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Perhaps the most impressive thing about Almost Human's sequel to its 2012 indie RPG hit is how confidently it strikes a balance between freedom and constraint. The most immediately obvious change is the switch from the gloomy interior of a mountain prison to a sun-kissed, but no less sinister island.For anyone who played the original, the aesthetic difference is impossible to miss. As you begin your adventure, locked in a cage on a beach, the presence of a blue sky above you and the distant horizons have an invigorating effect. This is a place that invites exploration. Yet Almost Human has wisely resisted the lure of the sandbox. You're still restricted to the same old school grid pattern as before, the world built around the same reliable graph paper boxes that drove stylistic predecessors such as Eye of the Beholder. Often the game conspires to force you down narrow corridors, formed by trees or rocks as well as actual stone walls, but it also opens out when needed, into spacious clearings. It's an environment at once expansive and focussed.
A similar canny balancing act plays out in Grimrock 2 at every level, resulting in a sequel that improves its template across the board without falling foul of the easy design trap of cramming in new features. In 2012, Almost Human intimately understood the style of game it wanted to resurrect and it hasn't allowed success to bloat that vision.
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