This game is brilliant. Pretty much everything great about the original applies here as well, with incredible attention to detail that also enriches the original game with lots of subtle connections.

This series is so charming, creative and richly detailed in ways that are seen rarely in ANY form of media or genre, not only in gaming but in horror fiction as well, with a masterful balance of tension and outright terror alongside moments of beautiful (but haunting) visuals that compel you to just stop and appreciate the view, and let you take full advantage of the rare quiet moment between the scares.

The visual composition for these scenes, the staging, and environmental storytelling reinforce the themes so well, and tells an incredibly compelling story by throwing you in with no exposition, opting instead for a media res opening, making for immediate story-telling purely shown through wonderful body language and staging.

From a film-making and animation perspective, this title has a lot of artistic merit on display as an amazing example of "show, don't tell," and there is never a dull moment. There is also masterful sound design at work, with the tiniest noises capable of raising the hair on your neck inside creaking buildings, eardrum blasting shotgun shells (aimed at the player; your hero is relatively helpless throughout most of the game), and eerie groans and howls from the creatively designed terrors that chase you. Even moments of dead silence in spooky hallways are enough to intimidate the player.

The gameplay is virtually identical to the original, but with the addition of a partnership mechanic, and this partner character is a blast to work with, as they slowly grow in confidence and start taking the lead, leaving you in the dust while they handle some tasks for you unexpectedly.

You still spend most of your time solving environmental puzzles while evading your would be captors, and plenty of exhilarating sequences that will have you panic and frantically mashing your buttons in the hopes of surviving the encounter, mixed with some absolutely nail-biting scenes of sneaking around in the hopes that you don't alert your predator. There are a handful of moments where you do get a makeshift weapon, but the way the combat system is designed, it works more to make you feel even more desperate and panicked, rather than a form of empowerment.

If you played the original and enjoyed it, or even if this is your first venture into the series, it's an immensely satisfying and creative adventure that is worth your time.