Amanda the Adventurer 2 [PC] | REVIEW

I was a really big fan of Amanda the Adventurer, so having a sequel release just in time for the Halloween season has been a real treat. It manages to capture the same creepy puzzling charm of the original game too, though a couple of frustrating puzzles do prevent Amanda the Adventurer 2 from surpassing the high standards of the first game.

Check out some screenshots down below:

Amanda the Adventurer 2 takes place directly after its predecessor, with protagonist Riley continuing the investigation started by her aunt into the titular TV show Amanda the Adventurer. Whilst it seems like a fairly normal kids TV show, it actually holds some dark and macabre secrets, which you look to examine further by once again studying tapes from the show and utilising the clues they offer to unravel puzzles in the environment. This time around it all takes place from within a library, which seems like a seemingly innocuous location but brings plenty of its own little scares to keep players on their toes (including the return of the creature from the first game that made its presence known across some of the more unsavoury endings).

Once again, players will have to 100% the game if they want to see the true ending, with Amanda the Adventurer 2 offering a variety of outcomes based upon your actions throughout your playthrough. There are secret tapes to find across the adventure that flesh everything out, and with the lore proving genuinely interesting (especially if you’re into this creepy urban myth style of horror), it was always a treat to get that extra nugget of information that focuses on the show’s origin. Still, it takes some work to get the pay-off, and with players have to re-tread some sequences multiple times to unlock everything, the loop can grow repetitive if you can’t find what you’re looking for.

Once again, the video tapes you find of the show stand out as one of the coolest aspects of Amanda the Adventurer 2, with the low-budget, early 90s-styling making each feel authentic in design. The way they utilise the tropes of educational kids TV shows is clever, but when they start to take a more… sinister turn? It’s incredibly effective, with dark events and the interactivity you share with Amanda ensuring that the horror vibes are ever-present when playing.

“Amanda the Adventurer 2 is an enjoyable sequel that maintains the eerie charm of the original game, even if some puzzles could be frustrating to solve.“

Each tape is complemented by a variety of puzzles to solve in your surroundings, with players having to interact with seemingly ordinary items to push the story forward. The solution to these puzzles typically relies on the player being observant and taking in every detail from the tapes and their surroundings, but there’s also an element of logic to the puzzle-solving that just takes a bit of clever thinking to figure out.

The train puzzle is a good example of this, where you have to put different pieces of a track in place to ensure the toy train reaches its destination – it’s simple puzzle design that just requires a bit of logical thinking from the player. On the other hand, the piggy bank puzzle is a bit more sophisticated, requiring the player to carefully monitor the tape they’re playing and pause it at appropriate moments to ensure they can amass the coins required to progress. I don’t want to give too many details away for the puzzles here so that I don’t spoil anything for the player, but almost all of them are satisfying to solve, varied in design, and lean into the clever mechanics established in the first game effectively.

That being said, there are some puzzles that can be a bit too cryptic to solve – and not in a manner that’ll be satisfying to puzzle-solving veterans. This will be evident with the game’s first puzzle, which took me AGES to figure out. I’d say it could just be me, but after seeing other players complaining about it online, its clear that the developers have tried to be too clever and too elaborate with its design. I was glad that I could solve it without having to Google the answer, but honestly? It took me a lot longer than I’d like to admit, whilst I also relied on a bit of dumb luck to force my way through it. It leaves a bad first impression, which is a shame because the vast majority of the puzzles found across the rest of the game are clever and creative in design.

Check out some screenshots down below:

Outside of a couple of tedious puzzles, I did enjoy playing Amanda the Adventurer 2 a lot. It doesn’t stray too far from the formula established in the first game, but it does increase the scope to offer a larger locale to explore, more puzzles to solve, and more frights to keep you on edge along the way. I’d be lying if I said Amanda the Adventurer 2 was a scary game, but it’s definitely unsettling – especially when it leans into the elements that led to the development of the TV show itself. That being said, I do think I preferred the first game, if only because it had a few less frustrations whilst playing.

Developer: MANGLEDmaw Games
Publisher: DreadXP
Platform(s): PC (Reviewed)
Website: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2826800/Amanda_the_Adventurer_2/