When you first launch the game, there's a content-warning regarding mental-health stuff, and they are not kidding: the game gets seriously dark. While there is an option to disable the most... overtly troubling aspect of the game, the rest of the story still rings far too true with the state of our world. On some level I worry if even I shouldn't be playing this thing.

Don't get me wrong, though: I am enjoying the game.

A lot more care, attention and detail has been poured into everything, compared to the previous Receiver. Rooms are much less abstract, and can have random variations beyond merely item and enemy placement. The weapon handling is more involved, requiring stoppages to be cleared and care to be taken when drawing and holstering. And rather than saddling you with the task of collecting 11 tapes up-front, it breaks things up into discrete Ranks, each requiring a number of tapes to progress.

Moving up through the ranks increases the game's difficulty. Failure generally drops you down a rank, decreasing the difficulty. In this way, the game strives to present a challenge that is ever interesting for you - pushing you to improve, while keeping the game playable; keeping it fun.

Even when you do find yourself playing in the same two ranks over and over, the story still pushes onward. Beyond the tapes you collect and the narration they contain, there's also a number of 5¼" floppy disks strewn about the world. Each disk holds a note - a personal log, or a message for whomever's out there - from another receiver, giving some sense that they're out there, fighting their own fight in the post-mindkill landscape. As you collect more disks from a given receiver, you learn more about what they've gone through; what they are going through.

If you enjoyed the original Receiver, or have an interest in detailed firearms simulation, I would definitely recommend you give this one a look. Just... be careful about your mental state, okay?