Still Life 2 Demo

Adventure games do not have a lot of engaging gameplay mechanics going for them to keep the players focused on the action at all times, so they need to find other ways to do so. In short, this is achieved with the help of a solid storyline, intriguing characters and the puzzles themselves, as well as a suitable atmosphere powered by good music and inspired level design.

Still Life 2 is a point-and-click adventure game that aims to provide the fans of the series with a continuation when it comes to the story and the characters that are part of it. However, the developers also decided that it would be a good move to change some of the underlying gameplay concepts as well, by adding new mechanics you have to watch out for as you play along.

Story-wise, there are two main characters this time around and you switch between two different plots as well, since you get to play with both of them. Paloma Hernandez is a journalist who covers the crimes of the East Coast Killer, as well as the one who gave him that pseudonym in the first place. Victoria McPherson, on the other hand, is an FBI agent that investigates the serial killer and gathers evidence that will hopefully lead to his incarceration.

As mentioned above, there are a few gameplay changes that affect the overall atmosphere and, unfortunately, ruin the experience in most regards. To start off with, you now have a limited inventory, which means that you can only carry a certain number of things around. As realistic as this may seem, that doesn’t stop you from fitting an entire bed mattress into your pockets, although that doesn’t leave any more room for a rusty nail as well. Hence, you constantly have to shuffle between drawers and cupboards, in order to move items from one place to the other and have them close by when you need them.

Bugs also make their appearance from the very first minute, some of which are game-breaking, to top things off. Beside the fact that you have to hover the cursor a few centimeters near the object you want to pick-up in order to select it, you can also ruin the entire quest by picking up the wrong item, since you cannot drop it and you are left without any more room for something else. The graphics are not bad per se, just bad for the year the game was released, while the voice acting is incredibly off-putting.

In case you really want to see where the series is going, you can try your luck with Still Life 2 and see whether you are capable of keeping your cool through all the annoyances that await you. The story is not bad, it’s just told in a manner that would make most people give up on hearing it, because the overall experience is not worth the anger and the frustration that arise while doing so.