Hands On with Attack on Titan 2’s New Story Mode

Koei Tecmo’s Attack on Titan game ranks pretty highly for me in the world of anime adaptations with it’s addictive titan slaying gameplay. It could take a short while to adjust to its unique control schemes but once you worked it out you could fly across cities and fields with ease, taking down titan limbs in style. After playing through some of the new story mode in AOT 2, it’s clear that this is a more refined version of the original but with small tweaks here and there. Given that the game itself is simply named AOT 2, I thought the game would start at the beginning of the second anime series mirroring how the first game followed the original series but instead it tries something very different.

AOT 2 starts off by asking you to create a custom character that comes from Eren’s village who goes on to join the Survey Corps along with the rest of the cast. The character creator is fairly comprehensive with its choice of options for the face, body and clothing allowing you to be as wacky or sensible as you would like. The story mode covers both series of the anime and it all takes place from your character’s point of view. Cutscenes are often seen from your character’s perspective so you’re eye level with most of the characters. You’re not an entirely passive character either as you can give cutscenes a more personal touch with some dialogue options as well as being able to mingle with your squadmates between missions. Each teammate has their own friendship gauge and improving this will increase how effective they are in battle. As you get closer to your squad, they’ll start to open up to you and start addressing you differently such as a nickname or using your first name instead of your surname.

One of my favourite things about the first game was just how fun and satisfying it was to slay all these Titans and this is still true of the sequel. The general gameplay has been given some refinements with the biggest immediate obstacle for me being a small change in button layout. In the original, you had one button to both anchor and attack Titans but now these actions are both assigned their own button. To new players, this won’t be a problem but if you’re a returning player like me, it took me a little while to unlearn the old ways and adjust to the new. This is a change for the better however since it allows you a greater freedom of movement using the omni-directional gear, which is especially useful given that the titans are now much more intelligent in how they react to your actions. They’re not quite as docile as they could be and they seem more aggressive in hunting you down. The way you resupply your blades and gas has also changed. There’s still set locations for you to go but instead of having a resupply scout give you the items, you’ll build a small base which is a tall wooden structure. As you progress, you’ll be able to unlock new types of bases such as artillery bases, giving you extra options in how you want to plan out your attack.

AOT 2 seems like it’s going to have a lot to offer for both new and returning players when it releases next month, the story mode should provide an excellent jumping in point if you’re unfamiliar with the series while the custom characters lets you see the story from a different view point. I’m certainly interested to see how some later chapters handle the change in perspective as your character simply can’t be the hero for some of these missions.

Attack on Titan 2 will be available 20th March for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.