No More Room in Hell 2
Preview
Hell has room for up to 8 invitees...
EA SCOUT the last line of defense for buying on Steam's Early Access
by Dan Lenois
previewed on PC
A Rough Start
There's no easy way to say it. At present, No More Room in Hell 2 offers a very rough, unpolished experience. Even on high-end systems that supersede both the minimum and recommended requirements, the game struggles to maintain an acceptable frame rate. For this preview, gameplay was experienced on a Nvidia 3070 intel i7 laptop with 16 GBs RAM, utilizing a 1 TB SSD. All relevant drivers were installed prior to launching the game.
The standardized threshold for performative success was that the game steadily meet a minimum of 60 FPS at 1440. Even with graphical settings reduced to a mixture of medium-to-high options, enabling Nvidia's frame rate boosting for more optimal performance, No More Room in Hell 2 failed to meet this expectation, frequently remaining at or below 30 fps. While the developers at Torn Banner Studios have promised a slew of hotfixes intended to address glaring bugs and performance issues, current patches to date have not, as of the time of writing, sufficiently resolved these concerns.
New maps, new opportunities...
Moving away from the smaller-scale individual maps of the original No More Room in Hell, its sequel shifts the focus in favor of larger, more open-ended map design. To be clear, No More Room in Hell 2 is not an open-world game. Rather, it appears to take more direct influence from games like Dishonored, where there is still a linear order of objectives, but the players are still free to navigate the map and approach those objectives more or less however they wish.
Similar to the first No More Room in Hell game, each map contains a number of variations which considerably change up how the player navigates the world and what they might find along the way. In several matches I and my teammates investigated a local zombie-infested church. In one playthrough, we entered the building from a front entrance. In another separate playthrough, the same door was blocked, and we were forced to utilize a descending side path that brought us to a door leading into the church's basement.
Many of the point-of-interest locations in the map offer side quests, weapons, ammo, and supplies. Acquiring "Supplies" is one of your primary objectives in each match. You can find small, medium, and large deposits of supplies scattered around the map. Collecting as many as you can will help boost your XP gains at the end of the match, so don't throw away an easy opportunity at free XP! It took me awhile into my first match before I finally figured out the purpose of said supplies, something I expect many newcomers will likewise note. The importance of gathering these isn't clearly communicated by the game until you get to the leaderboard at the end of the match, or if you die.
Die, Restart, Die Again...
Permadeath is very much a thing here. Over time, you can level up your survivor and upgrade them with specific skills in-between missions. You will be presented with four seemingly-random upgrade options at any given time, of which you can pick one. Every five or so levels, you unlock a new ability slot. With my first upgraded character, I prioritized faster healing item use, increased melee and headshot damage,
This unorthodox balance between predictable gameplay flow and randomization is well-done, and does a great job of ensuring each match feels at least marginally different than the one before. However, the absence of time of day map variations, not to mention other forms of map modifiers, are keenly felt. I'm confident I for one am not the only person who would enjoy a Silent Hill-esque thick fog further complicating my life, for starters...
Scavenge, Shoot, Reload
Resource scarcity is generally well-handled, and given the abundance of zombies, as well as the insanely bullet-spongey nature of each zombie, one can see the intended effect, of creating an environment where any one shot might mean the difference between life and death. However, there is currently a notable difference between how the game's intended playstyle, and how it actually plays right now.
Hit registration is wildly inaccurate and unpredictable, particularly when it comes to headshots. This issue was replicated in well over a dozen consecutive matches, to the point where I quickly began avoiding headshots entirely, exclusively relying on either body shots or melee damage. With significant patching, this issue will likely be fixed in the not-so-distant future, but even if combat becomes functional, it's less easy to determine whether it will become any more fun.
Keep away from zombies, or become a zombie...
One of the most well-known mechanics in the original No More Room in Hell, was the infection mechanic, where every hit or bite from a zombie had a small chance to infect the player, slowly killing them and actually turning into a zombie themselves. You could not cure the infection, but by obtaining antibiotics throughout the map, you could stall it from killing you. Your teammates would also have the option to just kill you and eliminate the potential threat. This added an interesting element of group decision-making and reinforced the slower-paced semi-tactical gameplay philosophy.
Here in No More Room in Hell 2, there is no penalty to getting bludgeoned half to death by zombies, as medical supplies are often so abundant that you can heal practically any inflicted damage. Once you learn the basic mechanics, and assuming you have at least a somewhat-competent team, survival all but becomes a breeze. The developers have stated that a new infection system is currently in development, but there has since been no confirmation of how soon players can expect to see the return of this iconic mechanic.
One eye on the horizon...
The developers have confirmed that at least one new map, codenamed "Hospital", is in the works, as are additional new zombie types, harder difficulty settings, a weapon attachments system, and more. All of this would be welcome, as the game's biggest problem at present, save only for its obvious performance issues, is its lack of content. A single playable map does not provide a solid foundation of content for players to regularly keep coming back to.
As of the time of posting, the developers have declined to comment on their current plans for the game, beyond assurances that their top priority at the moment is on addressing performance issues and other general quality-of-life concerns. With this stated committal to gradual improvement, fans of the franchise hopefully won't have to wait long before at least a few of the aforementioned concerns and issues are thoroughly taken care of.
Overall
No More Room in Hell 2 is undeniably fun, at least when the game feels like functioning on a performative level. Its weapons look and sound great, its single map is well populated with a variety of engaging points of interest, and the gameplay's primary and secondary objectives strike a fair balance between rewarding teamwork while simultaneously enabling solo players to achieve the same on their own, should they be bold enough to try.
However, even for an Early Access game, it's hard to shake off concerns about both the game's current state, and that of its future, given the minor patches released to date. Hopefully the onset of 2025 will enable Torn Banner Studios to start the new year fresh with a whole new promising direction for the game's future.
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Recommend
There are no guarantees - but we'd bet our own money on this one. If you're going to take a chance with yours, odds are good this one will deliver.
