SIMULACRA 2 for Android

Mystery adventure mobile game

Kaigan Games delivered the sequel to the hit found-phone horror game, Simulacra. Simulacra 2 will bring you the same chilling adventure that you love. The game will have you investigate the death of a young influencer by restoring and looking through your phone. Solve the mystery using a simulated phone filled with familiar and new apps. Like its predecessor, Simulacra 2 is a horror-thriller set within a smartphone. 

Solve the case

The first Simulacra game was flawed. It attempted to explore themes of intrusion and alienation, but it fell flat on the execution. Simulacra 2 aims to prevent that by using a larger budget, and by calling back to FMV adventure games. Think of it as playing Tex Murphy or The Last Express, but with Instagram added to it.

The game revolves around the death of a young Instagram influencer named Maya Crane. Her death, while having mysterious circumstances, was declared an open-and-shut case by the police. However, Detective Murillo thinks otherwise. Using Maya’s phone, he is up to solve the case. He also recruits you to help him. You can either play as the fresh-faced detective cynical about the supernatural, or the hard-hitting investigative journalist.

With three viable suspects to deal with, you will have a long and challenging case. Moreover, since it is a sequel, Simulacra 2 expanded upon the format in several ways, including adding more inventive apps to interact with. The story also proved to be more ambitious with its larger live-action cast.

If you are disappointed with how the first Simulacra game panned out, however, then you are once again up for a bit of disappointment. Simulacra 2 skirts around the relevant questions of cancel culture and the inherent nastiness of social media. Moreover, certain narrative elements intrude on far more interesting ideas. And of course, rooting through someone else’s phone to solve a crime is unethical.

A technical hit and miss

Like the first Simulacra, Simulacra 2 plays its entirety within a single smartphone. And in this aspect, Kaigon made a decent work. The design’s attention to detail is remarkable, making Maya’s phone a believable environment. It has all the things a young fitness influencer would have on their phones, including pictures of food, emails from interested brands, and even creepy stalker messages.

However, the immersive quality of the game is somewhat a letdown. Sure, the developers improved the wonky writing of the first game. But it hasn’t been entirely successful. Some of the dialogues in this sequel is patchy and breaks the suspension of disbelief.

Moreover, the game relies heavily on horror clichés. While the jump scares will definitely give you the creeps, it will lose its edge when you see them every few minutes. To make it worse, these jump scares feel entirely unnecessary since they don’t contribute to the narrative.

A smartphone walking simulator

Gameplaywise, Simulacra 2 is not too difficult. As mentioned, you’ll spend most of your time fiddling with the apps and scrolling through timelines. On some occasions, you’ll need to solve puzzles and chat with NPCs by selecting from a few responses. There are some moments when you need to pick a response quickly, but it’s not exactly brain-teasing. 

But that’s not to say that Simulacra is not worth your time. There’s a lot to like in the game. Though it will not pass for real meatspace, its puzzles are neat, and it has a reasonably-told story. It is also an excellent reprieve from some triple-A gaming’s more bombastic and loud tendencies. Its short length is even a breath of fresh air to a world plagued by hundred-hour sandbox monsters. 

Entertains but never stuns

In a nutshell, Simulacra 2 is not something you can consider a classic. It has its great aspects, but it is also riddled with flaws that hurt its replay value. In the end, it is like its predecessor in a way that it provides gamers with an interesting yet flawed experience. Sure, it entertains—and sometimes engages—but it never truly stuns hard.