[Copy of my Steam review]
After I beat Act II, I had to sit back for a bit and reflect on the events that had transpired. My hands were shaking and had been for the last hour and a half of reading. I never felt so distraught reading anything in my entire life, to the point where it left me feeling emotionally drained for an entire day afterwards.
And yet, I have a hard time calling the whole experience anything but beautiful.
If you came here to check out the reviews for Act II, chances are that you already played the first and want to know how this one compares. Or you want to know if this one addresses some of the complaints raised in Act I reviews before jumping in at all. So here you are:
Length:
I saw some complaints about Act I being too short for the price tag. My first playthrough of Act II took me probably 20 hours in total, but I am a very slow reader and a non-native speaker who looks up words I don't know. A faster reader should probably still get a good eight to ten hours out of it, which I think is more than fair even just talking about quantity here and leaving the (very high) quality of the writing out of the equation.
Plot & Writing:
Now that Elfriede is in the thick of the war herself, don't expect any moments of upbeat jubilation like the first half of Act I. If you thought the second half was too grim, this part does have it's moments of levity, it's not really going to get better. So be prepared for that and stay clear if you don't think you can deal with it right now. The game does have it's share of humorous quips from our colorful cast, which does lighten the mood somewhat.
I'm being deliberately obtuse, because spoilers for experiences like this are the worst.
If you think you can handle it, personally I consider this VN to be must read, because this is the part where the game truly shines. The writing is still skillfully evocative and makes you care about its characters, even the ones you want to punch for their shortsighted selfishness. And I'll always be impressed how well this game handles character voice (making different characters sound like different people in the way they are written), something most visual novels I read either struggled with or didn't even try.
tldr: If you enjoyed the prose of the first part, you won't be disappointed by a sudden dip in quality or lack of humor. Game's still really dark, though.
CGs:
The CG artist is still the same as Act I, but their skills are improving. I actually really liked the portrait shots of Elfriede's comrades, they actually resemble their sprite remarkably well for being in a different art style, unlike in the last scene of the previous chapter. The others can still be hit or miss.
I'll leave it here, this is too long as it is. If you can deal with dark stories about war, this is a must read. If you can't, maybe come back when you need a good reason to cry.