Sludge Life 2 Review, Analysis And Impression

The start of Sludge Life 2 is practically identical to the first game, but with one fundamental difference: whereas in the previous one, we had to crawl through the mud to get out of the container in which we lived. Here we have to crawl to get under a Furniture from the hotel room that we blew up last night while we were drunk with our hugely popular rap group. In both cases, we hit the ground before starting to play and explore the open world, but the difference between the two situations is palpable and deliberate.

Unexpected Sequel

Terri Vellman and Doseone, creators of this game that comes back published by Devolver Digital, have created a sequel to Sludge Life that many of us wouldn’t know how to see it. Staying true to their original proposal (graffiti, photos, urban exploration and quirky characters), they take advantage of this second game to talk about new topics from a different perspective. Everything has, of course, the same backdrop: a critical, acid and scathing look at the dirtiest and most base capitalism. But now from a different start that places us in high places (literally) to encourage us to return to the mud.

As in the first game, the main objective of Sludge Life 2 is to explore the world that surrounds us, chatting with the peculiar characters that we meet along the way and discovering new secrets, situations and corners in which to sign. There is an excuse that serves as our initial goal (finding our friend, lost after a night out) without ever being mandatory; in fact, it’s very easy to watch the end credits of the game with still a lot to do.

This sequel comes with a change in the perspective of the character, who has stopped being a graffiti artist from the underworld to encourage new reflections. The city and its people are the protagonists of the game. The important thing here, and in which the authors of the game once again demonstrate their genius, is the very fact of kicking a city with its foundations in the mud: Sludge Life 2 stands as a pessimistic and cynical postcard of the greyest capitalism that is can imagine, a place of broken things, dirty streets and long faces.

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However, there is a humour that oscillates between the scatological (the button returns to fart) and the scathing. This game has no qualms about giving you a thoughtful phrase about the terrible working conditions in which we operate while a colleague prepares stork anuses by his side, the latest gastronomic fashion among the rich. And that makes it wonderful.

Do we need to play the first one to get into Sludge Life 2?

It is not at all necessary to play the first Sludge Life to find out anything that happens in this one, although we will never stop recommending exploring that great game in depth. If you haven’t already, you can start with that instalment (which has been available for free several times on PC). When you’re done, you can jump to the demo of Sludge Life 2, which in addition to being self-contained is free.

That idea of exploring the city in depth, talking to its inhabitants, taking photos, signing walls and looking for secrets – that is, the original formula of the first Sludge Life – is here squeezed to the fullest. There are many more scenes, more bit funny situations and a higher degree of interaction. There are also new movement mechanics that encourage a deeper and more controlled relationship with the environment. There may also be more objectives, places to go and generally things to do, although it is both difficult and unnecessary to quantify this. It does not shy away from its criticism, which it captures with a variety of tones and depths.

A waste of audiovisual style

Of course, none of this would hold up without all the stylistic decisions that make Sludge Life 2 such a unique game. Few dare to establish a world as charismatic as this one, in which the shapes, colours and animations of the characters that live in it are exaggerated. It is a game that is not afraid to twist and find new ways to surprise us with an incomparable artistic finish; both visually and soundwise, be careful, because once again the soundtrack of this instalment is one of those that you can loop long after you have finished playing. In this game, you cannot foresee what situation you are going to find around the corner.

Conclusions

It’s strange to talk about Sludge Life 2 as a sequel that is so strictly a sequel: both the first and the second are games so irreverent and innovative that highlighting their more and better seems to detract from the rest of the virtues of their proposal. Quite the opposite because nailing an experience as good as this one again can only be achieved if the intentions you want to convey are very clear, as well as a particularly brilliant handling of the possibilities of the interactive medium. If it’s like the first one, but bigger and better… what an achievement!