Neofeud 2

A spook is haunting Europe. A Silver Spook of communism! Brandishing Stalin's maxim that "Social democracy is objectively a moderate wing of fascism", our head PC commie, in leftness second only to Jonas Kyratzes (debatable) and in directness to none, breaks their ten-year Miura hiatus and delivers another decisive blow to the capitalist hydra! Microsoft Paint jankspressionism and cringenius writing - the two barbudo guerilla red horsemen of la Revolución that made the first game are back in force and you will either learn to love them or melt into an angry little brown centrist puddle like the petty bourgeois or lumpenproletarian you are. Neofeud 2 is effervescent, ridiculous, direct, dumb, entertaining, over-the top, pop-culture-references-galore-y propagandatruth-dispensing Kukrynisky fun. The protagonist sounds permastoned. Your first task in the game is as a pusher. Your second task is as a scab. Your final task is as a Red Latvian Rifleman. It's just like the first game! And that's the problem. There are decades when nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen, and it appears that Neofeud 2 has only seen the former. I realise it has been an eventful decade for the American "left", full of various excitements and a massive smorgasboard of highs and lows, but... I see a work of someone who didn't put points into theory and was busy following/acting upon topical but rather inconsequential events. The Revolution has been pushed back to square zero, let's do it all over again! Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. No advance in Marxist insight is apparent in this game. We're still at Jane Fonda levels of political awareness. We still believe the capitalist is the most dangerous enemy of the socialist. But, as the game itself points out, and as many red leaders did as well, as long as you educate the masses thoroughly, they'll pick the socialist. The game never considers that the worst threat comes not from the capitalist, nor even the fascist (of whom, for all the cannibalistic tendencies of your opponents we see none in the game - except maybe by modern low-political-pain-threshold definition). They're background. Material resistance. The existential enemy of a socialist is another socialist. He says: "You're not a real socialist!", to which you reply: "No, you're not a real socialist!", and then you shoot each other while the revolutionary masses stare agape before pulling a Father McFeely. In the world of Neofeud 2 the hammer-and-sickle of the space communist Neo-China from the future (btw, exoticised to an indecent degree, not to mention all the holy-flipping-retcons associated with it, that awfully diminish the first game's wonderful strangeness) harmoniously coexists with the circle-A, the BLM fist, the rainbow flag, etc. Yes, all the hip stuff is accounted for. What is not accounted for is that Makhno rests at Père-Lachaise and not in Moscow. What is not accounted for is that the SR opposed the October Revolution. What is not accounted for is that Piłsudski, a leader of Polish socialists was the one who fought and stopped the Reds from rushing West to support the drowning German communists (they successfully drowned, and we all know how well the democratic Weimar government maintained the country while not letting any other radical forces capitalise on their mismanagement). What is not accounted for is that earlier fascists thrived on anti-capitalist critique and (even if limited) action. What is not accounted for are the self-mutilating agonies of the United Red Army of Japan. What is not accounted for is the Vietnamese-Cambodian War which drove Ilyenkov to suicide at the prospect of the cold-schism-gone-hot between the leaders of Comintern. What is not accounted for is Deng Xiaoping et al. allowing capitalist exploitation in the early 80s, all the while waving a quote from Marx (in fact, Engels interpretation of Marx, but whatever). What is not accounted for is that the Council Palace was nev…

Don't take things seriously and you'll enjoy it. Lots of funny moments if you aren't a capitalist bootlicker.

TLDR: Neofeud 2 has the diamond-in-the-rough sauce the original had, expanded into a full banquet by someone who cares a whole lot about their art. Neofeud 2 is an excellent example of what a sequel can achieve. Expanding its scope of story, depth, and length into a true saga; Silver Spook flexes their sci-fi writing muscles, utilizing the genre's full potential to explore the original's themes from different perspectives, as well as offering a satellite view of more overarching themes vis-a-vis depictions of colonialism and geopolitics. Whereas the original features a rag-tag group of iconoclasts, the sequel has the main characters working in interplanetary tandem with both the internal revolutionary organisation as well as an outside culture to achieve their goals. The increase in scope is accompanied by its growth in cast: characters with unique voices, backgrounds, and motivations each; their allegiance and trust at times tenuous as they navigate a deadly politlcal chessboard where the stakes have never been higher. Unfortunately there are some scenes that don't flow quite right: e.g. the raid on the base of the colonizers of Yughoria. The interventionism by members of a suprahylic, six-dimensional alien species dilutes the revolutionary message; as we will have to save ourselves without the aid of a race of hyper-advanced supermen, and the indigenous people of this earth are not those of Yiden. Even the groanworthy addition of a blatant self-insert character, however, isn't enough to spoil the rich slow-cooked broth. The gameplay is clearly designed by someone who understands what makes a point-and-click adventure game work. The increased cast size and emphasis on cooperation is mirrored in the way you'll solve the party's needs according to their individual abilities. I had to reference a guide only a couple of times (mostly due to pixel-hunting), ranking Neofeud 2 amongst the most sensical titles I've played in the genre. As an indie title produced (near?)entirely by a single developer, this game has its limitations. The most salient of which is found in the hastily brushed portraits, sprites, and backgrounds, with the characters changing size unnaturally as they stiffly move through the world in puppet-animated, distorted, low-framerate animations, starkly facing one of four directions. Even though much detail can be found, and it does what it needs to do, the visuals would've benefitted with an extra round of touch-ups. That, and some fully depicted scenes for key story beats in favour of floating portraits being plastered on the screen, would've helped immerse the player and bring the rich universe of Neofeud to life in a way that it deserves. There's also little in the way of sound design. Small audible treats like howling winds, footsteps, passing cars, the murmur (or, often, the roaring) of crowds, would've elevated the experience the way other point-and-click games do. That being said; the rich, ethereal sountrack (much of which is recycled from the original) does a great job relaying the general vibe of both the sci-fi environment and the emotional state of the player characters. For the most part the voice acting is passable to good, but mostly unprofessional, in acting ablitity as well as microphone quality; and a poor balance has been struck in how many background characters are voiced by the same few people instead of making broader use of the contributing actors. To those who appreciate indie titles, all the aesthetic concerns can easily be handwaved by the sheer heart this game has; one of its best qualities, and a fresh drink in a desert of soulles AAA games. Every buggy interaction, misspelling, and mis-layered sprite is a fingerprint left by an artisan who has a Lot to say and wants to share it with the world through a medium and genre which they know how to effectively wield. Neofeud 2 is a thoroughly enjoyable experience and a must-play for anyone who even slightly enjoyed the original. I'd…