Force of Nature 2: Ghost Keeper

Ehhh... a "craft from storage" feature is sorely missing in this game. A game with this much crafting and so many items absolutely MUST have that feature, whether it's available right at the start or unlocked as an upgrade in the mid-to-late game. I don't mind grinding for resources, but running around my base searching for ten different items just to craft a single thing is way too tedious for me. In fact, that's the only reason I stopped playing.
I won't leave a negative review, though, because I don't think the game itself is bad. It's actually good, with a lot of crafting. The combat is just "meh".. it's not terrible, and I've certainly seen much worse mechanics, but it's just boring here.

I read a bunch of reviews, and here is what I think in my first 13 hours of play.

Some top issues:
* It is true the game is "grindy", but mostly because of the time it takes to do anything. Scavenging resources, construction, crafting etc.
* the game is sort of basic so far, and not all in a bad way. But, maps could have been designed better, but instead take a mostly linear route that all traversible parts are on the same level while hills and mountains are inaccessible, leading to a flat and limiting feeling to the game while artificially making it seem larger by winding paths on a small map.
* minimal options and settings... OK. But this game needs a brightness slider. Cmon devs, a brightness slider is basic. Especially useful for the vision impaired who already have a hard time seeing. At night, particularly in certain biomes, i cannot see. Please add a brightness/gamma slider

As for the better stuff:
* i like the graphics a lot. The depth of 3d objects makes trees and rocks pop, which is pretty rare in games, where even 3d games often dont feel 3d. But this one does an exceptional job at it. thanks
* the artwork all matches, the feel of the game is really good, other than the flat feeling to maps and inability to see at night.
* the introduction could have gone just a bit further in emphasizing the poignance of the situation, i feel. But we get the idea. I just wish it had a bit more mysterious feel to it that draws me in.
* occasional music instead of continual droning on of the same basic tune till it drives me crazy enough to take the time to go into the menus and turn it off. I like it!!!
* the basic gameloop is good. I like the crafting and all, just wish it wasnt quite so time consuming to make up for the shallow map layouts. Would have much rather had the natural flora barriers be used to limit travel than a simple S-shape with mountains that are untraversable. Many places the mountains look like you should be able to travel up them, and that would have added a lot to the game if going over mountains helped change the layout of the map travel.
* western wear and music!!!!! thanks for adding this.
* for me, I kind of like the fighting mechanics, tho a lot of people in the negative reviews seem to differ.

Overall I say buy. But I feel the greatest shame for this title is the lack of a brightness slider. I think even without my visual problems I would find nights unbearably annoying and difficult to see. With my visual issues, it becomes a point of playability, or lack thereof.

If developers are listening and care at all, please add a brightness slider to the menu. You arent losing anything by allowing us to actually see while we play.

I would recommend the game but with a lot of reservations,
The game is improved from the Force of Nature 1 in many ways but it still requires a huge amount of grinding. The ideas for crafting various implements is good but the demand on resources means having to go out regularly only to fetch stuff. Also having to grow food for your farm animals and waiting for them to produce is long and discouraging.
Then you get to the story which is interesting for sure. The maps are varied and have good graphics. However, you have to kill hundreds of enemies on each map, The puzzle on the canyon map is fun although not well explained. Then you get to the boss. The first boss was tricky and i died about a dozen time until I was able to win.
But when I got to the second boss it turned out to be impossible to win. I read comments from other players and many had given up, I truly tried but I eventually quit the game, I doubt the developers themselves were able to win the game.
So playing the first 2 levels and crafting so many different things was generally fun, I used a cheat to go see what the other levels were and the swamp level is just ludicrous. There are thousands of snakes, poisonous frogs and killer salamanders, but on top of that when you step into the water it sends a cloud of poison. I gave up for good when I saw this and read that the 3rd boss is absolutely impossible to kill. Poorly balanced fighting even when playing on easy mode,
If you are ok with playing only the first couple of levels and don't mind the extensive grinding, then this game has fun moments. Otherwise find something else to play that won't frustrate you.

