Between realistic milsim shooters and grounded, slow-pace stealth hits, there is a largely uncharted type of gameplay. Ghost Recon, Deus Ex, Thief, Splinter Cell – a lot have tried to find it, and some have gotten closer than others, but no one game has truly managed to strike the balance between sneaking and outright action. They don’t flow into one another. In almost every stealth game, even those with solid gunplay mechanics, if you get spotted, it feels like a failure; likewise, if you go loud, the game struggles to settle back into a ‘resting’ state where espionage once again becomes viable. Intravenous 2 is exceptional – it gets the ebb and flow of ‘stealth action’ just about right. Boasting almost flawless reviews, it’s deservedly just set a new Steam record.
When you first see it, Intravenous 2, like its similarly esteemed predecessor, can easily be mistaken for Hotline Miami. But where Dennaton’s game is all about running, gunning, and frenzied violence, Intravenous 2 is much slower and more cerebral. Death is swift. Guards are numerous. Using a plethora of modified weapons, the goal is to be deadly but unseen – to strike fast and silently, and then retreat into the shadows. A stealth game more than a total shooter, the standout moment of Intravenous 2 is when you cut the power to an enemy’s hideout, choke the sentries from behind, then slither out of a ventilation shaft to eliminate everybody inside using a silenced pistol, faster than they’re able to react.
Confrontation is inevitable, however, and that’s when Intravenous 2 turns into something closer to a tactics game. If you gun down a patrol using a shotgun, backup will sprint towards the noise. You need to get behind cover or, even better, escape, flank around them, and frag them from behind. Brains, brawn, and bold strategy – Intravenous 2 demands all three.
Of the more than 2,000 Steam reviews submitted for Intravenous 2 so far, a huge 95% are positive. And now, it’s set a new personal record: on Sunday April 13, 1,348 people logged in to play Intravenous 2 simultaneously, marking a fresh high for concurrent users.
“It has been eight months since the release of the game and we have reached over 2,000 reviews and, as of writing this post, 105,000 sales here on Steam,” developer Explosive Squat says. “By comparison, it took the first game 18 months to reach 100,000 sales. Intravenous 1 was a big risk for me, and thankfully it paid off. Intravenous 2 was not so much of a risk (thanks to the publisher), but it was still a challenge, as I knew expectations for the second game would be higher, and I didn’t want to let fans of the first game down.”
Having already released several sizable updates, Explosive Squat says that various material that was cut from Intravenous 2, owing to insufficient development time, will be reintroduced to the game later this year. This includes a new campaign mission and “two or three” side missions, with their arrival provisionally set for Friday August 15. You can also get Intravenous 2 at a 33% discount right now, meaning you’ll pay $13.39 / £10.04. Just head here.
Otherwise, try some of the best FPS games, or maybe the best war games available on PC.
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