My review of Arc 2 - unmarked spoilers below!
Dang, the writing got kicked up a notch since the last time! It's like the author is getting more comfortable with the characters.
The new graphics and CGs turned out great. There's so much more emotion packed into every frame. My favorite is Orlam's torturer CG - whoever said revenge is a dish best served cold has never seen the face and body language of a man driven mad from never-ending abuse.
I really love the juxtaposition between Gidget's 'love' for Iggy and Genzou's love. Gidget is so utterly, sexually obsessed with Iggy, she's turned herself into an object which she wrongly believes will get him to reciprocate. Heck, when he doesn't, she turns him into an object, believing that if he's forced to be as she is, his inexplicable (to her) unwillingness to 'love' her will be 'fixed'.
Genzou, however, loves Iggy for who he is. He knows that, in the event they do somehow get together, there will be no traditional intamacy, and he owns it. In a fantastic mirroring of Gidget's scene with Iggy, when Genzou kisses Iggy like Genzou has probably been dreaming of since high school, he quickly realizes what's wrong with his action, pulls back, and apologizes, leading to openness from both of them and an intimate moment which Iggy is comfortable with. Iggy. The ace in the room who's never gotten around to sorting out his feelings on sexuality.
I really love the number of clever, "this won't do what you think it'll do" choices in this arc - especially the ones which require you to have paid attention the first time 'round. Like how saying something which is very probably going to trigger Orlam is not how one stays alive when your life is in his hands, and he hasn't yet decided to prepare you for dinner. Though I love the exchange between Genzou and Orlam in that bad end - Orlam makes it as plain as day why he hates Genzou's guts, but even then, Genzou sees nothing wrong with it, dismissing it as "stuff kids do", while ignoring all he's put Orlam through as an adult. It just. Doesn't. Register with Genzou.
And before I forget, special shoutout for Wonderland Orlam's writing - the man has clearly been paying attention to the old books he's been reading in his spare time in the real world, and his torture tactics are frighteningly-good. And worse yet, it's only the second iteration of the time loop and he already knows things are repeating. He might even be manipulating things already via giving Gidget certain ideas about Iggy. I mean, how else could he have known how things played out at her tavern?
My one criticism is on the attempt at "dissonant serenity" in the music (i.e. peppy music playing over something horrifically-violent). Before I get into it, I want to acknowledge the fact the game likely is a low-budget affair - with cost savings greatly helped by the author being artist (a fantastic one IMHO), programmer, and writer - so there is an equally-likely chance there wasn't enough money to license or commission what the author wanted to put into the game, and not just in the areas I'm going to criticize. One can only work within their means.
Getting into my criticism proper now, the music for the arc's ending cinematic isn't a half-bad pick, but it doesn't feel like the piece is well-synced with proceedings. It's a minor criticism, I will admit. However, the choice of a J-Pop-esque track for when Gidget summons her fans to aid in her objectification of Iggy just feels *wrong*. Like, it doesn't fit with Gidget's theme music, nor does it fit with the music for her town or her tavern. I definitely wouldn't say to go classical like the arc ending cinematic, but maybe find something from the time period or an era-adjacent contemporary song (if that makes any sense)?
Overall, a definite improvement over Arc 1. Can't wait for Orlam's Wild Ride, aka Arc 3. It's the one torturous ride that I won't want to get off - I want to see where Orlam goes, both however-loosely-hinged he actually is in reality and how utterly-unhinged and unchained he gets when in Wonderland for the third time (assuming arcs won't already start interacting with each other based on order played by that point).