DISTRAINT 2

DISTRAINT 2 picks up right where the original left off, following Price, a man who traded away his conscience for a shot at a partnership with a soulless corporate firm, and now has to live with what that cost him. It’s a short, hand-drawn 2D horror story more interested in guilt and regret than jump scares, and it manages to be genuinely unsettling and quietly funny in the same breath.

How it plays

You won’t find combat or complicated systems here. Movement is limited to walking left and right through hand-drawn 2D environments, picking up items along the way and using them to solve puzzles that open the path forward. The whole thing is built around exploration and story pacing rather than challenge, so the gameplay stays out of the way of the narrative instead of competing with it. Sound design and a score written for each individual scene do a lot of the heavy lifting, building dread and tension in moments where nothing is actually happening on screen. The interface is stripped down on purpose, so there’s nothing pulling your attention away from the atmosphere or the story beats.

Who it’s for

This is a good fit for people who like narrative-driven horror and don’t need mechanical depth to stay engaged, the kind of player who’d rather sit with an unsettling atmosphere than manage an inventory grid or fight enemies. If you’ve played the first DISTRAINT and want to see where Price’s story goes, this is an easy recommendation. It’s also a solid pick if you just want a horror experience you can finish in a sitting or two without a big time commitment. If you need action, combat, or systems to chew on, or if slow, puzzle-paced adventure games bore you, this one probably isn’t going to click.

Is it worth grabbing?

For what it is, a compact, atmospheric horror adventure with a clear point of view and no padding, it’s worth the space in your library, especially since it’s a self-contained follow-up rather than something that demands a huge time investment. People who enjoy story-first indie games or who already have a soft spot for the first DISTRAINT will get the most mileage out of it. If you’re on the fence, the low commitment involved makes it an easy one to try and see if the tone and pacing land for you.

Quick facts

Genre: Adventure, Casual, Indie. Developer and publisher: Jesse Makkonen. Platform: PC (Steam). Released: November 13, 2018.