Order from Caos 2

"Order from Caos 2" is White Vortex Games’ second big JRPG, and it requires no knowledge of its predecessor. If you like epic old-school JRPGs with turn-based battles, this game should be right up your alley.
Story: After experiencing a tragedy in what might or might not have been a dream, Thomas awakes in the coastal settlement Akmya. Memories from the "dream" are his only memories left, but his (self-proclaimed?) childhood friends Miguel and Daena swear that Thomas has lived his whole live in Akmya. There's something sinister going on, with beings of a higher plane and an evil empire involved, while monsters called "Viridi" roam the plains, and Thomas and his friends set out on a journey to find out the truth (and, of course, to save the world in the process while doing a lot of good along the way). The story is interesting enough to keep the player invested, and features some really gut-wrenching plot twists. Dialogues are competently written, and the characters (6 main party members, of which 4 can participate in battles) are believable and likeable.
Graphics: This game features a lot of custom/self-designed graphics/assets, and though the art style might not be everyone's cup of tea, it definitely makes the game feel alive and distinguishes it from similar games. Of course, you can still recognize the usual RPG Maker MV assets, but the developer's efforts are so apparent that I wouldn't be surprised if he developed his next game in a more sophisticated game engine.
Gameplay: If you ever played a JRPG with turn-based battles before, you'll feel right at home. You got your normal attacks, skills (which use MP, that can be restored anytime, or TP, that only build up in battle and don't carry over, or both), item, defend and "special" commands (like Alicia's summons). Be warned, though: The game is challenging at the beginning. It's difficult to survive the first few hours for players that aren't JRPG veterans (it's totally possible, like that one reviewer "Grindingcast", to not recognize that save/healing point in the game's first area, only to die against that one mandatory weakling mob at the beginning or the surprisingly strong side quest related "chicken"). Thomas starts out alone, joined by Miguel and Daena shortly after, but even the three party members together are doomed to struggle a lot. You really need to use everything at your disposal to get through the early-game. A few hours in, when Alicia joins as the fourth party member (and as the first one that can use healing skills every round), the game suddenly gets a lot easier. In fact, apart from some "outlier solo battles", I never struggled again from this point onwards when my full party was present, so if you're inclined to shy away from the early-game challenge, you might want to stick it out until you have four party members.
One of the game's most important mechanics is the "Other Dimension Mode" (ODM), which can be switched on/off at save points. It's basically another (graphical) layer on the maps that lets you see additional elements, mostly "Lumeni Points" (LP) (see below) and side quest related foes. ODM only lasts a certain number of map transitions that starts out low but increases as you get stronger and progress through the story. You need to keep track of which maps you've already explored with ODM switched on (though it's usually possible to explore all maps in ODM before you leave for the next area, and if not, you can always return later), and after triggering certain side quests, you need to do additional "map sweeps" to discover all hidden elements. It's great and motivating game design, and avid explorers will benefit greatly. The only downside is that you can't save anywhere, since save points, which also heal the party, are placed in a way to utilize ODM to its fullest.
Another important part plays the "Skill Grid", which is basically the "Sphere Grid" from Final Fantasy X. Here, you unlock nodes to obtain skills and permanent stat boosts. In order to unlock these nodes, you need the aforementioned LP, which is why it's so important to use ODM regularly. The nodes are all level-restricted, so it's necessary to check/upgrade regularly. "Order from Caos 2" is a low-level and low-stats game, which is why every little improvement counts.
Speaking of which, level-ups are few and far between, and Gold (to buy new equipment) is hard to come by (though EXP and Gold aren't restricted, since the visible on-map encounters respawn upon leaving and reentering a map). While a bit of grinding is required (or at least encouraged), it's obvious to tell when the game wants you to finally overcome a certain challenge with your current means (i.e. no grinding for hours). As a consequence, consumable items are actually valuable and useful in battles. And as I said, avid explorers will be rewarded. For example, there's a side quest that requires you to defeat 10 interdimensional beings (while ODM is switched on). When I triggered this quest, I could already discover 2 of them in unexpected (previously visited) places. Defeating one of them, though it's a hell of a fight at this point, nets the player 200 LP, which makes a great difference and the following areas/enemies significantly easier.
There are a lot of side quests to discover, and many of them will test the player's exploration prowess, like the aforementioned interdimensional beings or when it comes to collecting all of Alicia's summons, and sometimes these side stories even pull at the player's heartstrings, since some of them are really heartbreaking. 100 achievements, many of them tied to side quests, certainly manage to please completionists like me (beware, though, that 99 of them must be earned on the same save file to unlock the hundredth one). The game offers a lot of (optional) content, but doesn't overwhelm the player (which is also thanks to the detailed quest journal).
Map/dungeon design is really good. Areas are just so large that they incentivize exploration, but not so large that the player would get hopelessly lost. Some decent pathfinding "puzzles" are thrown into the mix, too, since you occasionally need to dive underwater or jump on plateaus. These actions are all executed automatically (if you manage to discover the right spots), which means they don't require any platforming skills. Special "puzzles" like the light ray related ones also feel and look great. All these elements make exploration even more fun.
Unfortunately, some things are "permanently" missable (some are unimportant, but there are quests/achievements in the very first village that can be missed). The game features a "New Game Plus" mode, though (thus the quotation marks when I said permanently), which is a necessity for those who aim to obtain all 100 achievements. Sadly, the game doesn't provide enough LP to buy everything in a single playthrough (unlocking "Skill Grid" nodes, buying special weapons), and as mentioned above, you need to earn 99 of the achievements on the same save file to unlock the hundredth one, so you can't "fake purchase" the special weapons and then reload an earlier save file.
Verdict: "Order from Caos 2" is a high-effort old-school JRPG that every connoisseur of the genre should at least check out. A lot of interesting contents/mechanics and exploration incentives make this game stand out from the rest. The game is rather difficult in the beginning (and then suddenly gets very easy), so it might be a few hours until the real fun starts, though I think that's par for the course in this genre anyway.

I can only echo Euphoniac and highly recommend this game. I enjoyed the original so much, I even spent over my £4.00 budget for a game which these days is extremely rare due to lack of funds. Thank you so much.