Hello.
Purgatory 2 (―Naraku 2― or -奈落2-) is a horror game by Nama, and a direct sequel of the first one (considering the Good ending canon, not the bad one of course. Anyway look here for more info!). English translation was made by Memories of Fear. Please mind that this reviews refers to the regular game version and NOT the extreme Demonic Mode Edition that makes the game extremely harder, you can find the link on the main page if you like suffering (but three people finished the game even in the extreme boss rush mode, so you can try, if you wish).

After completing the first Purgatory, a short horror game released in english years ago, I decided to try its sequel to learn more about the story. I suggest you to play the first game since it is pretty short, but if you have no time I will write the story in the spoiler below (story that is retold in the first part of Purgatory 2).




Here's our new protagonist... but look, Enri the final girl is back! Lucky him!

Did you read it or did you play the game? Are you done?
The story is set one year after the events of the first game and this time the protagonist is a young boy named Ebel, whose only special ability is the skill to read other people's feelings.
We also learn that the setting is a sort of tecno-fantasy dystopia where the lawmen are paladins instead of policemen, the noble houses rule the land, but robots, elevators, and other hi-tech objects do exist (in the first game it looked like the usual horror story set in our modern world).

The Royal Capital is under the attack of huge spiders called hellbeasts that seems to emerge from the depth of earth. No one know what are these monsters and where they come from, but rest assured that our unlikely hero will find the truth during the adventure (and also learn something about the Butcher and the location of the first game).

Enri is back, and guess what? After she survived the previous adventure she's a force to be reckoned with (even if with some weaknesses that will soon manifest). But also Emma, the selfish spoiled girl from the first game is back and with a bigger role this time. Aaaand there is also another person from the first game that is back, but I won't say more.


Once again the cute menu will show all party members and items they own (and Enri has still that useless cleaver from the first game! Well, not as useless ad Emma!)

The game is really far bigger survival horror, longer, better under any aspect and more interesting the the first one: there is the same quantity of gore, if not a bit more (always in pixel, still there is lots of violence, blood and hideous nightmarish creatures. What? No the spiders you see on those pics are just the beginning!). There are lots of maps and different locations, so there is much more variety of locations, character busts and much more dialougues. I liked the story a lot, trust me, it's something that would make Hideo Kojima proud (corporations, demons, robots, monsters, this game has everything)!

As Ebel, your main activity is exploring, solving some rather simple puzzles (I found them slightly more easy compared to the ones of the first game) and running away from monsters (classical horror chase sections!), but there are also stealth parts, anyway do not expect to fight those monsters, no this is a dark horror game not a jrpg! Anyway in some parts you will take control of Enri, the old shy protagonist, now badass shy deuteragonist.
Ebel is a weak but cool guy that looks like a classic harem anime protagonist, since he is rather useless (more or less like Enri in the first game until the ending part) except for keeping the girls' morale high!


What time is it??? Time to be BADASS!

Oh and there are not two, not three, but EIGHT different endings, depending on the choices done by Ebel during the game, and if you are curious the game took me a bit less than 6 hours and 30 minutes to complete, I got Ending 6 (anyway all the endings seems to leave some space for a sequel!).



Since I did not get the True Ending I am not sure that I missed some extra puzzles and locations, because the first game was a bit longer if you were able to get the Good Ending.

What else? Mapping is good and claustrophobic, sounds are terryfing and the story is extremely good as are the dialogues. The visual style, busts and charsets have the same style of the first game (dialogue windows are different and the font is smaller but still readable, and I do not mind at all), monsters are uglier tan before (in a good sense!) and some even have facesets, I also liked a lot the return of the inventory that visually represent the party members (chibi style!) with their items, exactly like in the first game.

As mentioned before you can also make some dialogue choices that will matter at the end of the game, so this is also replayable. While challenging, I found the difficulty to be adequate (some chases required more than one try but just to find a clever strategy), being a longer game than the first there are more "quiet moments" in which the story unfolds (the first game had not much of story except for three or four flashbacks, and Enri was and still is a silent character!).


Who is this? Well if you played the first game you already know, but this part has one of the biggest twists and revelations! But for now can read the...

The Final Verdict
Purgatory 2 is an excellent sequel that improves everything we liked of the first game also adding what we wanted: a good (and more articulated and complex) story and some cool characters. If you do not mind the horror of tons of blood, hideous monsters and their roars, dark and bizarre situations, well this is the game for you. Unlike the first game, that was extremely dark and serious, here there is terror but also funny situations, violence but also humor.

The gameplay is varied and not too hard, but still quite challenging for the average player. It's an horror adventure and offers what you probably expect from a horror adventure, no less! Some "Anime" moments (if you were surprised by the ending of the first game... here there will be more "super-sayan" moments!) and aspects (like the chibi characters and some humorous gags) makes also this game stand out from the classic grim horror games we are used to play (not to say that this is less dark and violent than the first game, it just has more character!).

So? this is a really good game, really better then the first one (even if it keeps all the best parts like the nice fullscreen pictures, the atmosphere of danger and terror) and gets a 4/5. Recommended especially if you like the horror genre!

Oh, and I leave here a pic, just for fun...