Review for The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters. Game for Linux, PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 31/12/2019
After some time in early access, The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters is getting close to finally being released in full and we got to try to venture into the corridors of Sewhua High for one last time before the releases and the consecutive save data wipe. Approach the game intrigued by the distinctly oriental setting (it is not often to see horror set mainly in a school within the western landscape) and by the potential given by the creative freedom of independent publishing, we found ourselves in front of a product which was not excellent but which certainly has a way of being able to give something.
But without further preamble, let's discuss a little bit about this The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters.
The Coma 2 is the sequel to an old horror movie called The Coma, which has received several appreciations in motherland, which will bring us players back into the world of "Coma", a grotesque reality suspended between waking mode and dreams and conditioned in this chapter by the entity of the Vicious Sisters who seem to be chasing our protagonist: Mina. The concept is actually quite simple with clear inspirations from the Nightmare movie trend or other horror titles such as the two Obscure for Nintendo Wii.
The Coma 2 will aim to season this scenario with interesting parallels between real world events and the distortions of the world of Coma but unfortunately it will never underline too much this very interesting concept (although already seen in the past with extraordinary titles like Silent Hill 2), remaining instead in a limbo between good ideas and trivial intuitions.
And with this duality we can actually then describe the totality of The Coma 2 since even at the level of gameplay it has really effective mechanics, which unfortunately have to collide with a non-ideal implementation. The gameplay is quite simple: the game is presented as a two-dimensional title in which exploration and backtracking form the core of the experience. The main activity will in fact be the exploration of various areas, with a lot of backtracking within the first, to find several key objects in order to gradually discover the complete scenario of the events surrounding Mina.
To ensure that not everything is too trivial given the prevalent activity of walking back and forth through two-dimensional corridors, the developers have had some very effective ideas, such as the positioning of different traps in the paths, each of different types and many able to move: this manages to prevent the player from spending his time simply running from A to B.
This intuition works and also helps the atmosphere of the titles a lot: having almost no way to defend yourself, it will be essential to pay attention to where you are headed to avoid losing life unnecessarily. This is further aided by the mechanics of "stalkers", enemies that chase you from area to area and which you cannot avoid except by hiding until they temporarily abandon your search.. Even within this mechanic The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters offers an efficient twist, that is, quick time events that vary in difficulty according to your hiding place, which if failed lead to being found by the stalker.
It goes without saying that this helps a lot to create moments of tension when, hidden under a counter, a failed QTE means the death of Mina.
Unfortunately, everything is very penalized by a not flawless execution. Exploration is constantly hampered by a stamina system that could have been implemented in quite another way and which instead ends up being more of a nuisance during normal exploration than an obstacle when escaping from stalkers. Furthermore, although the game tries to keep the player's attention always high, it is undeniable that the constant need to retrace entire maps is tiring, especially when for three passes it will be necessary to go to the three extremes of the map itself.
Narratively, the game is pretty solid and has an entertaining scenario that falls into the cliché of a character who could have explained everything from the start but doesn't do it in order to spare the twists for the ending. We really enjoyed the artwork and sound design, with very nice inspirations in the first and a management of the second in support of the very acute gameplay.
The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters is essentially a title that will not make those who don't chew it fall in love with horror, but that has something to say for those who are accustomed to the genre, especially if you are a fan of settings in a distinctly oriental style . Some great ideas help you enjoy them, but the value of the game is hampered by an often poor implementation of those ideas.
► The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters is an Adventure-indie game developed and published by Digerati Distribution for Linux, PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 31/12/2019
