taking you on yet another slow descent into madness.

You'll begin with the Detective, Witch, and Professor from the first game, but the sequel also introduces new characters: the Medium, the Veteran, and the Alienist. You can switch between characters as the situation demands, as they all have their own particular skills and way of seeing the world. The Detective won't see the mad Professor's lab in the same way as the scientist would, and the Witch will see a cemetery differently to the Medium. This means that you'll need to revisit certain locations with a different point of view, which helps keep the experience fresh.

There's no point trying to memorise the levels, though, as they are all procedurally generated.

We liked the game's new look! Gone is the pixel art, with the adventure now taking place in a cartoon world with bright cel-shaded colours. The terrifying atmosphere, though, remains the same.

The story begins in a mental asylum where our three heroes have been locked away. But they aren't the only patients... Other inmates include the surrealist painter, Ardoi-Bonnot. He recently presented his painting, Dream Landscape, at the Paris Spring Salon of 1926, but everyone who set eyes upon it went mad. Worse still, the artist fell into a very weird sleep. Your mission will be to uncover what happened, but don't worry, we can guarantee that Lovecraftian horrors are responsible.

Our favourite part? The crafting system. In this sequel you can loot a huge variety of objects, from cotton rags to bones, and including first aid kits and many more items, which you can then merge to make weapons. It's a new feature that's really well done: you craft between levels, when your heroes are back at the base.

Our advice? Think carefully before adding items to your inventory, as you only have very limited storage (thankfully, there's a storeroom) and you might find yourself carrying items whose only purpose is to encumber you.

And be warned: this game is harder than the last one, and the eldritch horrors you'll be facing won't let you get away so easily!