F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin

its so mediocre compared to the first game.
if you removed fear from the name, and characters like alma were reskinned. I never could have guessed it was a fear title.

The environments, combat, gunplay, and somehow sluggish movement is just bleh. do yourself a favor: play the original and stop there.

It is not a bad game, it is an ok shooter, better than most from the era, but it is not a good FEAR game.

Damn... I used to like this game and I have finished it previously multiple times. But when I'm replaying it now, years later, after I became somewhat good in boomer shooters, and after I've spent countless hours playing them on harder difficulty levels, I must say...FEAR 2 is simpy not a good shooter. Encounters with enemies are unbredictible, scripted in a way that limits your tactical options, they are sponges for bullets, in the heat of battle you can sustain a lot of damage in the most annoying ways. After playing Doom: Eternal or Turbo Overdrive this is SIMPLY. NOT. FUN.

Just not as good as the first game in many ways. Its not a bad game but sequels should be an improvement not a downgrade. Gunplay feels worse and the guns kinda sound boring. The graphics and the style of the game just feel off to me somehow and everything feels smaller and ''Zoomed in'' compared to the first one its kinda odd. I didn't hate it in the end but i was disappointed coming from the first game which was just better. i will say tho that i think the horror wasn't done bad. There are some unnerving moments that caught me off guard. To this day i don't know how to feel about the story tho.. I loved it in the first game and here im not sure if i love the direction they went with... however i have to say.. they got balls for doing what they did. Can't remember any other game doing something like THAT.... jesus.

Great game, action packed, no fluff just all fun...Needs controller support though.

THIS IS A GOOD OLD SHOOTER. WHAT CAN BE WRONG WITH THAT? On hard it can test your patience but the save sequences are properly spaced to mitigate the fall back when you die. For an old game it looks pretty good. I'm not really a fan of the intense graphics of newer games over the game play itself but that's where we're going Playing an older game tends to suggest maybe we should make better game on forget the graphics awhile. DOOM Eternal has designed a good shooter AND the graphics as an example.

Really enjoyed this and it played well on the steam deck.

Amazing graphics and enemy AI. Alma makes for an interesting and somewhat sympathetic antagonist despite not speaking.

My favorite sequence is in the school where the most prominent light source becomes the muzzle flash from your gun, A+ stuff.

Typically insane keyboard layout for a game of that time e.g. melee on the right click with ADS on the left shift.

For a 2009 game its OK i mean you fight in a nuclear city literal fallout lol with psychic enemies and the crazy Asian girl that you do kinky stuff cuff cuff

This is my favorite horror game to date. I played it when I was a wee young lad, and was mesmerized by the details and story line. All should give it a go lol

This is just a bog-standard military shooter with some even more uninspired ghosties sprinkled in. It also runs like diarrhea, but you probably knew that already if you're reading this review.

some of the most boring shit i ever played and i regret the brain stem of mine that was chopped down like da oak tree to play it. cod clone with slow mo is a travesty. dlc is aight tho

Has next to nothing in common with the original classic. Story is basically a repeat of the first game. Aesthetically, tonally and gameplay wise the game is an absolute downgrade. On top of it all some sequences are absolutely broken and i couldn't be bothered to reset the game 15x in order to get them running. Avoid.

It's just ok gameplay wise and abyssmal as a sequel.

The game runs terribly on my pc.

There is a crash fix that you can easily find on the Steam help forums. I used the advice. It did help me get further in the game but eventually in interval 06 I could go any further due to technical problems.

The game would crash, freeze, and not load game assets needed to draw the levels. I restarted the game dozens of times to get around these problems. In interval 06 i hit an area where the game assets didn't load and I could go no further, reloading didn't help.

It's too bad I was about an hour away from completing the game. I looked up a YouTube play-through so I know for sure.

My machine is a 13th gen Intel Laptop chip with Iris Xe graphics 80EUs.

It's too bad because I was enjoying myself. Fear 2 is not as good Fear 1. The slow mo combat isn't as satisfying and the gun enemies aren't as interesting to fight.

Fear 2 does same strengths though: more spacious levels, more enemies to fight at one time, better melee enemies and more of Alma's backstory.

