Yutgrad 2 review: Jumping puzzle game fails to live up to expectations

Space is cold. Luckily, I have Rage to keep me warm, so I think I'll be okay.

Fifteen minutes ago, I started traveling through the space station to the simple puzzle I had just completed. I could tell by the tone of the dialog that I was approaching the end of the game. I could feel it. I could also sense that this game wasn't going to give up easily.

My mission - perhaps the penultimate mission - has just been handed down. It was simple: "Travel to the life support system." I opened my map and tracked my way through the patchwork of disorienting corridors and passageways of this dilapidated space station until I found my target. I cursed softly. There it was.far awayplace...and I just came from there.

This kind of back-and-forth travel is commonplace in Yupitergrad 2: The Lost Station. Now exclusive to the PICO headset and coming later this month to Quest, PC VR, and Vive headsets, it's a sequel that traces familiar paths in a variety of ways.

Starting again.

The Lost Station is a direct continuation of the events of the first Yupitergrad, linking these two deep space stories through a brief sequence before the player immediately enters the game. The similarities between the two games are quickly apparent, and fans of the first game may initially feel themselves falling into a slight sense of déjà vu.

The player is trapped inside an abandoned space station, traversing corridors filled with bizarre obstacles. Accompanied by an AI companion full of intelligence, you will roam the station as requested by the mysterious on-board computer system.

These characters provide narrative just to set up a series of simple missions. While these tasks sometimes involve puzzle solving or combat, they are primarily used to drive the player through the complex maze of passages in the massive space station. After about six hours of easy puzzle solving, the story reaches its climax, complete with bantering dialog and a tedious boss battle.

Spider Mario

As with the first game, your traversal approach is the most obvious choice for a deep space environment: the anchor swing.

Using the retractable anchor glove as a weapon, the player traverses curved passages on the spider's horsepower, using gestures to influence speed and direction. The physics of the swing in Yupitergrad are well realized and consciously give a sense of "floating", which is perfect for the game's setting.

These anchors can be upgraded and equipped with a range of weapons, as well as pressurized jets that can provide better control while swinging and become the primary traversal method for certain zero-gravity areas.

It's a responsive, intuitive movement system that's perfect for avoiding obstacles in platformers, including moving lasers, giant spinning fans, huge jumps, and more. At first, the mix of dangerous traps to overcome through precise timing and pinpoint accuracy is very satisfying. However, to a large extent, these challenges are easy to master. With a limited range of hazards to deal with, the game quickly becomes repetitive and uninteresting.

The time it takes to travel back and forth when moving between objectives can also lead to repetitive issues. The way missions are laid out means that the player often has to retrace their steps to move on. The sheer size of the space station makes this inevitable repetition unbearable, and the insurmountable frustration grows worse by the end of the game.

Gentle Anchors Away

One of the major additions to Yupitergrad 2 is combat, which blends combat with platforming action sequences. Each gauntlet can be upgraded to a railgun or machine gun, and sometimes parts of the corridors turn into large antechambers filled with enemy drones, which must be eliminated in order to move on.

While it's an admirable addition, this combat isn't particularly subtle - Yupitergrad 2 is definitely not an action game. With only two guns and a limited number of enemy types, it doesn't compare to other grapple-based action games such as Swarm or Dead Hook. However, if viewed as another obstacle to the game's array of spatial challenges, the combat is still a good improvement for the sequel.

Unfortunately, Yupitergrad 2 loses one of the most satisfying elements of the original: time trials. In addition to the game's main storyline, the original Yupitergrad offered a series of short courses where players could compete for the fastest completion times. It's a brilliant mode that brings a great deal of replay value to the game, pushing the scope of the game beyond its disposable nature. Without Time Trials, the post-game return incentive wouldn't exist after all.

The Sound of Silence

Visually, this sequel maintains the same art style as its predecessor and uses the same popular monochromatic style of painting, with bold lines and a muted but varied color scheme that complements the scenery. A clear visual language is used to ensure that the game world can be understood at a glance, with the colors of objects clearly indicating specific functions.

Despite a clear artistic direction, Yupitergrad suffers from its own themes. Endless corridors floating in a pitch-black void don't offer a varied landscape, and the environments become remarkably similar in a short period of time.

The game uses atmospheric sound effects that skillfully balance between empty and unobtrusive. The music is moderately soft, offering ambient industrial electronica with enough Soviet-era grandeur to fit the scene without being clichéd. The sound design is fully functional, notifying the player of their surroundings and matching the game's atmosphere well.

performance fluctuation

On PICO 4, Yupitergrad 2 also suffers from noticeable frame rate drops, most often during combat passages when the environment is much larger and there are many moving objects on the scene. While not consistently present throughout the game, when they do occur they are a serious distraction, enough to cause a feeling of nausea.

Yupitergrad 2 Review - Final Verdict

Yupitergrad 2 offers a simple platforming adventure that fails to deliver a satisfying experience. The game has a host of positives - movement mechanics, a combination of puzzles and platforming, and even the addition of basic combat - but they're all designed decisions that delay gameplay and don't provide enjoyment.

By offering limited variety in a truly expansive and repetitive scenario, Yupitergrad 2 ultimately feels a bit too monotonous to recommend. Those looking for a platforming adventure game may be better off buying the original.