Red Colony 2 (Nintendo Switch) Review

Red Colony 2 is basically the same game all over again. There's a different protagonist, called Nicole, and the whole thing takes place in the capitalistic Blue Colony, rather than the communist Red one, but for all intends and purposes, this plays the same; search around for key items in order to open up new areas, gather crafting resources to print equipment and ammo, and kill a bunch of evil dead baddies along the way. There are a couple of additions, however, as well as some things that improve the original formula, even if it is by a small margin. One notable example is the new melee weapon; a very fragile baseball bat, which replaces the OP knife of Red Colony, with which one could complete the whole freaking game without breaking a sweat.

Sadly, the challenge is largely the same. In other words, it's low. The slow and fragile Zombies are still the only enemy here, and Nicole, like Maria from the previous installment, can take lots of damage before dying - which involves slowly losing parts of her clothing, so be sure to take some damage along the way to spice things up. Now, while there actually is one new monster here, you mainly hide from it, or - most commonly - drop everything you are doing and run away. It was shown in the finale of the original game, and it's none other than a raptor. Yup! Aside from Resident Evil, this throws in some Dino Crisis into the mix. Sadly, these fellas belong in the complete opposite side of the difficulty spectrum from zombies, as they kill you in one swift grab-and-eat-your-head move.

Long story short, balance remains an issue here, whether that has to do with the low difficulty (or sudden spikes of it), or simply how higher tier weapons don't act as they should, with the shotgun once again being way too weak, despite its ammo being more "expensive" from pistol bullets. The puzzles remain a piece of cake as well, with the bulk of the experience revolving around finding numbers on notes, and then using those number on a safe or lock, with very few instances where you must think outside the box (and that's stretching it), as well as imaginative ways those clues where provided - with the tattooed password on a gigantic breast definitely taking the cake.

Now, you need to understand that that despite all that negativity so far, this isn't a bad game. Still flawed, and only just a bit better than Red Colony - but improvement is improvement, no matter how small that is. Those who had an enjoyable time with the original, will do so again with this, even if it could be a lot better, and in a variety of ways. It's also important to note that, like with Red Colony, aside from the gameplay, part of the fun here is its dark atmosphere, b-movie-like script, and its fanservice-y approach to the whole thing. RunicCodes has managed to once again create a balance between a - surprisingly - bleak and violent story, with all sorts of wackiness, like Robot-Seductresses from Space, Dinosaur Zombies, and Alien overlords, while also sprinkling everything with lots of blatant sexploitation. Still has issues with narrative subtlety, with no build up before its reveals (be it the raptors, or the story itself), but it's easy to forgive this for such a sin. No one in their right mind would come to such a game for its storytelling beauty, after all.

If in it for the fanservice, know that this is much better at it, with way more ultra-top-heavy (and jiggly) NPCs than before. Oh, and remember how Red Colony explained why its protagonist duo were dressed like prostitutes? Well, this does away with such futile attempts to conceal its ecchiness, by making this world an enormous Red-light District, where every girl is basically a sex worker. Unlike Maria, Nicole also has a few more costumes to wear, which is certainly a nice addition. More importantly, this understands the fun of it all, by not taking itself too seriously. This critic's inner teenager couldn't stop laughing when, upon entering a plastic surgeon's abandoned clinic, found a zombie rocking a pair of enormous silicon jubblies.

At the end of the day, this is Red Colony… 2.0. Not really a sequel, but an improved version it, or, if you take its equally small length into consideration, a second chapter that's better than the first one. So, if you enjoyed the first part, definitely buy this one as well. It's more of the same simple survival-horror gameplay, bonkers storytelling, pleasantly "bad" writing, and… bounciness, but it is also a little bit better at everything it does. If completely unaware of the existence of the series, do approach it with caution, as it's definitely not for everyone, but fans of that special charm of low budget indies, and b-movie-esque atmosphere are advised to give both a look, even if there are better survival horror titles out there.