But be warned: if you buy it then it might run terribly on your machine.

Gunplay is so bad, level design is confusing, just mid like fear 3.

Despite the degradation of bot behavior, it is a worthy continuation of the franchise.

8/10

This was the beginning of intelligent enemy AI. It went on to inspire games like Selaco. It's the perfect balance of action and storyline.

FEAR 2 is a buggy mess... maps not loading, random crashes, and having to replay certain sections because of it is frustrating af. Some moments were completely ruined by technical issues, like getting immersed in a firefight or in a more horror moment only for the game to crash, or having to redo entire sequences because the map just wouldn't render.

That said, I still had a good time with it. The atmosphere is creepy, the gunplay feels great, and the horror elements are wonderful. Jumped in my chair more than just a few times while playing.
Story is engaging, and the narration makes it so that it does not feel slow. You have some dialogues, but most of them are during exploration or movement or during gunplay, leaving only very brief moments of idleness. Gunplay also feels fast and brutal.
If not for the technical problems, this would have been an easy recommendation. I still reccomend the game, but do keep in mind it's very flawed.

4/10

reasons for reduction

- no dual wielding
- illogical story
- you need to do jump kick to kill enemy instantly during slow motion and sometimes this dont even want to work
- hard difficulty is not even balanced at all
- health management and armor managment is so baby not like the part 1 at all
- this is a horror game not a COD
- game texture and graphics are too straight and bland they dont want to be depress at all like the first game
- enemy are way too jelly they dont die like part 1

Ignore all reviews that say anything like "FEAR 1 WAS PERFECT AND THEY RUINED IT".
These people are tragic souls who are also lying through their teeth, FEAR 1 has many flaws.

FEAR 2 is an outstanding game, and between the two, it's the much better HORROR game.

FEAR 3 is the awful one.

Not as good as the first game but still a fun time none the less with solid shooting, great atmosphere and sound design, plenty of spooky moments and a pretty entertaining story. It took me about 4 hours to get through the base game and an hour to get through the Reborn DLC. I recommend getting F.E.A.R 2 on a decent sale.

If you can get it working, it's not a bad game, it's just not a good F.E.A.R game. I love that the game delves more into the psychological aspect of horror, but there are some massive downsides and reasons I couldnt recommend the game. The cons are more important so they're first

CONS:
You cant bind keys to mouse side buttons
The game feels like it was made exclusively for console, and then just ported over to PC last second.
By default, mouse sensitivity is busted. Downloading a mod to fix that requires capping your FPS to 60 otherwise it's even worse
The QTEs take a lot of suspense out of the game because as long as you can complete a QTE you wont die
Sometimes entire rooms just dont load in and you have to restart your entire game
can't tab out otherwise the game crashes, forced fullscreen exclusive

Pros:
Graphically very impressive
Nice psychological horror
It takes a very long time but once you've finished it, you realise it was a pretty good game
Answers some questions about the predecessors, even if it does remove a couple from canon

Not as innovative or scary as the first F.E.A.R. or its expansions, but a more polished, better looking game with a... slightly more straightforward story. Still a good albeit short time. Can be a bit buggy, but nothing a reload from last checkpoint doesn't fix.

DLC is even shorter and more combat heavy than the main campaign, don't buy separately, get the bundle.

not as good as the first game but still enjoyable. May you rest peacefully Monolith

Solid 8/10 shooter and horror game.

My only gripes are:
Difficulty. Normal feels a little too easy and hard feels a little too hard (enemies do 3.75x damage compared to normal lol), like snipers start one shotting you. I feel like there should have been an option inbetween two.
The other one is that movement feels like it regressed a little compared to the first entry. No more leaning, no more walking, jumping feels less responsive.
The armor and HP are no longer numbers but a fancy little bars that are layered on top each other, which is harder to read imo.

Improvements over first game:
No more time restriction for flashlight, thank god!
Squad members feel more fleshed out, and you spend more time with them in person as opposed them being on the other side of a radio ALL the time.
3 Medkits instead of 3-10 feels more balanced.
Better graphics and particularly the gun models. The character can finally use the sights properly.

