If you ask pretty much anyone on this planet, we can all agree on one thing: high school sucks. From the idiotic teachers indoctrinating the minds of our youth to boy/girl problems, social issues, after school activities, and everyday issues with parents, everything about it sucks. If you add the threat of death due to paranormal occurrences caused by a blood moon, you have The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters. 
The game is a direct follow up to The Coma which focuses on Mina Park, a young girl dealing with all of the above, plus the fact her good friend is in an unexplained coma. As she’s going on about her day, a blood moon is on the rise and sets forth a series of events that lean more on mystery and less on horror, making this an experience that’s more Goosebumps than Stephen King, at least in terms of writing. It’s not a bad story by any means, but I found myself struggling to stay engaged with the banter between a high school girl and her friends as a 30-something guy who never had to fret about the popular boy having a crush on me.
Before we get too far into the review, I will point out that playing the first entry is not a requirement for the sequel. While I gave the first in the series a solid attempt, I didn’t finish it due to time constraints. Because of this I was a little out of the loop with the narrative at first, but it picks up fairly quickly and brings back a few returning characters I vaguely remembered. The story is unpacked in a 2D walking simulator which uses graphic novel style cut scenes and text boxes to fill in the narrative blanks. With this being said, it requires a significant amount of reading, so be sure you’re in the mood for around five hours of this before starting, because this is a hard title to put down once the head gets rolling down the steps.
If you’re familiar with Claire or Uncanny Valley, the gameplay will be overly familiar – explore each setting for required items to make it to the next narrative bit while evading the titular sisters who want to eat Ming’s face with a side of fava beans. I really enjoyed the exploration elements, especially due to the rotting pile of corpses that litter the game world which occasionally jump out at Ming. These are fairly effective jump scares that also work as a form of resource management, since lingering too long in the wrong spot results in her taking damage. You’ll spend around five hours or so toggling between running and walking, as well as turning your trusty lighter on or off, to evade enemies and work your way forward. The hide and seek mechanics work as they should, but can be somewhat annoying here and there due to the sheer speed of the sister. In countless instances, I found myself entering a room and getting attacked before I could even get my bearings, let alone find one of the few hiding spaces that are offered.
In the event you’re caught, you can occasionally use defensive items that offer a mulligan of sorts, allowing you to escape the sister’s grasp if you complete a short QTE segment, but if you fail or lack the proper item, death will come quickly for you. This isn’t a “Fool me once…” situation, but one in which you’ll make the same mistake six or more times before finding the proper path forward, and if you’ve been treated to any of the pre-2000’s era survival horror games, you’ll learn early that manual saves are your best friend. Luckily, save points litter the map at regular intervals and don’t carry any lasting impact on the story, so save as often as you see fit – in my case, about every five minutes or so.
Despite the vast majority of the game asking you to read the banter between characters, there is a decent amount of ambient sounds that keep the tension at a reasonable level throughout the playthrough. It often reminded me of the original Silent Hill in the way it used minimal effects and audible interactions to maximum effect. The same can be said for the comic-book styled design that leans more on your typical Western title than Eastern, which borrows the same themes of blending the real world with the “otherworld” known as The Coma. The story pings and pongs its way through these transitions as you explore a school, police station, and other stereotypical “safe spaces” the horror genre is known for.
The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters is light on gameplay but makes up for it with a decent story that is well worth a single playthrough. It weaves an interesting tale of high school drama with just enough horror to keep you vested through its average playtime that is well worth the cost of admission.
8 out of 10
Pros
- Graphic Novel Style Horror Game
- Fun Tale of Mystery and Horror to Unravel
- Amazing Minimalist Sound Design
Cons
- Some Chase Segments Come Out of Nowhere
- Unrelatable Themes
- Copious Reading Without Voice-over
The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters was developed by Devespresso Games and published by Headup Games and WhisperGames. The game is available on NS, PC, PS4, and X1. The game was provided to us for review on X1. If you’d like to see more of The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters, check out the publisher’s site.
Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.
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