LogFAQs > #963601006

Secret Files 2: Puritas Cordis (PC)

Note: I won't be marking spoilers. They're everywhere.

Why does this game exist?

This is a terrible follow-up. This better have been done on purpose---like the devs decided to rush its release or something. I can't believe something so good could end up this horrendous. Not alot of good things to point out other than they changed the voice actress of the main character. Now instead of a valley girl sounding Russian, we have a regular woman who passes off as Russian. Eh, at least they got it right...except they didn't because the voice-acting is still terrible and does not at all match with the tone of the writing.

There are no other PROs.

Plot. Right, uhm. Apocalyptic Cult uses ancient scripture to commit terrorist acts. The archeological plot is so worked in it hardly matters despite what that intro may show you. Da Vinci Code it is not lmao. The cult itself is a joke. They have the magnificent ability to teleport to the protags even if they have no reason to be there. Unlike every other game of this kind, the bad guy already has a doomsday artifact and does not need to chase after anything to begin with. The leader is a hammy fuck who is your by the numbers Imma destroy everything and be the one to lead them cos this Prophet tried to do it hundreds of years ago. It's never really explained if the old cult was thwarted or if they just bided their time all this time I honestly could not care less. Literally laughed at their master plan to flood the UN by triggering bombs on a continental shelf to cause a tsunami from Western Europe to New York. What.

Plot is super contrived. Nina doesn't stumble onto the plot. It is thrust upon her and several events happen either out of coincidence or luck. In fact the "game" proper only starts when Nina makes her way to France (one of TWO locations btw. No globe-trotting treasure hunts here) a third into the game. Oh and you also play as her Ex who had a diminished role in the last game. Both protagonists are really annoying and have no personality beyond being witty like the last game but at least that game had stakes. Nina in particular has also turned into quite the jerk and you're not really sure if she wants to save the world at all. She feels like things are a waste of time and doesn't even want to do plot moving things. The funniest part for me is how the bad guy who believes in fate and prophecy caused Nina and Max to be embroiled in his schemes and when he finally captures them, he angrily demands "who sent them???". It's like I'm watching an Action Comedy slapstick--not at all the serious Broken Sword clone it is trying to be.

But hey at least the puzzles are great right? That oldschool collect everything and use everything on each other? I have never seen something so illogical and hilariously convoluted that even Casual Hidden Object games have more sense. Puzzle solutions include throwing piping hot cheese soup on a cult leader, using Rafflesia several times (it is the most used item in this game) to get rid of a guard. fashioning a mobile launching platform using 3 oranges and bamboo (the oranges are suppose to be wheels. what.), using nail polish to fix a scratched Ferrari, feeding a monkey red dyed-papaya in order to track it better, and fooling a surveyor into thinking that an aluminum foiled goblet is actually a silver chalice. Most of these puzzles are difficult not because they're fiendish but they just make no sense!

And just when the game was about to get interesting, I was absolutely shocked to find that the game was already over. Merciful, I guess.

But then it doesn't end there! They do this silly thing where they have epilogues for every single side character in the game. Some of them clearly done for humor which really falls flat because the tone is everywhere in this game. And THEN they the gall to show this one screen that explains how we should honor the memory of <insert every dead character in this game> with a picture of them wearing red shirts. What. It's so fuckin weird. As I said before, this better have been a "distraction" in order to push their real game which is the 3rd one.

Is this 3rd one going to be terrible? Genuinely curious now.

Do not play this game. It's really bad. Can't believe I wasted an afternoon for this.