Freedom Planet 2

Freedom Planet 2 is an indie platform video game developed and published by GalaxyTrail for Windows, and published by Xseed Games on home consoles. It is the sequel to Freedom Planet. It was released for Windows on September 13, 2022, which was followed by ports on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on April 4, 2024. Like its predecessor, it is inspired by Sega Genesis games. It follows the three-person cast of the original game and new panda character Neera Li as they fight the robotic army of Merga, a water dragoness who seeks revenge for ancient atrocities.

Critics called Freedom Planet 2 a general improvement over the first game in the series, and also noted how it became less similar to the Sonic series and adopted its own unique graphical and gameplay style.

Gameplay
Freedom Planet 2 introduces new mechanics and makes changes based on past feedback. The game adds guarding, revivals, and a flexible difficulty system through power-ups that are equipped beforehand.

Setting and characters
Freedom Planet 2 is set on the world of Avalice, a planet composed of the kingdoms Shang Tu, a city once ruled by the earth dragons currently ruled by the Royal Magister; the advanced metropolis Shang Mu ruled by a mayor voted through free elections, with the current mayor being Zao; Shuigang, a kingdom in the northern regions of the planet which inhabited mostly by pandas and ruled by King Dail; and the tropical island nation of Parusa, once home to the ancient water dragons who waged war on Shang Tu.

The main characters are Sash Lilac, thought to be the last water dragon in existence, who fights with her pigtails, Carol Tea, a motorcycle-riding green wildcat, Milla Basset, a basset hound and alchemist who can create phantom cubes and potions, and Neera Li, the trusted advisor of the Royal Magister.

The game begins three years after the evil Lord Brevon was defeated and forced to retreat from the planet of Avalice. This has created a temporary peace, but it is abruptly broken by a rampaging robot that destroys the tree house of Lilac and Carol.

The Royal Magister then summons them in order to investigate the robotic invasion. They discover that the culprit is the water dragoness warrior Merga, a bioengineered supersoldier of the same supposedly nigh-extinct species as Lilac, who has awakened from a crystal prison in the depths of the ocean due to the destruction of the Kingdom Stone. She desires revenge for ancient atrocities committed during Avalice's oldest and deadliest war. Ultimately, the heroes are split between sides and must fight to stop the potentially world-ending superweapon Bakunawa.

Plot
After the final battle with Brevon results in the shattering of the Kingdom Stone, a crystal prison in the depths of the ocean is destroyed and an enraged water dragon emerges. Three years later, Sash Lilac and Carol Tea are clearing the remaining rampant robots of Brevon's invasion from the valley surrounding their tree house, but the house itself is destroyed. Deciding to stay at Milla's place for the night, all three of them are approached by lieutenant Neera Li, who summons them to an audience with the Royal Magister of Shang Tu. Once in the palace, they are informed that the recent attacks are being organized and Shang Tu requires assistance in order to discover their origins, the trio oblige with Neera joining them and acting as their liaison with the Magister.

Their missions include stopping a sky pirate attack on Shang Tu's museum led by Carol's older sister Corazon and her engineer Aaa and saving the Pangu drone, participating in Shang Mu's Battlesphere and recruiting its champion Captain Kalaw, and helping King Dail of Shuigang with the remnants of Brevon's army led by General Serpentine, receiving assistance from Sergeant Askal of Shang Tu's army (who's half earth dragon) and retrieve the Syntax drone. Afterwards, the heroes find out that Mayor Zao is kidnapped and held hostage in Shang Mu's Globe Opera, with the kidnapper revealing herself to be the water dragon Merga, a centurion from the deadliest war of Avalice, who demands Pangu to activate the spaceship Bakunawa in exchange for Zao's life. With the help of Captain Kalaw, the heroes decide to fool Merga with Syntax, but once there, they realize that Corazon, Aaa and Kalaw are in league with Merga and distract them so Merga could invade Shang Tu with ease. Once in Shang Tu, the heroes learn that Askal is also an insider of Merga who seeks equality for half breeds like himself and punishment on the Magister, who is revealed to be a young earth dragon. The heroes face Merga, who accuses the Magister's kind of the murder of her own, but are overwhelmed and forced to retreat.

The heroes along with the Magister and General Gong decide to take refuge in Shang Mu's city hall, where Lilac confronts the Magister about Merga's accusations. During dinner time, the Magister explains that Merga was created during Shang Tu's war with Parusa and that his ancestors sealed her away with the power of the Kingdom Stone and the stone's destruction set her free. While the Magister searches Mayor Zao's library for information about Merga and the water dragons, Carol runs away into Parusa to dissuade Corazon from following Merga, with her friends following her with Zao's help and meeting Spade, who offers them help on behalf of his brother Dail. With Spade serving as mission control, Lilac, Milla and Neera resolve numerous crises across the island such as a war between Serpentine's and Aaa's robots over Syntax, with the former using its code black and controlling the latter's army and forcing the heroes to team up with the tarsier and snatch Syntax for themselves. After that they proceed to destroy several beacons across the island set up by Captain Kalaw while also ruining his reputation, and divert the magma of the island's volcano from destroying its population after fighting Askal. During their missions, the heroes come across many clues, such as time capsules recorded by the earth dragon princess Cordelia who was a hostage of the water dragons but came to sympathize with them and bond with Merga, further clearing the history of the planet and the war, such as the earth dragons being aliens who came to the planet with their ship Bakunawa and enslaved its "oceandwellers" by genetically modifying them into the water dragons.

