Dusk Diver 2 is the sequel to 2019’s Dusk Diver, an indie action adventure JRPG from developer Wanin International and publisher Justdan International Co., Ltd. Dusk Diver 2 features an eye-catching colour palette and a cast of visually appealing characters but does the game improve upon its predecessor and is it worth checking out?
Diving in again
Players in Dusk Diver 2 will take on the role of Yumo once again. After surviving the events of the first Dusk Diver, Yumo’s life returns to a state of normality. However, this normality is quickly disturbed when some strange happenings start occurring in Ximending. Players will slowly start to unravel a new mystery in Dusk Diver 2 and will venture forth into Youshanding to defeat chaos beasts.
The story of Dusk Diver 2 is a slow burn with the first few chapters taking quite a while to get going. Players will slowly be introduced to the cast of characters that will join their party and then the game throws its curve ball at you and escalates the mysterious happenings further. The story is rather interesting but it falls straight into the tried and trusted JRPG trope formula. That’s not to say that it’s bad, it’s just very standard so don’t expect anything revolutionary here. The game does feature a recap of Dusk Diver 1 so if you’re a newcomer, you can dive right into this title without missing much.
The main story quests in Dusk Diver 2 tend to involve transitioning into Youshanding, an alternate dimension, and fighting your way through waves of enemies before finally facing off against a boss. There are story cutscenes in between and there is quite a bit of downtime back at Ximending and Tumaz Mart. This is pretty much exactly the same as in the first Dusk Diver but Dusk Diver 2 feels quite different.
Much of this lies with the fact that Dusk Diver 2 has changed a few things up a bit since the first game. Players will now see their allies in battle and there are also a whole heck of a lot more battles in the game. Ximending now features “Possessed” folk that are littered around the map. These NPCs give off a dark and disturbing black aura and trigger a battle sequence when you run into them.
Thankfully, players can choose to avoid these encounters and continue with their missions but given the fact that enemies are rather strong at first, you’ll want to fight as many battles as possible to level your characters up. This however does present a slight problem. Dusk Diver 2 lets you level up your characters a bit too much way too early on in the game. This means that eventually enemies just become trivial obstacles in the way of the story. Around Chapter 4 or so, you’ll already have quite a strong party of characters and dealing with enemies from here on out becomes a walk in the park.
Getting to this point though is a bit of a grind. Players will easily spend a few hours button-bashing their way to victory against extremely similar enemies. This problem doesn’t really alleviate itself later on in the game since the enemy variation is incredibly lacking here.
Disappointing Sidequests
Sidequests in Dusk Diver 2 are abysmal. These are either extremely tedious fetch quests and battles or they involve consuming a specific food item. It’s as if the sidequests were an afterthought to the game’s main story and it certainly feels that way when you take them on in-game. The rewards from the sidequests don’t feel like they are worth it either.
The combat gameplay of Dusk Diver 2 is very similar to the first game with the ability to now swap over to your other party members on the fly as well as call them in for support attacks while they are on the battlefield with you. Battles are button-bashy affairs with players being able to effectively stunlock an enemy if they just continuously chain their attacks together. Tougher foes do have a bit of protection against this in the form of a shield but they are generally dispatched quite easily too. Playing as Yumo is great fun but the other party members such as Viada feel fun too. It also brings some much-needed variation to the gameplay since using the same attacks over and over does get repetitive.
Graphically Dusk Diver 2 is visually appealing. The anime aesthetic and the art style used for the characters here are eye-catching and visually pleasing. Unfortunately, the environments are all rather basic looking and there isn’t much to really get excited about. The attacks on the other hand are extremely flashy and are some of the best visual work in the game.
The soundtrack of Dusk Diver 2 on the other hand features some really great tracks. There’s a mixture of extremely catchy themes and adrenaline-pumping battle music that works incredibly well in-game. You’ll be humming the Tumaz Mart and Ximending background music themes to yourself in no time if you sink a few hours into the game. The voice acting in Dusk Diver 2 is also great with the Japanese voice cast being made up of seasoned veterans of the anime industry. There’s no English dub here though so if you wanted that, you’re out of luck.
Final Verdict
Overall, Dusk Diver 2 is a sequel that innovates just enough to keep the player engaged. It’s a shame that the sidequests are so lacklustre and that for the first couple of hours you’ll be struggling against enemies that feel like damage sponges. Once the game’s story gets going though and once you’re sufficiently levelled up enough, it does become a lot more fun. The game also wraps itself up quite quickly if you beeline the story once you’re strong enough which helps alleviate some of the fatigue associated with doing the pointless sidequests. Dusk Diver 2 is a game you should only pick up if it’s discounted and if you’re a fan of third-person action games that feature combat as the main gameplay element.
Grab your copy here https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-games/Dusk-Diver-2-2227200.html
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