Aggelos 2

Aggelos 2 is a great-looking and sounding game that feels like it should have had a little more signposting. There’s a hard difference between exploring and discovering, or wandering around aimlessly trying to make progress and unfortunately Aggelos fell a tad on the wrong side of the fence for my tastes.

Aggelos 2 offers stylish sprites and engaging dual form combat but its dated mechanics and missing QoL features leave the metroidvania more stuck in the past than enjoyable except for diehard fans.

In Aggelos 2, the winged hero returns in a more than impressive 16-bit-style metroidvania adventure that will delight any fan of retro aesthetics. To save the world from a terrible threat, players must embrace their dark side.

Aggelos 2 is a genuinely fun, nostalgia-soaked game with great exploration, intense battles, strong progression, and amazing music. A few rough edges, an awkward dual-form system, so-so map design, and clunky controls keep it just shy of perfect.

I came away from Aggelos 2 considerably happier than I did from the original. That’s probably the biggest compliment I can give it. It takes the foundation of the first game, expands the world, adds the light and dark forms, improves the exploration and gives you more abilities to play around with, which I feel is fine. Most importantly, it feels like a proper sequel rather than simply another game wearing the same clothes. If you enjoy old-school action-platformers, Metroidvania-style exploration or, like me, have a particular weakness for the old Wonder Boy games, there’s plenty here to enjoy. Is it better than Wonder Boy in Monster World? I’m still not prepared to commit that particular act of heresy. Nostalgia is a powerful thing. But I do think Aggelos 2 is better than its predecessor, and that’s enough for me. It’s colourful, straightforward, occasionally challenging and packed with that old-school sense of exploration that I enjoy. It has a few rough edges, but nothing that stopped me from wanting to keep playing. For me, Aggelos 2 is a recommendation and perhaps the sequel that Aggelos needed to really find its feet.

Aggelos 2 feels like a Metroidvania I’d have played over and over again on my Game Boy Advance, with some great abilities and combat.

PQube and Pixelheart are back with a sequel that draws directly from the original game, although...

Aggelos 2 builds on its predecessor with a larger map, dual forms, and two interconnected worlds. The appealing retro visuals and rewarding movement upgrades make for an enjoyable adventure, but an unintuitive map and missing quality-of-life features make navigation more frustrating than it should be.

Aggelos 2 is a Metroidvania with highs and lows. With a 16-bit aesthetic and a distinctly arcade-style combat system, it delivers a classic experience that is elevated by its interconnected world design, which encourages exploration.

There’s something to be said for new-school games that somehow capture the essence of the old-school while still feeling contemporary in the right areas