LogFAQs > #973188539

I beat Return to Mysterious Island 2: Mina's Fate (PC)

I started this game last year and just could not finish it quick. Having beat the first one back in 2019, I expected this game was just a way to cash in on the premise so already I was having concerns starting it. The last game was sort of exploratory and intuitive in what you could do; this inventory and crafting system I am no stranger to it as I've played previous games from Kheops' Studio. It was also filled with intrigue about Captain Nemo as you make your way slowly into the heart of his operations through cunning and knowledge gathering. However, I just pretty much stopped caring a third into this one and only picked it up now to finally rid of it from my desktop. I felt apathetic towards the plot which seeks to undo all your hard work in the first game and saddle you with a burden and a responsibility to suddenly care about the island.

The puzzles are just more of the same and kind of annoying because it requires a little understanding on chemistry. Granted everything you needed to know was in this journal you find early on so yeah its that kind of game where reading 12 pages of "notes" is integral to understanding solutions. Which I don't mind at all, but in this case if you cut that shit out you're pretty much left with a shorter game. So I struggle to think about the design here.

There's also at least two instances of padding, one that requires you to play politics with a couple of monkeys which was basically feeding them their favorite food until their bar turns green. There's a pottery minigame where you have to manually craft at least 10 vases or something and they were all boring af as you suffer through animation after unskippable animation. Mercifully not everything here is animated as some cutscenes are represented by a graphic novel format.

I think the worst thing about this is the ending. It's your traditional moral dilemma of leaving the island to die or not but you'll be stuck here and I, fed up by all the shit I had to plow through decided yeah fuck this island only to be met with a "yeah that was the wrong choice buddy, enjoy your sad ending" completely out of nowhere.

Still better than Syberia 3.

Oh and if its one thing I enjoyed about this game is that it features a cutscene that connects with the stinger to Voyage: Journey to the Moon which I beat last year and that one was a treat. So watching closure for the Michel Arden story was nice. And it wasn't much but there was enough to give me something to think about. It wasn't a coincidence I didn't plan on beating Voyage after the first Return game, but I'm glad I did. If I saw this scene here and didn't play Voyage I would be confused af.