Not Tonight 2, developed by PanicBarn and published by No More Robots, is a blend of an RPG and the growing games of document-checking that gives you the power of choice. The game truly tackles issues that are apparent in today’s world and sheds light on them. The first game of the series took on Brexit, (we have a review for that title here as well), but this title takes you to the U.S. and takes on the issues of immigration, deportation, and racism that have ravaged this country.
Minor Spoiler: The story revolves around Eduardo and his three friends Mari, Malik, and Kevin who attend a protest against the controlling power at the time. The controlling power is authorities known as the Martyrs that have taken over the country as a fascist group. This group feels that Eduardo is not a citizen of the country so they take him and put him in a gulag, a political labor camp, in Miami. The authorities tell you that Eduardo will have to be proven as a citizen in the next 30 days or he will be deported. This is where the journey starts to find the documents that will prove that Eduardo is a citizen and should not be deported by this group. Minor Spoiler Ends. The three acts take you on the three friends Mari, Kevin, and Malik’s journeys to find the appropriate documents throughout the country. This nation is anything but connected and united at this time, this is emphasized by the name United States of America, which emphasizes the type of nature of a nation very much divided that will you travel through.
Not Tonight 2 is not scared to delve into politics, which is refreshing as they are emphasizing severe issues and that this title is not afraid to bring these issues up. This may discourage some people, so be warned, but this title does not shy away from some political issues. My favorite part of the story was to even play as a Martyr member that is processing the so-called criminal and going so far as calling them, terrorists. This effectively made me upset and that’s when the story truly got me hooked and wanting to go through the story process. When you look at the people’s “crimes” they are extremely petty and nothing severe like protesting, no freedom of speech, and things like their name not being what the group wants. The story even delves into the issue of racism with Malik, who is the black character you take control of. An intense moment comes when he is stopped by a cop.
Not Tonight 2 truly puts you into the shoes of the fear that Malik has by getting stopped by the cop. I, not a person of color, will never truly understand that fear, but this game makes you feel for Malik’s emotions and understand that fear. That he had to give most of his money just to get out of this terrible situation. Although with these intense and serious subjects the game adds some humor that makes fun of this America that has been created. An example of this is when Canada puffs its chest with how amazing it is compared to this new state and brings some humor to heavy subjects, which is needed in good storytelling at times.
The gameplay of Not Tonight 2 comes down to you making money, as a bouncer, and checking IDs to determine if they are allowed in the bar. This is to be as fast as possible to get to a quota of people in the building and once that quota is passed you earn extra with more people. This is all about speed with document checking and reminded me a lot of the gameplay of Papers, Please, a popular document checking game. This gameplay starts pretty simple by just checking the date of birth to expiration dates on the card. This ramps up as time goes on by giving you almost mini-games to make sure that they match faces and checking receipts. I didn’t mind this gameplay, honestly not my type of gameplay that I go towards, but I can see where people find it intriguing and enjoyable. Although I did not like how many things you can have that you have to look through as most of the time was spent organizing instead of getting people in the building.
The RPG aspects of Not Tonight 2 shine through by looking through the three main stats you keep track of money, health, and morale. The money is based on you moving to the next city to continue the story more, health is pretty self-explanatory of the well-being of the character you are playing, and lastly, morale, which has a significant impact on your decisions by giving you more time to make them when given tough ones. These are important to keep high through the game. Then, with an underground group called MapO, because you need an uprising group of course, where you have missions to boost each of these stats. These missions, three on each map, give you a grade when you complete all three you receive an A, which in turn allows you to buy home security items.
Lastly, a big aspect of Not Tonight 2 revolves around the decision that you have to make while on this journey through this nation. The choices went from dialogue choices that you had to make on the spot or with the bouncer jobs. The bouncing job choices revolved around letting certain people in that you wouldn’t usually let in. These at times helped complete MapO missions, so I usually let those people in. This leads me to the problem with the decision choices as the risks are not too high. I expect in a world that is created like this one the risk needs to be higher for the decisions I make instead of the client just becoming upset.
Overall, I truly enjoyed the unique experience of Not Tonight 2 that it took me on. The story hooked me and I truly appreciated that the developers were not scared to delve into these issues and politics that need to be discussed more. It truly got me emotionally involved, like with Malik getting stopped by the cop, and whenever a story can get you that hooked then it is doing its job. The issues with not much risk with decisions and a disorganized UI that needed to be cleaned up more are not bad enough to ruin the experience for me.
If you want to be taken on a journey that truly emphasizes issues of racism, deportation, immigration, and more, then I think you should check out this intriguing journey. However, if the gameplay and story don’t seem to align with the video game experience you would want, then you should probably sit this one out, or maybe just challenge yourself a bit.
Score: 8/10
Check Out the Not Tonight 2 Trailer:
Not Tonight 2 is available for $19.99 for PC via Steam.
Related: NOT TONIGHT Review for Steam
Gaming has always been an outlet for me to interact with different people and explore all kinds of possibilities. I play a wide variety of games always willing to try different mechanics and storylines that developers are trying to create for their games. I grew up delving into MW2 and World of Warcraft, I miss the Wrath of The Lich King days, and as I have gotten older I have found a love for RPGs and strategy games, my favorites being The Witcher 3 and Total War. Always looking forward to the next great game.
More Stories
Warhammer 40:000 ROGUE TRADER Releases Biggest Update and New Character Trailers
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn Goes Gold, Releases 20 Minutes of Explosive Gameplay
Aspyr Reveals STAR WARS: Bounty Hunter Heading to Consoles and PC August 1