Impressively Retro Modern
HIGH Scratches the itch for a modernized 2-D Sonic, plus new combat mechanics.
LOW The story and hub sequences drag, uninspired early-game boss design.
WTF Why can’t the player advance the story dialogue themselves?
Freedom Planet 2 is a ’90s style 2D platformer with strong Sonic the Hedgehog influence.
I haven’t played the original, but it doesn’t seem necessary for the plot. The Freedom Planet series is set in a world inhabited by various demi-humans. The primary antagonist here is Merga, a water dragon who seeks revenge on the earth dragons for committing genocide against her species. For much of the campaign, the player is fighting on the side of the earth dragon kingdom – but it can feel a bit uncomfortable considering that’s the side that perpetrated genocide. (FP2 does eventually interrogate earth dragon history, but I wished it got there more quickly.)
Speaking of the writing, there are a lot of story scenes in Freedom Planet 2. While I appreciate that the makers are invested in its world and lore, I didn’t love the script. Many of the plot points related to water dragons were rather dark, and the writers didn’t seem comfortable handling such weighty issues. In many cases, a serious character beat would be introduced, then swiftly deflated by a jokey comment or comedic plot point. These tonal shifts lessen the impact of the story, and it especially plagued me because FP2 is fully voice-acted and the player can’t speed up dialogue.
Fortunately, the action in Freedom Planet 2 is better than the writing. The graphics are bright, charming, and generally appealing in a 16-bit Sega Genesis sort of way. The characters are visually distinct, and their sprites move in ways that reflect their personalities.
Most of the stages are designed similar to those seen in Sonic the Hedgehog – players run on a 2D plane and can take different routes through each stage while running at a fast pace.
There’s just something viscerally enjoyable about zooming through the world, and there are a lot of stages. A handful were a bit long, but overall, the running and platforming were joys. I especially appreciated that FP2 improved on traditionally irritating designs, such as water levels, by adding gravity bubbles and speed-boosting paths.
In addition to the speedy platforming, there’s also some light puzzle solving. For example, some stages require certain conditions be met, such as turning on power in multiple rooms to proceed. In a more frustrating case, the player must hit balls into sockets to open doors, which required luck (or brute force repetition) if the player didn’t know about one of its intricacies.
There’s also some variety in how the player progresses, depending on the character selected. There are four characters total, and each can only be selected at the start of a run because they all have their own customized path. Lilac the dragon feels like the ‘default’ heroic character and has the fastest running speed and an invincible dash that can be used when she has a full power meter. In contrast, Milla the hound is slower, but can charge projectile attacks and fly.
That the characters each feel distinctive and affect the feel of play so much is impressive and adds replayability. Choosing Lilac makes FP2 feel like a Sonic clone, while playing as Milla provides more flexible offensive options, lending it a vibe closer to something like Mega Man X. However, regardless of who’s chosen, all characters have a dodge button that makes them temporarily invincible, which is a great idea that offsets issues with enemy attacks feeling like cheap shots.
Speaking of which, as much as I enjoyed the stages, I found several of the bosses frustrating. I completed the game with Lilac, who sometimes felt ill-suited to handle these encounters since she does not have a lock-on for her dash, and it can only be used when her gauge is full. This combination could be frustrating because it was not only hard to hit mobile bosses, but after missing a shot, I often found myself standing in corners and dodging attacks for several seconds while my dash gauge refilled. I found that other characters didn’t have the same problems, as some had more range with their basic attacks and didn’t have to rely as much on a power gauge.
On the standard setting, Freedom Planet 2 will be a fair challenge for someone familiar with these kinds of platformers. However, an unusually tough boss forced me to engage with the item system, which allows the player to slot in two power-ups and a potion, effectively serving as a way to mitigate difficulty.
These item slots offer boosts like a higher max HP or adding damage-over-time to one’s attacks. The potion slot can allow the player to boost or augment stats, such as increasing attack or restoring HP by hitting enemies. If the player wants to further decrease challenge, menu-based accessibility settings can be adjusted.
Overall, Freedom Planet 2 is an excellent (though imperfect) love letter to Japanese ’90s style platformers, and anyone who enjoys either old-school design or platforming in general will find it worthwhile thanks to solid mechanics, plenty of content and strong replayability via the different characters available. Maybe skip the story, but don’t miss it.
Rating: 7.5 out of 10
– Heather Rees
Disclosures: This game is developed by GalaxyTrail and published by GalaxyTrail. It is currently available on XBO, XBX/S/PS4/PS5/Switch/PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4. Approximately 15 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated Teen, and contains Fantasy Violence, Suggestive Themes. Some of the plot points of the story are mature in nature (mentioning of child abduction, genocide), but the handling seems appropriate for a teenage audience. The characters mainly attack robots, and occasionally each other but the violence is not graphic.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. The game is playable with no sound and visual cues are primarily used to indicate attacks or important things on the screen. This game is fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.
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