Thanks to Ratalaika Games for the review code

Title: Foxyland 2
System: PS4
Price: $5.99
Release Date: 01/21/2020

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Story

In this sequel to the epic story of Foxyland, you take control of a fox, now reunited with his bride and having some children. But when Mr Fox goes to collect fruit, the children are collected by a gang of wolves, and it’s up to Mr and Ms Fox to travel the land and take back their kids!

Presentation

Just like the first game, Foxyland 2 uses sprite art with decent animation and a soundtrack with chiptune music, but unlike that first game, this sequel improves nearly every aspect of the presentation significantly. The game still looks cute and simplistic, but the animation is a bit more detailed, adding expressive sprites, a gorgeous world map, intermission sequences, along with the backgrounds of each world being way more detailed and varied than they were in the first game.

It’s still not a stunning game, but it does look far, far better than the first. The music is also a bit more memorable than before, though it still uses chiptunes and the score overall is not that great.

Gameplay

Just like the first game, Foxyland 2 is a stage by stage platformer! While the controls are the exact same as the first game, and your goal is to still reach the end of the level, Foxyland 2 refines some troublesome mechanics to make it a more approachable platformer than the first one. Most notably, you don’t need to hunt down gems in order to clear the stages, instead they are replaced by three totally optional coins per level, acting akin to the Star Coins from a New Super Mario Bros game. This helps make these stages way easier to complete, while also offering optional secrets for players to discover.

Yet it isn’t just that tweak that the sequel adds for stages, as now there are the addition of secret exits, taking the player to alternate, harder stages for an optional challenge. The levels in general are also a lot more balanced and fun, and just are more pleasant experiences than any stage from the original, and while they weren’t anything groundbreaking still, the quality jump in these level designs are very noticeable.

But by far the best new feature in Foxyland 2 comes from the new two player co-op mode, where Ms Foxy joins the fun, and both players get to explore the stage. It doesn’t change up the game too awful much, but it does allow for a fun afternoon romp, as bringing a friend along for the ride can make this breezy game more of a relaxing, cute adventure for two. It’s still relatively small scale and a simplistic platformer, but nearly all the big issues of the prior game have been eliminated, which is worth some kudos to the devs, even if things are kept simplistic.

Conclusion

While Foxyland 2 is still a pretty basic platformer, it’s clear that the devs took the feedback from the first game and greatly expanded upon it: No longer needing to force gem collecting, hiding some clever secret coins around each stage, introducing secret exits, better level design, and more interesting boss fights all contribute to a fun experience all around, and with co-op this game can actually be a pretty engaging experience!

Still, there are some quirks to be ironed out, and the levels can feel inconsistent in difficulty at times, though they don’t feel nowhere close to the cheapness that the first game could provide. Otherwise, Foxyland 2 is easily the best of the series and a much better platformer all around. If you have a friend over, give this cute adventure a try!

I give Foxyland 2 a 6 out of 10.