All in all, nice little game. It took me about 12 hours to complete the campaigns of the main game and the Reborn DLC.

This game really isn't as bad as some fans claim it is, and is nowhere near as janky as the third game in the series.

Unlike the first game it runs out of the box on Windows 10, though I highly recommend using PC Gaming Wiki to download a DLL that fixes the atrocious mouse acceleration. You *can* technically play the game without the DLL, but it makes the mouse look feel extremely squirrelly so I would advice against that. Apart from that the game runs just fine and even supports higher resolutions, which is pretty great.

One of the things that really bogged down the first game were the visuals and settings, which were incredibly repetitive; You were basically limited to office interiors and industrial complexes. Seeing any color besides gray and brown was a rarity, and I'm happy to say that FEAR 2 fixes this problem by adding lots of different types of scenery. In general the graphics in FEAR 2 look great, and the environments have a lot of detail in them.

Hardcore FEAR 1 fans would argue that FEAR 2 is "too colourful" and that this somehow ruins the "realism", but I honestly never understood this reasoning; The story is basically a sci-fi horror retelling of Akira, the famous Japanese anime/manga, and I don't think anyone ever complained about Akira being "unrealistic". My point is that this series is firmly rooted in science-fiction with lots of supernatural elements, which makes the whole "realism" argument feel pointless.

That's not to say that the game doesn't take itself seriously, or that it's high fantasy nonsense without any stakes; FEAR 2 dials up the horror elements, similarly to FEAR 1's Extraction Point, which is much appreciated and creates an interesting contrast to the action. Another thing that reminded me of the FEAR 1 expansions is the fact that it spices up the enemy variety some more, instead of having you fight the same replica goons over and over again like in the first game. Remnants are a good example of a new enemy type that keep you on your toes.

One critique that FEAR 1 purists bring up that I do agree with is the fact that the AI is a little bit more simplistic this time around. I don't think it's necessarily the AI that has been down-scaled, but that many of the levels just aren't designed like in the first game; The first game relied heavily on large rooms with lots of obstacles that the replica soldiers can use to ambush you, which created a really cool sense of intelligence. You always felt like you're facing a well-coordinated squad in the first game, even if a large part of that is smoke and mirrors accomplished with clever programming.

I too am sad to say that FEAR 2 doesn't really have this type of combat anymore, even if it tries to make up for it by giving enemies the ability to flip certain objects over for cover (which admittedly looks cool whenever they react to your presence). The player can now also flip tables and such to use for cover, but I rarely used it since a more aggressive approach is almost always more effective in my experience.

That being said, the combat is still very fun, and the addition of proper iron sights is much appreciated even if the purists will argue that this is too "COD-like". While the shotgun has been nerfed, the weapons in general still feel good and impactful, and they even bring back the laser rifle from Extraction Point, which I thought was a nice homage. You can also still karate kick enemies to death, which is just as fun as in the original, though getting the opportunity to use it is a rarity.

As I said earlier, the horror elements are back in full force, and the ghost enemies now actually look like apparitions instead of floating guys that disappear when you shoot them, which is much scarier and at times allows them to sneak up at you when you least expect it, like in the infamous Elementary School level. I'm not someone who is easily scared by video games, but I do appreciate the effort they put into it this time.

There's also a couple of mech sections in which you control a giant robot, and while they're fun distractions (and a clever nod to Monolith's old mech FPS Shogo) they are for the most part very easy since you have a ton of firepower at your disposal. Near the end you fight a couple of other mechs, which raises the difficult a little bit, but it never becomes as challenging as FEAR 1 could be at times.

In fact, I would say that the overall lack of difficulty is my only big gripe with this game. Normal difficulty feels too weak and feels more akin to "easy", and they really should have tweaked this some more for the final release. I reckon that this was done to make it easier for console players, which I can understand, but I can't shake the feeling that a FEAR game needs to feel a bit more punishing than this. The included add-on Reborn does increase the difficulty a little bit, which is nice, but it ends rather abruptly after maybe an hour and a half or so.

FEAR 2 is definitely not a flawless game, and neither was the first game for that matter. Unfortunately, the quality doesn't always reach the same heights as the first game's, but it still provided some small but noticeable improvements on the action-horror formula here and there that make it worth playing through. I certainly enjoyed my time with it.

