One of the most intense written masterpiece in existence!

Read it....you won't regret it...

Achieve your mission with all your might!
Despair not till your last breath!
Make your death count!

Talking about a visual novel (VN) sequel without spoilers is a big challenge but here we go:
As a sequel to Muv-Luv, one of the most acclaimed VNs ever, Alternative had its work cut out for it. You need to play the first entry (both sides of it) to really appreciate and make sense of this one although you could jump into this and still figure things out (not recommended as you would be missing out on so much context, key events and character familiarity). As with other games from Age, some of the characters are connected to their past non-Muv-Luv games but those aren't really required for this one. As a VN, the usual gameplay of reading, watching the occasional animated segment and making some choices that affect the story still applies but this game has more of a set ending than the previous one so the changes apply more towards specific events and variations. This is somewhat expected since it is currently the grand finale of the story although a sequel called Integrate has been announced (without a release date) and an epilogue exists in the Photonmelodies collection released afterwards.

In Alternative, the story mostly remains in the serious sci-fi military world of Unlimited but with a chance to drastically change things. It connects to the Extra story as well but even that is wrapped into the serious tone that the game carries throughout. As you make changes, small variations in the events eventually turn into massive new ones leading into the finale. There are many huge revelations connecting back to seemingly minor conversations and details of past entries as well as events occurring throughout this story so paying attention and checking those details again reveals and explains more. The planning that must have gone into achieving this is staggering. The game connects to saves from the previous game and the variations are interesting to explore even though they are more minor than in the previous entry.

The music, CGs and animated segments are excellent and really highlight the emotional scenes well. The animated CGs are very prevalent here, similar to Muv-Luv but the amount and quality of them is even higher. In fact, the parts where static CGs are partially animated to highlight things like combat scenes are so immersive as to be between an anime and a comic book, which is surprising for a VN. Just like in the first game, the mecha and world details are intricately explored and they manage to convey intense battle scenarios and revelations in a very in-world way. This story would have made a great full-fledged action game in that regard but looking at the studio's subsequent attempts at that, I'm happy they stuck with this approach that works very well.

The main protagonist is much more mature here than in the previous entry which is a welcome change, although there's a point where he once again acts very problematically which I personally find very distasteful. This ties into some of the issues I have with the story here. It is overall a great story, frequently very emotionally impactful and exploring themes of international politics, coming of age and how far people can go to win wars but its origins as a gal game (basically a dating sim VN) hamstrings some of the big reveals. There are some egregiously vile and cruel scenes in the second half of the game that seem to have been put there just for shock value or catering to some crazy peoples' fetishes and they are connected to key events in a way that cheapens the plot revelations they are meant to convey. Meiya's Alternative backstory also weakens her character I felt although she's still well made overall. Just like in the first game, there are some long-winded moments but they aren't common, which is welcome in such a long game (70+ hours if you want to read everything). Even considering that the ride getting there can be bumpy, the ending is solid and the story overall is a page-turner in a way few are - you just need a strong stomach for some parts of it.

I therefore recommended this game even with some reservations about parts of the plot. The gripping narrative, excellent moment-to-moment immersive scene descriptions, the payoffs from the past game and the ending are well worth it, which is ultimately what one would want from a grand finale.