Freedom Planet 2 Review – A Blast To The Past

This Freedom Planet 2 Review covers the second installment in a series that most fans have been eagerly waiting for. For some reason, there was little to no promotion before the game’s release, but now the title is officially available on all major platforms.

It is no secret that the first Freedom Planet originally started out as a Sonic The Hedgehog fangame, but it quickly became its own thing over time. Now, the addition of this sequel to the franchise has improved upon its unique take on the classic formula, further emphasizing its own identity. 

Story And Setting

This time, the story involves Merga, an ancient water dragon who frees herself from her shackles and seeks vengeance upon the descendants of those who sealed her away centuries ago. The plot layers on a lot more worldbuilding and lore to Avalice and the events take place in such a way that greatly improves the writing of the characters themselves. 

For some, the narrative might be a bit too generic at times since many of the plot beats appear to have been lifted from Sonic Adventures.

Players can choose to play as some of these characters, each of whom has different stories in the main scenarios. This makes the game replayable and gives the player multiple perspectives to view the events unfolding during the story. Each cutscene in the game is also voice-acted, and the quality of the voiceovers has greatly improved since the last time. 

For some, the narrative might be a bit too generic at times since many of the plot beats appear to have been lifted from Sonic Adventures. And while this isn’t inherently a bad thing, it does come across as somewhat unoriginal. 

Gameplay

Gameplay is, without a doubt, the most enjoyable aspect of the title. While Freedom Planet 1 was more closely related to its sonic-inspired roots, with Freedom Planet 2, the developers have taken it a step further.

Like the titles it takes inspiration from, the core gameplay loop revolves around getting through beautifully crafted levels with your character of choice. This is combined with fluid combat, which is as important for level progression as it is for platforming. Each playable character also possesses unique abilities, which adds some much-needed diversity to the gameplay.

Like the titles it takes inspiration from, the core gameplay loop revolves around getting through beautifully crafted levels with your character of choice.

While most levels are designed around fast navigation, plenty of stages focus on and reward exploration and puzzle-solving. There is also a world map now, but it sometimes felt counterintuitive. To buy something, you have to backtrack to the shop repeatedly, which is tedious because reaching certain areas in the levels can be very time-consuming.

The game’s physics might also be a hit or miss, depending on your preference. I found them a little too slippery, and the characters were sliding around a lot. But you can get used to it over the course of a few levels, and it’s not much of a hindrance.

The combat itself is where the game sets itself apart from its counterparts. Each character has different combat options, which tie into their playstyles. For example, a power-type character, Neera is exceptional at combat and can utilize ranged and melee attack options. On the other hand, Lilac, who is a speed type, excels at exploration. The fighting doesn’t feel like it breaks the flow of the gameplay and ties in nicely with the movement options. 

Boss battles feature a wide array of tough challenges, and they have a striking design and alluring pixel-art sprites. The old-school approach with the sprites adds a lot of charm to the game and gives a lot of character to these enemies. The bosses also have different combat styles, allowing multiple strategies to deal with them.

There are plenty of mobility options accessible to the player, which make exploration easier, and moreover, you can unlock certain items that tweak the game’s challenge. 

To enhance this gameplay experience even further, several challenges in the Battlesphere Arena are at the players’ disposal. These include participating in a race and testing your mettle against the bosses repeatedly.

Overall, Freedom Planet 2 is much more forgiving than its predecessor. There are plenty of mobility options accessible to the player, which make exploration easier, and moreover, you can unlock certain items that tweak the game’s challenge. 

However, the game’s difficulty balance isn’t ideal. The toughness of the boss fights spiked randomly at times, making the progression feel strange. But the difficulty wasn’t entirely due to the fights and partly because of one of the game’s major flaws. Good controller support is an important aspect of the gameplay experience, yet Freedom Planet 2 falls short in this regard.

Visuals And Performance

If you are a fan of the pixel art aesthetic, then Freedom Planet 2 will utterly captivate you. Each level is visually distinct and memorable in its own way, and the attention to detail is apparent when you realize that the game has over 100 distinct NPCs you can interact with. Moreover, the sprite animations are crisp and clean, maintaining consistent quality throughout the game. 

While Freedom Planet 1 had a soundtrack that was very good overall and more synergistic with the tone of the game, this isn’t the case in this game. This isn’t to say that the soundtrack is bad, but it is underwhelming, to say the least. Speaking of audio, the game suffers from some technical issues in that area as well. The sound balance is off, and sound effects drown out the voices of the characters when they talk. 

If you are a fan of the pixel art aesthetic, then Freedom Planet 2 will utterly captivate you.

The game runs very well when it comes to actual performance, though. It has minimal system requirements to run, and it does so without any issues. I never encountered framerate drops, bugs, or crashes during my game playthrough. The game is very polished, and it’s no surprise since GalaxyTrail worked on it for nearly seven years. 

Verdict

Freedom Planet 2 is a very fun and fast-paced platformer that can satisfy that itch for nostalgia while also keeping you entertained for hours. Despite the issues with some boss fights being too hard and some fights being uninteresting, it’s safe to say those things are few and far between. The gameplay loop of exploration and platforming fused with smooth combat makes the experience enjoyable. You can also play the game with different characters, which makes the game feel fresh through multiple runs.

If you can ignore the issues with the controller compatibility and forgive the generic plot, there isn’t much to nitpick here. The story can sometimes feel cliche and unoriginal, and that might be an issue if narratives make or break a title for you. Other than that, there are some audio balancing issues, which will hopefully be fixed soon in an update. 

All in all, this will be a well-received game because the positives outweigh the negatives.

This has been our Freedom Planet 2 Review. While you’re at it, be sure to check out some of our other articles.

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