The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters – Review

The original The Coma (Cutting Class) game became somewhat of a small cult classic. Released around the end of 2015, this was a game from Korean origin that brought its own kind of horror to the table. This horror involved hiding from monsters, running around while avoiding danger, and doing small puzzles while doing so. The game later got a visual upgrade and a re-release under the name ”The Coma – Recut”. That was a good two years ago, and now we are here with the release of the Coma 2: Vicious Sisters! Let’s see what’s new and what’s scary, shall we?

Story

The Coma 2 picks up the story where The Coma left it. You play as Mina, who is Youngho’s best friend (and who fell into a coma three weeks ago). Mina is just a regular, though quite a popular school girl who worries about her grades and Youngho, but quickly also gets dragged into a world that’s only known as ”The Coma” world. Here, nothing is what it seems, and Mina struggles to get out…

The way this story is presented is by conversations with whoever you will find on your journey, by notes that you can collect, and also by cutscenes that are presented as comic panes. It’s a tense story that’s weaved together well with all the other gaming elements. One of these elements tells you a lot about what’s going on by the high amount of details: the graphics.

Graphics

Visually, The Coma 2 turned out to be amazing and really enjoyable. The original game already had some cute art style going on, but The Coma 2 really shows off how much the creators have grown since the last time. The game uses comic-style panes to tell a story when you are not actively playing anything, and it’s of high enough quality to be published into an actual comic right on the spot. When playing, everything surrounding you looks highly detailed and spooky as well. This leaves you with an uneasy feeling throughout the entire playthrough since there is so much to look at, uncertain what could possibly harm you in any way.

The only minor ”flaw” that’s graphics-related is that the animations are still done with rigged 2D graphics, giving some animations a bit of a puppet-like feeling, moved by invisible strings. The way heads bop on necks, the way running is done, it’s far from bad and neglectable since the developers and artists did such a great job at everything else, but you will sometimes notice it anyway. And when you do notice, the game feels a bit like an old-school flash game instead of a full-fledged game created in 2020.

Sound

The sound is, like many aspects of the game, greatly improving the horror atmosphere that keeps breathing in your neck at all times. It simulates not only the things directly surrounding you such as mushy tentacles on walls, but often also sounds outside your direct environment that are located elsewhere in the building you find yourself in. Partially this is atmospheric, but for another part, it’s also part of the gameplay and very effective doing so. When you hear a monster literally walking from left to right on the outside of the room you reside in, this does miracles for how real the virtual environment feels.

Gameplay

When looking at the gameplay, it’s clear that barely anything changed from the first The Coma game. Essentially, it’s a horror survival game that’s divided into a few levels. Each of these levels has a couple of rooms that hint at their original function such as a cafeteria in a school or an armory at a police station. In the world of The Coma, which is dark and evil, these rooms are twisted and you have no idea what to expect inside each of them. This is a huge strength of the game but a bit of a weakness as well. It’s strong because, obviously, the unexpected element adds to the horror experience, but it’s weak because you quickly learn that there isn’t much being done with each room.

The core of The Coma 2 is easy: progress by moving from A to B as you hope to find an exit to this eerie The Coma world at some point. This running around involves finding keycards and other items, as well as solving small puzzles. Sometimes, you will be chased by a monster or you will have to watch your step as danger lurks on the floor or ceiling. But, you get used to this and then you notice that most rooms are surprisingly safe. This is enhanced by the reasonable amount of save points available, though you will barely die in the first place as, besides the avoidable monsters, the place is littered with supplies to heal yourself. It’s the only mechanic that breaks the constant tension a bit but thanks to the story and horror atmosphere it’s far from game-breaking.

Where The Coma 2 keeps you on your toes, it also does another thing well. On multiple occasions, it gives you a chance to choose a better outcome for the story by just staying at the horrible location you find yourself a bit longer. Every regular being’s gut will tell them to get the hell out of there as fast as possible, but if you solve just a little bit extra, that bravery can result in a more satisfying feeling as well as an easier overall game since the game will take away one of your five health bars permanently if you choose to pussy out. It’s a great concept that works really well, despite the fact that you will let out a sigh and say: Ah sh*t, here we go again.

Conclusion

The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters is a strong house of horrors with a solid story, improvements compared to its first part, great graphics and sound. The animations could have been slightly better, and the gameplay feels like it counters the horror atmosphere that the game sets up at times, but it manages to be a really tense experience overall, and tense is just what you are looking for in a genre like this.

Icecreamvamp

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I'm a game designer, developer, and reviewer. I've been reviewing for 3rd-strike.com since 2017.

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