After returning, the heroes discover that Spade has lied and ran away with Syntax while reuniting with Carol, who was drugged by her sister and left stranded in the ocean only to be rescued by Serpentine. General Gong informs the heroes that Merga has left Shang Tu and wishes to meet Lilac at Bakunawa's location alone which Lilac accepts and despite her instructions to go after Spade, her friends and Serpentine follow her. Despite their attempts, Bakunawa rises and Merga decides to use it to devour Avalice's moon and fuel the ship while leaving the planet and everyone on it to die. Serpentine offers the heroines his help to reach Bakunawa but needs Syntax in order to do it, the Magister then reveals his recent discovery about the test fire of Bakunawa's mining laser killing thousands of water dragons which results in their revolt against the earth dragons, only to be ruthlessly murdered and framed as the warmongers. Afterwards, Dail delivers Spade and Syntax to the heroes, whom along with Serpentine use it to reach Bakunawa.

While on Bakunawa, the heroes defeat Merga's supporters and convince them to stand down, Serpentine betrays them and reveals Milla's origin as a bioengineered war dog native to Brevon's world in hopes of breaking her spirit and her friends' trust in her but fails. The heroes face and defeat Merga after failing to convince her to stop. If all of the time capsules are found, Pangu plays a corrupted message of Cordelia wishing Merga happiness. Syntax then seizes control of the ship and proceeds with its operation but is defeated with Merga's help. As the ship begins to crash, Lilac tries in vain to bring Merga with them but is hit by debris and is saved by Merga from falling to her death. Due to recent revelations, Merga's followers are spared from any severe punishment while the Magister abdicates from his position to discover the true history of Avalice and declares Neera as regent until free elections are held. After recovering, Lilac bids Carol farewell and leaves on a journey to find Merga and learn more of her own species.

The post-credit scene shows Cordelia's final message clearly and hints that she may still be alive.

Development
In contrast to the original title, Freedom Planet 2 was developed using Unity and has more detailed pixel art than its predecessor. With the goal of "defin[ing] Freedom Planet's identity as a franchise", all characters from the original game received a design overhaul by Tyson Tan, who had previously drawn fan art for the first game. While the early concept artwork on the game's official website remain unchanged, Tan had been experimenting on a new art style with the fans of the game. It was also revealed that Sonic Mania developer Christian Whitehead had helped DiDuro with programming and was responsible for porting over the physics from Clickteam Fusion to Unity. The game was available as a playable demo on Steam since early on in its development.

Due to the commercial success of Freedom Planet, its sequel was completely self-funded, without the use of crowdfunding. In an early 2017 gameplay trailer, Neera Li (who was a boss NPC in the first game) was revealed to be the sequel's fourth playable character.

Release
The game was released on September 13, 2022, on Windows. Home console ports were originally set for a mid-2023 launch, but was delayed to December 2023. In August, GalaxyTrail revealed that Xseed Games will be publishing the console versions of their sequel game and that it was still on track for a late 2023 release. However, in mid-December, publisher Xseed Games announced that the game would be delayed once more for an early 2024 release. In January 2024, it was announced that the sequel would release on home consoles on April 4. A Linux version was planned for simultaneous release with the Windows version, but was delayed indefinitely.

Reception
In pre-release impressions, Chris Moyse of Destructoid said that he liked Freedom Planet 2's visuals and "Saturday morning vibe", calling it "delightful" and "pretty tubular". In a post-release review, Dominic Tarason of PC Gamer described the title as similar to a long-lost Sega Saturn game, noting how much it had evolved away from Sonic the Hedgehog. Calling the game "worth the wait" following its seven-year development, he nevertheless recommended that newcomers start with the first game. Saying that the boss fights were almost all "a joy", he praised the inclusion of a block button and a greater amount of control given to all characters. He noted that the game was forgiving due to its accessibility options, allowing players to greatly reduce or increase the difficulty at will.

Remarking that the cutscenes and story were improved compared to the original game, where they could be "overlong" and with inconsistent voice acting, he praised the new voice acting and the game's setting. Saying that there was "not much to nitpick here", he summed it up as one of his favorite games of 2022.

Bobinator of Hardcore Gaming 101 said that the tone of Freedom Planet 2 was more consistently "cartoony" than the first game, which was infamous for its tonal shift, with Merga still being threatening, but not as dark or murderous as the previous villain, Lord Brevon. Calling the story earnest and its voice acting charming, he nevertheless said that those who did not enjoy the story of the first game would similarly be turned away. Praising the game's combat and level design, he noted that levels were about half as long compared to the original title, calling it a welcome change due to their formerly overlong and fatigue-inducing length. He also enjoyed the game's boss fights against giant enemies, and the addition of a world map that allowed players to revisit previous areas.

Describing Freedom Planet 2 as "truly massive" in scope, he also said that the graphics were overhauled with "real artistic care". He noted that the removal of its "Sonic-esque trappings" helped it stand out on its own. Summing it up as "the best of its kind in a rare few" that were not inspired by Nintendo games, he stated that "whatever flaws the original game have had are mostly gone".