Rest in peace, Monolith Productions.

65%

"FEAR 2: Project Origin" is a first-person shooter with a mysterious horror framework. The graphics provide a substantive world where glass windows can be shattered with the butt of your guns and tables can be thrown over as cover. But the realism isn't quite there yet at the time this game launched.

"Project Origin" has a terrible habit of making the way forward a backtrack the way you've come, and the gunplay while satisfying, is brief, overly simplified, and overly convoluted all at once. I almost wish the spaces were larger, while at the same time they feel too large. It's a strange game of contradictions. Perhaps, it was all built by an earlier generation testing out new gaming engine capabilities, with an earlier sensibility. Genuinely fun, nonetheless, "Project Origin" offers up a number of jump-scares and creepy visual distortions that are hard to ignore as elements of exceptional design and storytelling.

Honestly, the 3rd game in this series "FEAR 3" truly perfects this series' gunplay, including enemy counts and level design. Grab that installment of the game for the most fleshed out experience in this world.

R.I.P Monolith
Ya'll deserved better.
I completed this a few months ago.
F.E.A.R 2 is your average FPS shooter of the late 2000s. It wasn't as revolutionary as the first F.E.A.R, crysis or COD:MW1.
It just felt average, nothing stood out about this game but it wasn't that bad either. In my opinion, the DLC for FEAR 2 is actually better than the base game although it's only about 40-50 minutes.
The worst downgrade I noticed in F.E.A.R 2 was the level design and the peek option being removed. The armour suit was fun to use but it wasn't some mindblowing addition to the game. It's definitely better than F.E.A.R 3 but it's not as good as the first part. The only new weapon in the game was the napalm cannon and it was just horrible to use.
There are some memorable parts in the game and the gunplay is decent,
The only reason I am not giving it a negative review is because it's not a bad game, it's just average.
Would I recommend this game? Probably not, there are much better FPS games to play. Although I would suggest you to just buy the bundle during sales because the price difference between F.E.A.R 1 and FEAR complete pack isn't that huge and if you wanna play it for the story then you will have the option to do so if you get the bundle.

Cool game, but it feels like im playing a child of F.E.A.R., HALO and Bioshok for some reason

fun game (SOMETIMES) but an absolute dogwater sequel to the first game bro ts fr pmo :skull:

Easily, when you go into a sequel- you're expected the game will be good. In the case of F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, this game basically becomes the worst sequel in existence. Nothing of this game screams good, and honestly compared to what F.3.A.R. is, this game becomes the sad downfall of the franchise. Not only is this game shorter, but the level design screams "Well now we must be on console, and somehow make an abysmal story". And the expansion Reborn is EASILY the most "Giving a Fuck Challenge" ever. It's an hour of just shooter gallery weakly setting up the basic plot for F.3.A.R. which shocker, *It does NOTHING*. But yes, F.3.A.R. somehow is worse, I wish I was joking.

Better than the original game F.E.A.R , but less horror. Overral i enjoyed the atmosphere and the ambience. The story-line is a bit confusing but it was nice. Totally recommend it if u played the original one.

A solid shooter that was a nostalgia trip for me. So I just played and reviewed the first FEAR game which was my first time playing it, and I really enjoyed it as a shooter but as a horror game not so much. Now we get onto this game which was also my first time playing, but I referenced nostalgia in the sense that it reminded me of all the sci fi shooters that publishers were putting out in the 2000s, 2010s to be Halo killers. And we did get some cool games out of it like Killzone and Resistance, and this game just had those vibes written all over it. But what did I think?

First off the visuals are still pretty good even today. While the first game went for a gritty, realistic look this game is more stylized with some of its weapon models and the characters looking more comic book like. Because of that, the game has aged pretty well in that aspect.

Horror is a big part of the series with it being called “FEAR” but I honestly didn’t find the first game very scary and this one is no different. Alma is an adult woman now and she’s in her birthday suit whenever you face her. I know some people complain about her design change, but that’s what she looked like at the end of the first game, so it’s consistent for the series. I thought she was definitely creepier and a crazy demonic woman chasing me down is more scary then the little girl trope they used in the first game imo. The game does use gore very well with blood soaked walls and decapitated bodies lying around for you to find which sparks the imagination into what happened.

