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Preview: Attack On Titan 2 Hungers For More Human Flesh

Those creepy Titans are coming back for another human snack attack. But have they bit off more than they can chew?

Blake Morse

January 24, 2018 9:30 AM

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A world in which giant, naked, seemingly blissed out humanoids hunt and eat regular old tiny humans for no apparent reason already sounds like something out of a video game. Which is probably why the first Attack on Titan game was such a success. It was a good blend of traditional musou fighters like Dynasty Warriors with a custom combat system made for flying around and slashing Titans to bits. From my brief hands-on time with Attack on Titan 2 at a recent event held by Koei-Tecmo it seems like the sequel is not straying from the formula that made the first a success.

Mechanics do not seem like they’ve changed much since last year’s initial installment. Controls felt familiar but more precise this time around. Maneuverability didn’t feel as clunky as before, it felt like momentum shifted quicker when boosting through the air.

Titans appear to have an improved AI system and reacted to my presence much more aggressively. It was a much more daunting task to reach a weak point with having my hooks swiped away or being snatched up and potentially eaten. Titans also now have a rage mode where they start glowing red and become much more aggressive.

In order to counter these new, more intelligent Titans players will get a few new items, like a blinding ink bomb. It also looked like there was a much more robust list of new skills for each character beyond the stat boosts and double or triple slashes of the last game.

Certain areas of battle maps will have buildable resupply towers now, to ensure that there will always be enough air tanks and blades to finish a mission. New swords, blade sheaths, and maneuverability engines will be available either through collecting materials or purchase with in-game currency. While I didn’t get a chance to try out many of the new weapons seeing the things like scythes and chainsaw blades in the store menu definitely has me intrigued.

Multiplayer is getting at least one new competitive mode called “Annihilation”. In Annihilation teams of up to 4 players compete to see who can rack up the highest score by completing the most objectives and killing the most titans in the allotted time. There’s no word yet on whether or not the final version of Attack on Titan 2 will feature any other competitive multiplayer modes at this time.

Attack on Titan 2 is feeling like a decent amount of content for what may become a yearly release. If the sequel can offer up enough new challenges, and perhaps a few more new modes for single and multiplayer, it should be able to reach the success of its predecessor.

Attack on Titan 2 launches on March 20th for Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

Blake Morse

Events Coordinator

Blake has been writing and making videos about pop-culture and games for over 10 years now. Although he'd probably prefer you thought of him as a musician and listened to his band, www.cartoonviolencemusic.com. If you see him on the street, buy him a taco or something. Follow him on twitter @ProfRobot