Sludge Life 2 is a bigger, weirder, and awesome anti-capitalism adventure

thesixthaxis.com:

When Sludge Life debuted in 2020, it was the most effortlessly cool video game I had ever played. It shouldn’t be a surprise considering it comes from the mind of one of the most effortlessly cool creators in the game industry – musical mastermind Doseone. His love for modern street culture and history with the nostalgic world of teenage-wasteland graffiti bliss smash together like two bullets colliding in slo-mo to create the world of Sludge Life. It’s an aimless first-person adventure about exploring a sub-urban scrawl, tagging empty walls, taking pictures of cats with two buttholes, and piecing together the story of a sludge-filled town living with, against, and in spite of capitalism. Now it’s getting a sequel, and after spending an hour with the new demo, Sludge Life 2 isn’t a massive reinvention – it’s more Sludge Life, and that’s exactly what I’ve been craving since I beat the original.

You once again play as Ghost, a silent and well-known graffiti tagger chilling in the sludge-filled slums. This time around, though, you’re moving up in the world and acting as the manager for infamous underground rapper Big Mud, but Big Mud is missing after a wild night of partying, and your major goal is to find him. Part of the urgency is that he’s one of your closest friends, but another part of it is that he’s got a big promo to record for Ciggys, a cigarette brand that’s seen all over the place in the first game. You get most of this detail from your buddy hanging out on the balcony when you start the game, but there are no quest markers or cutscenes or mini-maps. Once you talk to him, you’re free to see whatever you want and go wherever you want – so I did.

Sludge Life 2 isn’t quite a walking simulator or an open-world game.