The shooting is definitely where the series is at its best. Like I said it's a bit more stylized compared to the first game, but I had a blast running through the campaign and just shooting bad guys with my slow mo ability. And some of the guns are great to use like the automatic shotgun, sniper rifle and even the equivalent of a BFG towards the end. You can carry 4 guns now up from 3 in the first game, which I also like as I have never liked the 2 weapon limit that most modern FPS shooters have. And there’s quite a few different grenades to use as well. While I always find the Sci fi mechs to be annoying to fight and to be a tonal clash with supernatural horror elements, they do justify it here, where there's 2 sections in the game where you get to pilot a mech and go around and just blast enemies into mince meat. It was very fun as mech/tank sections in games can be very hit or miss, but they did that part well here.

The enemies are done well but it’s a bit different to the first. I still think the AI for the soldier’s is very good with them running away if you throw grenades at them or them trying to flank you. But it is less dynamic then the first game, and the level design is more traditional and less tight then it was in the previous entry. The supernatural enemies are back and they can be annoying to fight. The worst was this new enemy type where’s it’s this zombified dude who has these red cords coming out of his arms which he can use to bring dead soldiers back to life. Fighting them is really annoying as they run away from you like a jack*** and they take way too many bullets to take down. And they do this thing when you get to close they scream which blurs your vision while they run away. But thankfully you only fight them a few times throughout the campaign.

The level design is sadly less interesting compared to the first game, as in the original game, you would often have to solve puzzles or take alternate routes to progress through the level. While it is a little more bare bones here, there are points where you need to clear a hazard in order to progress like putting out a fire or shooting a transformer box to clear electrified water (which took me an embarrassingly long time to realize I could actually do that lol). You don’t get health upgrades but you can still find reflex upgrades for your slow mod ability which is cool. One thing they did a good job with was varying up the levels to be more visually interesting compared to the first game where you explore warehouses, an office building and then an underground lab, but here it’s still labs but also a school and a devastated city from nuclear ruin.

As for the story, I thought it was solid albeit a little less interesting then the first game. We get to explore more of Project ORIGIN and into Alma’s past. And we get to meet characters that were only referenced in the first game. Instead of the voice messages, you now pick files to read with some of them being interesting while others are less so. I will say the ending is disappointing both narratively and on a gameplay front. They did one of the cutscene tropes I hate where your character is incapacitated while bad guys come in and monologue. The final boss was really disappointing and not what I expected or wanted. And the ending is just very vague and just leaves a lot of questions unanswered as it ends very abruptly.

But overall, despite its shortcomings, I did really enjoy my time with this one. Definitely recommend it to fans of shooters, or if you want a late 2000s FPS nostalgia trip.

🩸 F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin – A Thrilling Descent into Terror! 😱🔥

💀 Alma is back… and she’s angrier than ever. 💀
Monolith Productions takes us deeper into the nightmarish world of F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, delivering an adrenaline-pumping mix of psychological horror, brutal firefights, and an unsettling atmosphere that never lets you breathe easy. If you thought the first game was terrifying, think again.
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🎭 Story & Atmosphere – A Mind-Bending Horror Ride

From the moment you step into the boots of Michael Becket, you realize this isn’t just another mission—this is survival. The game throws you into a city devastated by Alma’s wrath, and her twisted presence haunts every corner. The cinematic storytelling keeps you engaged, blurring the line between reality and terrifying hallucinations.
✅ A gripping narrative that expands on Alma’s dark past
✅ Disturbing horror sequences that will make your skin crawl
✅ A world that feels alive… or rather, dead and decaying
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🔫 Gameplay – Tactical FPS Combat at Its Best

