Have you ever wanted to be a spy and ever think how well you would do in certain situations? Situations like defusing a bomb, pretending to be someone else, or even try to escape a deadly situation. Sure we can all say how we would think we would do, but until we are put into those situations, we may never really know. It’s fun to imagine about the what if, but sometimes it is more fun in the doing that can really show our true character. So does developer Schell Games return to give us more of what we know and love about the spy game? Let’s find out with I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar for the PlayStation VR.
In I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar, you return to the world of espionage as you try to learn more about the evil organization known as Zoraxis and hopefully do whatever you can to stop their power for world domination using your power of telekinesis to solve puzzles, escape dangerous situations, manipulate objects, or at least die trying. There are a few things that you should be aware of. First, this is a seated experience. So grab your favorite spy chair and get comfortable. Second, make sure those Move controllers are fully charged as you don’t want to try and escape a sticky situation only to have them die and ultimately you die in the process. It’s bad form, so just make sure they are charged before you get started. Third have some fun. the life of a spy can be a dangerous one, so be relaxed and have some fun with your new missions. And last and surely not least, I am not going to spoil anything for anyone, so I will only be showing the beginning missions and not showing really how to solve any of the puzzles as you should want to be surprised with your life as a spy. With that said, let’s continue…
When you first start, you are back at headquarters where it really serves as a tutorial so you can get used to your telekinesis powers. So regardless of how far away the object you are trying to interact with, you should not have any problems from where you are. So the object of the tutorial is really to locate the three bombs in the room and defuse them. Keep in mind an object can be hidden anywhere.
Each time you are ready to start a new mission, you are placed inside one of the most luxurious spy vans ever created. Yes, that was spy sarcasm, but it really does help set the mood with the monitors, the tapes that you play to know more about your mission, the disposable cup (that if you try and drink sounds like you have been in the van way too long as there is barely enough liquid in there) and a mini-fridge. Feel free to open up the fridge and eat what you find. I mean I am sure there are other ways to die than food that might be in the fridge too long (a little secret, there is as you will find out soon enough). I do like how each mission right before it starts gives a tiny description such as four days ago just to give an idea of where you might be in the story.
In the first mission, you are playing a stagehand and you are trying to disable the threat. Everything is well placed from the doughnuts that you can eat to the crossbow to your left, to even things like glasses in the drawer that you can put on. But in order to solve any of these missions, you really need to look at everything that is right in front of you and listen to the cues where you may need to press a button at a certain time or line to even finding out the combination in order to help defuse the situation. Part of the fun here is trying to interact with everything as it all plays an important part in a successful spy.
Puzzles in the game can be simple to some that require just a little more thinking. Nothing too hard or extremely difficult that will make you want to jump out of a plane (well maybe for some in a virtual plane), but just enough of a challenge when needed to add to the fun no matter how many times you might die in trying. Am I saying that you may spend a lot of time on a mission that once you know how to solve it can be solved in minutes? No, because it very well may happen. But look at it this way, you could either spend a length of time in the real world or in a virtual world being a spy. And I for one, would rather be in a virtual world being a spy continuing to die as I try to figure out my spy life with my spy problems in these spy situations that I, as I spy, put myself into.
Let’s talk about the graphics and sound. Graphically, I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar is very sharp on PlayStation VR. Each of the six missions was very well thought out with the puzzles that helped balance things out. When playing an escape room-type game, you want as much detail as possible. From the lighting to the smaller parts such as the buttons or trying to find the collectibles. Not once did I have any problem making anything out which really helped when trying to get certain objects like in the third mission where there are lasers and you do not want to cause an alarm by triggering them. So thank you for that. The sound was equally impressive. With the first game, I Expect You To Die, there was that opening theme song and I was hoping there would be one here as well. I was not disappointed as it really did help set the spy mood. But when you can add voice talents like Mela Lee, Jared Mason, and Wil Wheaton lending their talents here, you do get an all-around solid spy escape room experience that should not be missed.
If there is anything I would like to see added is just more missions. Right now the game does have six missions to complete and again all six are very well done. But it just left me wanting more. And if this is going to be anything like the first game, hopefully, we will get some fun and interesting missions in the future.
I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar give us more of what we love and more about being a spy. It shows that it has the foundation and the roadmap to deliver the content that players want. Sometimes in life, we may fail at every attempt. But it is the trying and trying again until we find the right solution from the inside that will allow us to complete our mission.
I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar is out now for the Oculus Quest/Quest 2 and the Oculus Rift/Rift S on the Oculus Store, PlayStation VR, and Steam. A review code was provided.
To learn more about Schell Games, please visit their site, like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, and subscribe to their YouTube channel.
Also, check out the I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar interview.
In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, I need to find my last collectible.