Great if you like very grindy games and you're in the mood for a second monitor type game. Certainly a vast improvement over the first game.
Enjoyed:
- Building and creating your base is satisfying
- Bosses were the one good thing about combat since each one had varied mechanics
Disliked:
- Combat is monotonous with every biome having more or less the same type of enemy - Range, Melee and Fast
- More on the combat, the game is really easy even with "Stronger Enemies" game mode, just don't let yourself get mobbed by the hordes of enemies and you'd be fine
- Same as the first game, I don't know why the devs don't add enough keyboard keys or shortcuts to actions, it makes gameplay feel clunky having to click everywhere instead of a simple key to craft or interact with the inventory
Minor Bug/Gameplay Flaw:
- When you ask the Wanderer to send you back, he sends you to the beach you first arrived in, making this useless if you've moved your base elsewhere. It's far more efficient to "Save & Exit", then load back into your character
- Enemy pathing sometimes bugs out and they just stop and stare at you for a couple of seconds
Achievements:
- I only finished the game with the True End but didn't stay longer to complete the achievements since the rest were tedious. You would have to do another playthrough as well because there isn't enough skill points earned or else you'd be spending more time grinding levels after Level 18

The game isnt bad. I just hate the combat on Force of Nature 1 and 2. They are both just food spammers. Combat all comes down to spamming food items to heal you while fighting. Keep lots and lots of food.

V Rising + Valheim + Palia
Literally so addicting, I played for 11 hours straight on my first sitting.
Also the reason I felt the need to leave a review is because of just how well the music is done. I will ruin the magic for you if you read the way it works: Not the music itself (which is incredible) but the system that makes music kick in. It's the same system as old minecraft's music where music doesn't always play but when it randomly kicks in and plays, it feels so good. But I noticed that the music that kicks in when it does changes according to the environment or the activity. Like if I'm tending my animals, a cowboy-like music plays. If I'm roaming the forest, or doing mundane activities... It's difficult to explain but it made this game special in my eyes.

I did play the first game, and the change is vast here. I would say "Take a look at my review of the first game, and then change all the cons to pros", but I think you will not do that. So to cut it short, if you have played the first game and kind of liked it, or maybe just a little bit, then this game might, and I would even say it will turn your opinion around. If you have not played the game, then it's a treat, a neat, chill out game, where you can build, battle and explore, it's fun, but more in detail.
So the base line of this game, in every way it is the same, just way better. So from the story standpoint, if in the first game you did not have a clue of what is going on, here you have more grasp on the things, it's a simple story, but at least you know, what is what. For this game you have, not getting into much detail, ghosts of each ralm that kind of give you more and more info about what has happended and what is the "Force of Nature" along with notes explaining even more. In general the story follows the same path as the first game, collect all shards of the "Force of Nature" to escape the unkown land. That's more or less it.
The only real beef, well the point were I was "OH.. hell no.." and where I went into forums and YT for help, is for the "True ending". Is it hard to get it.. yes.. and no.. depends on how long you want to walk around the world looking for the invisible man, and by that I mean you have only a vague quote "That he is hiding where no one would look" well something like that. Anyways, that might be only part of the game that was a bit sketchy.
But I would not say that the main focus of the game really is the story, it's the gameplay, not to say the story is in the backseat and bad, just that the gameplay is enjoyable and the story is not pushing you to do things, it just naturally connects as you play. If it makes sense.
Besides that, the gameplay, well.. everything is fixed and made a lot better, like way better than in the first game.
Crafting is much faster and now with the help of ghosts, who help you gather, build and in general do things while you are away, is a time saver. The only small thing is that when you craft things, you have to have components on you, in your inventory, it would be useful if crafting stations could be linked to chests in some way, but for me it did not feel like a big deal all things considered.
Armour now makes more sense, you still have enviormental value that has to be met, but you have a lot more of variations of the armor types, depending on how you like to play, being more bulky or having more speed. This time around you don't have to mix up the armour just to get by.
Farming and livestock part is also a lot more easier to get around, unlocking "Trough" so you can feed all animals at once, or having a place for them, so all the materials gather in one spot.
Combat, that is more polished now, I mean it's simple, but a lot more fun that it was before, where you would stand and spam one attack.. I mean it's kind of that, but different, for some reason not so dull, magic also helps. That also inclued the fact that, this game has character level up and points you can invest in skills and magic powers, so not only you deal ranged or melee damage, you can also dish out fireballs. The only thing that got me though was the fact that there is no skill reset, in a way not too big of a deal, but if you are collecting achievements, this can make you replay all the game if you invest points into the wrong skill.
Enviorment, now you can actually see how each ralm is different in every way, visually of course and with materials you gather to the enemies you encounter, each making you maybe change the approach on how to deal with them. In general the visuals are nice, not the top notch polished ones, but enough to have small details pop out and make the surroundings look very good and nice as with enemy design. This time around each enemy is different, they look like they belong in each ralm and they act different, not just get their color changed and have extended hp bar.
Well all that in mind, the game is a treat, it's fun to play, just relax and smack goblins and build your little settlement. If you think there might be something off with this game, try the first game and I'll guarantee you that you will see this game in a different light.
Anyways I do recommend it!