If you love fast-paced, tactical gunplay, F.E.A.R. 2 delivers one of the smoothest FPS experiences out there. The classic slow-motion (Reflex Time) mechanic returns, letting you dodge bullets like a sci-fi John Wick. The gunfights feel intense, strategic, and brutal, thanks to:
🛡️ Smart AI enemies that flank, take cover, and force you to adapt
🔫 Satisfying weapons, from the powerful shotgun to the devastating laser rifle
🤖 Powerful mech segments that let you wreak havoc on enemies
Every encounter feels visceral and cinematic, making each fight feel like a battle for your life.
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🎨 Graphics & Sound – Immersive and Haunting

The game’s visuals, even today, hold up surprisingly well. The eerie lighting, blood-soaked corridors, and grotesque enemy designs create an atmosphere that feels oppressive and nightmarish.
🔊 The sound design? Pure nightmare fuel. The unsettling whispers, distant screams, and Alma’s eerie giggles will keep you on edge. Add to that a tension-filled soundtrack, and you have a horror experience that sinks deep into your bones.
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🎮 Verdict – A Horror FPS Classic You Can’t Miss!

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin isn’t just a shooter—it’s a horror-fueled, blood-soaked rollercoaster that blends top-tier gunplay with mind-bending terror. While it may not be as revolutionary as its predecessor, it refines and expands the formula, delivering a must-play experience for any FPS or horror fan.
🩸 Final Score: 8.5/10 🎯
🔥 A heart-pounding shooter that keeps you terrified and entertained from start to finish!
👉 If you’re ready to face Alma’s wrath once more, grab your guns, take a deep breath, and step into the nightmare. 💀🎮

While FEAR 2 does a lot of things ok its just that. Its alright. The game hasn't aged well.

The graphics are pretty much on par with a lot of xbox 360 era shooters. You'll get not very detailed textures and washed out colors. There's not much to say about them otherwise except keep your expectations in line with the games era and you might not be as disappointed. I would still say the first game was better in this department.

Gameplay feels like a downgrade from the original game. Enemy AI is not very smart and often do some very strange things. While this leads to some laughs it would have been better to see this vastly improved. The environments get repetitive very quickly. The majority of the game is battling it out in office, sewer or industrial settings. The maps tend to often be maze like which doesn't help to freshen things up from mission to mission. Mouse movement has a nice smoothness that I did appreciate. The default control scheme however is terrible and makes you realize how far we have come in the realm of user friendliness.

The story is not very interesting and the horror parts of the game mostly fall flat. Another aspect of the series that was done way better in the first game. If the series story interests you then there is something here for you although be it in a very small amount. I didn't find it memorable and with not very solid gameplay to fall back on it doesn't carry much weight.

To sum things up it is a very mediocre game at best and it does not do anything to hide that fact. Is it worth a play through for a few bucks? Sure if you like shooters of the era or the series itself. I would make sure I got it at a deep discount none the less. Don't go throwing the last few bucks in your steam wallet at this. You can do better.

It fucking sucks. Strip away everything that's fun from the first game including leaning and you have a boring generic 2000s console game. It's not fun to play, feels more like a chore than a game. There's no variety, the weapons suck and they sound awful, you approach every scenario by holding down M1 with the SMG. The level design doesn't allow you to sneak up on or melee/kick enemies save for a scripted tutorial segment at the start. Can't force myself to play past the streets level, what a slog.

The fear factor, the horror, this one has some of the best.
The gameplay on the other hand is spectacularly mediocre.

Honestly the thrills of all the scary bits are pretty impressive and immersive. Especially if you're sitting in the dark, alone with some good headphones or better yet some decent speakers. Some of the stuff can send me to a state of shock well after the encounter is over.

But when it comes down to everything around this horror, it really fails to impress. Which is sad really. It's not even that much better than what a lot of PlayStation 2 era games had to offer. In fact it's pretty much what i would expect from a PlayStation 2 game.
It is essentially a cover shooter with a basic cover system. Feels very disconnected from all the terror.

The graphics are decent enough for the time but it's really nothing groundbreaking.

Controls on Steam Deck are janky but acceptable. Because the game has no native controller support, you will be at the mercy of community profiles that convert mouse and keyboard controls.

Anyhow, i guess it is fine if you've barely played any shooters in your life but otherwise i suggest getting your thrills somewhere else.

