8-Bit Adventures 2 | Review (2025)

Lately, I’ve found myself jumping from RPG to RPG. Not just for reviews, but even as an attempt to tackle my backlog (that’s never getting cleared). And while I’ve been running through these games, I think within the last two decades, the genre has really tried to build upon series’ traditions and mechanics, trying to differentiate from past entries and making things more complicated in the process. Now of course, that can be fun! But after playing developer Critical Games’ ‘8-Bit Adventures 2’, I’ve also appreciated how nice it can be to return to simpler times.

But even better—this game likes to change up its pacing quite often and for the better!

Our world in 8-Bit Adventures 2 starts us off after the events of the first game, letting us name the heroes of the previous adventure. This fantasy world that my heroes – Amelia, Bingus, and Berlin – live and breathe in, are actually in a computer simulation where everything is handled by the Computer. After the Dust incident from the previous game had been settled (along with rocking the worlds of our three members), we get a glimpse of the peace that came with it. But it doesn’t take long for trouble to return once again, this time in the form of the “Glitch”, a violent and frustrated being with insurmountable powers because of what he is to the Computer: something that shouldn’t exist. A few stints later, we get some additional new party members and we’re off to save the world from a madman.

8-Bit Adventures 2 is a traditional turn-based role-playing game, where the player can control a cast of three-party members at a time and swap with back row members when necessary. Every cast member can do something different and important. Whether it’s Amelia’s thieving skills, Charlie’s brute strength, or even the Robot’s unique skillset that doesn’t rely on magic points; swapping out team members when the going gets tough is an absolute necessity. Enemies are powerful, but they’re no match for your ability to dish out status ailments, combo attacks with specific present party members, and even powerful Omega Attacks that can clear a screen once the bar at the bottom fills up.

One thing I like about 8-Bit Adventures 2 is how the game balances each party member’s capabilities. Not everyone is a potion guzzler—some characters can use their turn to recharge their stats, power themselves up, or can even use unique move sets provided you can find them the parts to do so. This party member, Robot, can even change up how you play your hand. For example, part way through the game I found a part for him that lets him revive KO’d cast members to 75% along with granting them haste, or a speed boost on the turn chart. I’d use my backrow members to debuff baddies and then go all-out with the strength capable Bingus and Charlie, drawing enmity away from Robot as he revived the meatheads when they went out.

When you’re not in battle, you’re exploring the overworld or doing something in someplace weird. The former is your typical fantasy retro RPG stuffs: deserts, graveyards, the north pole, and places you’d rather not be in. The latter is when the game switches things up and throws you into renditions of war-torn computer component worlds, fighting strange monsters that clearly don’t fit in a fantasy world. More than just that, you’ll be doing a lot of cool things in 8-Bit Adventures 2—airship battles, solving a murder mystery, walking through neon-coloured cities, you name it. The game does a fantastic job of mixing up level and world design as you progress, and you never feel like you’re in one place for too long. It helps that the game looks quite nice too!

There’s even, for the most part, no random encounters! But I cannot lie, there were times I grew really weary of fighting off enemies. Even though there aren’t many encounters and you could run past them, a lot of the time you’ll run into the baddie anyway as they’ll be placed in key areas that make ’em unavoidable. And of course, I’m more than happy to fight off baddies—the combat system is quite good, after all—but groups of enemies have a tendency to spam ailments constantly and the game’s difficulty is tuned for them to do quite a bit of damage to you as to ensure you your downtimes. I can only take being silenced and paralysed so many times, not to mention when the best parts of the combat disappear for a few hours when the party splits up. An RPG staple, naturally.

To quickly cover on the game’s narrative, it’s primarily about finding your purpose in life. Even against those that would tell you you’re worth less than a mudcrab. The cast will find themselves struggling to keep their composure quite often especially against the odds—until they don’t. It’s a nice tale that reinforces confidence and self-worth, even for the primary antagonist. Our party members also like to dwell on the past a lot and, while that does its fair share of world building, especially for those of us who haven’t played the first game, the discussions sometimes became repetitive. Like the ones with the youngest two of the three—I get you love each other but please, let’s move on.

Developer Critical Games has done a commendable job putting together a fantastic retro RPG. One that paces itself well, offers unique mechanics at every turn, and has a fun cast of characters. It also bridges the whole meta-shenanigans of computers playing host to video games quite well and uses that advantage whenever it can. 8-Bit Adventures 2 gets a thumbs up in my book and trust me when I say I’m not always keen on throwing the toe’s cousin up like that. ∎

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