A Fisherman's Tale 2

It's actually baffling how terrible the controls of this game are. Almost all of the puzzles require 1) detaching your hand from your body 2) using joystick to control the detached hand. At first it sounds easy, just rotate the hand using the controller and move forward using the joystick -- but it's absolutely not how it works, you have to rely almost solely on the joystick. It feels like a tech demo from 2016 back when people had creative ideas which were poorly implemented, but probably even back then any hobbyist would do a better job. The story is a poor attempt at mimicking those sad indie games with melancholic writing.

This was a trippy VR experience! If you like these kinds of games (puzzle-light, exploration-based narratives) this will be right up your alley. This game is quite different from its predecessor. I assumed it would just be "More A Fisherman's Tale", but the entire gameplay style is different in the sequel. Rather than playing with perspective - which they did brilliantly in the first game - this time we're playing with relative locomotion. That is to say, your hands pop off and get tank-controlled independently - and at times your head, and body, too. The issue with that, as some other reviewers have mentioned, is that it leads to situations where it feels like you're fighting the controls rather than moving with intention. I understand why this is frustrating to some. That said, nothing here gave me too much trouble. The most obnoxious tank-controlly section took me four or five re-tries, maybe five minutes total, and then I was moving on. I promise if you give it a shot you'll figure it out. But it would have been nice if the devs figured out some other way to make their main puzzle style feel less frustrating and more freeing. What really surprised me here is the direction the narrative takes - it greatly expands upon the story of the first game and builds out the world and the central character in a very grounded, human direction. The other thing I wasn't expecting were some of the trippy levels near the end. You visit a psychedelic mermaid island and have some interesting encounters with a kraken. (Note: I'm normally terrified of large creatures in VR but the way it was handled here didn't freak me out.) I applaud InnerspaceVR for trying something different with their sequel, and I'm happy to buy whatever they put out next - especially if it has this much passion, heart, and creativity put into it!