I guess it would be for the best to begin with the good news: Black Mirror 2 is, as a game, far better than the first entry of the series. The overall design and the puzzles are better. That said, it does wear out its welcome thanks to writing, which isn't always as good as it thinks it is and the main character, Darren is a rather unlikeable chap, whom I wanted to throttle almost constantly during the story. But then again, as this is a Black Mirror game, playing an asshole seems to be the stable element.
This time around, the story begins in the small town of Biddeford, Maine, USA. We find our mopey, 90s grunge rock-infused photographer wannabe Darren Michaels from his bosses basement, where he has to solve the complicated puzzle of changing a burnt fuse. That done, his disagreeable boss sents him to do some tasks. This is when Darren meets for the first time the beautiful British tourist Angelina, who is on her way to get her photo taken by the slimeball (he even has a rape dungeon) whom Darren works for.
The day isn't all roses, as Darren finds out, that his mother has had a bad fall and is hospitalised with a cracked skull. He blames his boss, who didn't let him know earlier that she had called, sounding disoriented. If you've played the first game, you are probably now thinking Darren has clobbered his own mom. Also, there seems to be a mysterious man following Angelina and maybe him as well. Things turn even worse when Angelina is arrested the next day, suspected of murdering the slimy photographer. You probably suspect Darren, again, thanks to the first game.
As the local cops don't seem to take the innocence of the fair lady for granted, Darren decides it's up to him to find the evidence against the likelier culprit, the mystery man who has been tailing them. That done, Angelina leaves back home, only to call Darren later, sounding distressed. She has found something sinister from the town of Willow Creek. There Darren now follows, afraid of the safety of her new lady love.
It doesn't take long for him to find out that there's something wrong in the little, sleepy town, that was 12-years back a site for grisly murders shown in the previous game. after poking his nose in every business, he ends up being captured in a ramshackle castle belonging to the famed Gordon family. He escapes and returns to his hotel, which used to be an infamous mental asylum, ran by the deranged Robert Gordon. The whole murder business has actually turned to be something of a failing tourist attraction for the town, to the great dismay of Lady Victoria, who still resides in the Black Mirror castle.
Anyhow, back in the hotel, Darren gets a note from Angelina, asking him to come to the old lighthouse. He does exactly that, only to end up finding her charred carcass there. After waking up in the morning, having passed out from the exhaustion, all signs seem to point towards Black Mirror, where he then heads. There he finally finds some answers of his own heritage, mainly that he is actually the son of Samuel Gordon, the famed local murderer.
A long story short, Darren finds some important objects from the castle and is, in the end, forced by Angelina, who had actually masterminded the whole thing in her own insanity, to open the portal to the domain of Mordred. She wants his powers but can gain them only with the blood of a male Gordon. Obviously, shit hits the fan and there are no happy endings for anyone involved. The biggest surprise is, that Darren wasn't a murderer, after all, he's just an ass.
The story is divided into 6 chapters, of which 2 take place in Biddeford, the rest in and around Willow Creek. The chapters are lengthy and often a bit overly verbose. It doesn't help, that most of the characters are not very likeable and like to yap their heart out. The voice acting is a bit uneven as well, some going toward more of a caricature-like portrayal, while the tone of the game is constantly brooding and sinister. Darren is quite a talkative chap as well, but I ended up skipping most of his dialogue, as he's just mostly annoying.
Black Mirror 2 is an old school point and click adventure, just like its predecessor. This time around it does have a difficulty level selection, which allows you to skip the minigame style puzzles. It also has a hint system, which provides some in-game guidance on what you should be doing at any given moment. These two things do make the game far more sensible than the first game was, despite the logic of some of the puzzles is exactly what you'd expect from a game so deeply rooted in the old puzzle tropes.
The story does get a bit overly convoluted as well. It even introduces some elements, which make the story of the previous game even more convoluted than it was with its poorly constructed tale of "the murderer was you all along". This time around, the issue stems from a surprise introduction of relatives through dead and secret societies. Or maybe the overall storyline would be fine if writing around it was better. The writing, especially the dialogue, is really the biggest issue I have with the game as a whole. Especially, because this is a long story and many of the longwinded discussions come out more like exposition dumbs rather than natural discussions. There's also an argument to be made for the mismatch of the style of the story Black Mirror 2 is and the use of the traditional point and click puzzles. Especially towards the end, it's glaringly obvious, that traditional adventure game puzzles were not perhaps the best match for such a story-heavy game as this is.
But still, all said, Black Mirror 2 is a huge improvement from the 1st game. The game design itself is far better, far easier to approach and while the story does veer towards silly at times, it's still an interesting and atmospheric experience, especially if you are into horror games. It might not be the best game ever made, but it is at least intriguing if you can get over the style that often comes out as desperately trying to be edgy. And, really, it is a better game and a story than the 2017 soft reboot of the series by King Arts.
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