Sometimes when you break out onto the scene with something that catches people’s attention, it can be difficult to put together similar success with a sequel. Adhere too closely to the original and you could be accused of it being redundant, deviate too far from the formula and you risk losing the essence that made the original successful. In the case of the original Vlad Circus title, the hook was a dark adventure with some survival horror elements and a cavalcade of unusual characters. With this sequel, it seems like some of the elements were able to be retained and work, but some others simply don’t live up to the promise of the original.

This chapter is generally played out in two timelines, one in the present, where you’ll find yourself as a disoriented and horribly burned husk of a man, and the recent past, stitching together your memories bit by bit as you try to understand what has happened. Along the way you’ll certainly encounter some chilling sights, horrible people, and information about the infernal threat of the demon Asmodeus. Unfortunately, since the fanatics looking to stop him are arguably just as terrible you’ll unfortunately find yourself working on your own.

While the slow back and forth between timelines ensures that the details of the story are doled out in a carefully-controlled way, on the gameplay side of things they both suffer a bit. In the present, while there are absolutely some higher-order threats you’ll need to be concerned with, far too often you’ll find yourself dealing with the dual threats of broken glass on the floor and rats, both of which you’ll need to kick out of the way. Very honestly, I’m not really sure what value these bring to the table, other than being a periodic annoyance, so they’re an odd inclusion.

The other issue is that while the revealing elements of the story from the near past can be cool, the pretty mundane adventure-style play in these scenes also tends to be underwhelming. While these don’t derail the entire experience, they do serve to undermine this entry in the series reaching the heights of the original. It’s still better than many of the generally weak indie horror-oriented offerings out there, but Descend Into Madness was clearly the better experience.