(18+)REVIEW: Re;Lord 2 ~The witch of Cologne and black cat~


Title	Re;Lord 2 ~The witch of Cologne and black cat~
Developer	Escu:de, Element
Publisher	Sekai Project, Denpasoft
Release Date	November 19th, 2021
Genre	Visual Novel, RPG
Platform	PC
Age Rating	18+
Official Website

It’s been a bit since I got to check in with the wild crew for the Re;Lord franchise. I was pretty excited to what sort of craziness Wilfried would come up with in Re;Lord 2 ~The witch of Cologne and black cat~. This time, he and his crew will try to reclaim another region from the clutches of the witches that have invaded their land and turned all of the people into stuffed animals. Let’s see if this entry has the same quality as the first one did.

The story here begins as Wilfried begins his invasion of Cologne. He feels pretty emboldened after defeating Erika in Herfort, and is eager to push forward. He soon discovers the Witch of Cologne is a very crafty one as not long after arriving, they are caught in a trap that scatters his army into the surrounding areas. Having barely survived the trap himself, Wilfried and Ria regroup and begin to come up with a new plan to defeat the Witch of Cologne, Iris, and her very chuunibyou attendant, Kaya.

The story has certainly added more depth with this entry. Iris is a great character. She acts very calm and calculating, but it seems she has been through some every emotionally damaging events. Kaya is a ton of fun. She acts as the samurai guardian for Iris and gives her 100% loyalty. She says pretty out there stuff, but her heart is in the right place. Erika has a bit of character growth here as well, but none of the Witches remember who sent them to invade this land to start with. Though, Iris seems to believe it was to prevent a horrible event from occurring. By the end, with new players and backstories being revealed, I have to say I’m pretty invested in this series. They leave you hanging here, but part three is well on its way, and I wanna get my hands on it ASAP!

Gameplay hasn’t changed from the first title. You still fill in squares on the map with Tetris-style blocks. There are block in many shapes and sizes that can be rotated to cover the area in any way you wish. Blocks you uncover have to be connected, but it doesn’t matter if you overlap them. Most of the time you will see the enemies on the map, but sometimes you will find hidden ones that surprise you. There are also hidden treasures, character events, and more to unlock as you traverse each area. The most important thing is to reach the destination before the area countdown hits zero. This is very easy to do, and there are items to give you more turns if you need them. Clearing an area will unlock the next one, and give you much needed cash to spend in the shop.

The combat is the same as before, and still a ton of fun. You click down the left mouse button and drag it over enemies to target them. Then you hold down the button to charge up your spells to attack. The element of your spell can be changed at any time with the scroll wheel, and you will need to pinpoint enemy weaknesses in order to obtain an easy victory. You will earn EXP for victories that can be used to level up your skills, and this seems more important this time around since the boss battles were a bit more difficult. In these battles, you will not only have to find their elemental weakness, but also the best place to target their clothing. Doing so will weaken them, making them easier to defeat, and the amount of clothing they have left will be what they have on during the upcoming H-scene as well. There is a separate training mode where you can see just how many different stages of undress you can get each girl in, and I’m going to say it’s a lot. You can unlock up to six different tattered looks that fit your fancy.

The artwork here is, once again, some of the best I’ve seen. Iris and Kaya’s designs are both amazing, and some of the new characters have an over the top, crazy look that fits them to a tee. The enemy models haven’t changed much. They still look great, however, and the special monsters have a lot of flair. There are not a lot CG cutscenes outside of the H-scenes, but what is here is top quality. The mosaics being left intact are a bit of a bummer, but not a deal breaker.

I have to say, I liked Re;Lord 2 ~The witch of Cologne and black cat~ even better than the first game. The new characters are awesome, and I’m really interested to see how this story plays out from here. The game will last you around six to eight hours, and I feel the quality makes it well worth the $19.99 price tag. You can purchase this one on Steam or Denpasoft’s store. Steam users will need to head over to Denpasoft’s store for a free patch to restore some content. If you are interested in this series, you should certainly start with Re;Lord 1 ~The witch of Herfort and stuffed animals~ since this is a direct sequel, but these games are quality and affordable. Players that love visual novels with fun gameplay and a great story should dive into these. They won’t be disappointed.