Party Hard 2 Collector’s Edition Review for PlayStation 4

Have you ever been kept awake by the loud music of a neighboring party? Surely you wouldn’t resort to violence in order to stop that racket. Surely. Good thing Party Hard 2 exists so you can channel your inner psychopath and save the world in the process.

Party Hard 2 released on PS4 September 8, 2020 by developer Pinokl and publisher tinyBuild. It’s the sequel to the acclaimed Party Hard that includes a story, new crafting mechanics, and a graphical overhaul. Party Hard 2 is a stealth-based puzzle game where the main character aims to assassinate multiple targets at a party while escaping the police in the process. As the main character, you make use of various items and places in your environment to strategically eliminate your mark. Or just murder everybody you can. Your choice.

Party Hard 2 Collector’s Edition Review for PlayStation 4

The first thing you notice loading up Party Hard 2 is the new riveting soundtrack and the beautiful new graphics. Of course, if you never played the first one (like me), you were just plain old impressed. The music feels a bit like club music without the bass, mashed with synth, perfectly accompanying the aesthetic of the 8bit graphics and flashy color overlays. Aesthetically, I found it quite similar to Hotline Miami. Both feature 8bit synth aesthetics with a lot of murder. But it’s Party Hard 2 that focuses a lot less on its story and more on the method of killing.

I greatly enjoyed Party Hard 2’s Hitman style of stealth and murder. The character is released into a scenario only equipped with their knife and special ability that comes with their selected hero. You then get to explore the map, scouting out your kills and what methods are available to you. Players can pick up items like booze and combine them with gas kegs to make Molotov Cocktails. You can use cash to bribe or lure thugs. A boombox can be used to draw up a crowd of partiers. If you come across machines, you can sabotage them to explode. I loved being able to tackle scenarios creatively, combining the uses of different items and areas, then escaping notice of any eye witnesses.

The game encourages different playstyles with two different sets of objectives. One usually focuses on a few key targets while the other demands mass murder and completion of more hidden objectives like breaking into a vault. Unfortunately, this where I ran into issues. Straying from the stealthy, selective style of play felt almost impossible or just plain unappealing. The police that catch up to you will take you out in one hit. While that’s fine for the stealth portion, if you want to complete the mass murder alternative objectives, it is far harder. It feels unsupported. Party Hard 2 plays out naturally as a strong stealth game. But the suggestion to take non-stealth approaches, like just hack-and-slashing, seems impromptu. Perhaps levels could have hidden power weapons that were barred behind certain puzzles. That way, stealth is encouraged while still leaving room for a more bloody, straight forward playstyle. I find it hard to believe that the end of the game was planned out with much detail.

Party Hard 2 is the kind of game that encourages replayability and trying again until you get it right. It’s easy to mess up once and have to start over your run. There are 14 different levels to play through and this can be a good way for certain kinds of players to feel fulfilled. But this style of design is only fit for those kinds of players. The replayability is based solely on the optimization of your run or trying a new character. I feel it may appeal to players who enjoy speedrunning or bullet hells. It probably doesn’t help that across the 14 levels, the objectives don’t vary much. But for what it does do, Party Hard 2, electric boogaloo, is a great game. I recommend the title to anybody who’s a fan of intricate, creative stealth missions.

8/10