Project Origin is a huge step down from its Predecessor. In all aspects, the experience feels much weaker and not as cohesive. If you look at the history of the development, it was a complete mess. This kind of explains why everything feels thrown together and not cohesively blending. Graphically, the game looks much better. This is the only leg up I can give it over the Original Fear. Otherwise, everything is much worse off. Level design is worse, enemies are worse and dumber. Although i did like the inclusion of supernatural enemies, the soldiers and replicants feel like a shadow of their former selves. The atmosphere and plot are way worse, making the game feel more comedic than anything else (THE SEXUAL ASSAULT ENDING BOSSFIGHT LOL). Overall, it feels like a more dumbed down version of the original game with a strung together plot. I do not recommend for fans or anyone else. Play as a joke when you want a good laugh, it's fun to shoot stuff at least.

A great sequel to one of the best enemy AI's in game. FEAR 2 hits all the right notes!

10/10
The characters' premise fits my needs of perspective.
This might not mean anything, and I apologize if this isn't misleading.
I don't leave bad reviews, all efforts are a perfect score.

The epitome of a pc game being stripped of all interesting combat mechanics and gunplay and being consoleified into a spray and pray 360 game.
The enemies are completely braindead, the weapons all sound and feel horrible, the movement is clunky, and all the fun gameplay elements from the first game (e.g. combat talking, enemy flanking, leaning, etc) are absent. The art direction has completely lost the plot and the game looks like walmart off-brand Killzone. The story is nonsensical and boring not even mentioning the random r*pe scene at the end and the gritty military scifi atmosphere generated by the first game is almost entirely absent.

Come on dude lmao

Decent shooter with improvements in graphics and gore but with decline in AI behaviour in comparison with first game

Probably the scariest fear. Gave me the heebie jeebies. But in all honestly the ending is alright. It shares the same ending as all the other ones so I can't hate it. I only wish the ending battle wasn't so meh.

It just got frozen after have passed many level... I lost many hours to get frustrated 😤

I had such an awful experience with the first game that i'm not even interested in playing anything in the series. Even tho i got all of the game for dirt cheap it's not worth wasting time on bad games.

the assassins are still pushovers and the shotgun got nerfed, what a pile of white d0gsh1t

update: nvm its a good game wish i was as lucky as beckett and had a ghost woman trying to consume me 10/10 would slaughter clones again

As of news today, Monolith is shutting down. It's sad to say that this incredible franchise will never get a remaster.

Since I am literally unable to access F.E.A.R. on the Steam Store because of senseless regulations, I am forced to write my review for the whole genre on this Steam page (more detailed reasoning in the review of the first game).

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F.E.A.R.:
Pretty great game even 20 years later.

The Story is extremly intriguing but also kinda confusing, I like the concept of combining horror with shooter and I like how the game switches between these two genres - it feels well balanced and neither overstays it's welcome, even though I would have wished for a little more horror elements.

The combat feels amazing and superior to a bunch of games nowadays. The enemy AI is extremly smart, trying to flank you at any given moment, recognizing flashlights and listening to sounds - they react to damage, start walking with a limp if their legs get damaged and overall have a bunch of different reactions to taking damage. The enemy AI/KI just feels extremly responsive and I honestly never seen something as detailed. Enviornments are destructable and the physics for the most part are insane for it's time, certainly on the level of half life 2 if not even better. The game is very atmospheric and can get quite scary, sound design is great.

The difficulty spikes immensly from moderate to high difficulty. Moderate is too easy in my opinion and high too difficult. I wasn't a fan of the sentries/turrets and bullet sponge enemies in the later stages of the game. The enemy variety in general felt a little dull and shallow. There are humanoids which are basically all the same enemy type throughout the game, just their design varies, their accuracy increases, the amount of bullets they can sponge expands and they'll get stronger weapons. Except one humanoid enemey type, which can go invisible and only attacks from melee range. There are also some rocket shooting mech robots - but except these you ain't got no variety in enemy type - I expected more terrifying ones, these ones that are rarely utilized. It definitely almost managed to overstay it's welcome with the bullet sponge enemy types.

Unfortunately I had a bunch of issues even getting to run this game properly. First major problem was buying this game, since Germany has implemented new regulations. Which makes every game, without a registered and valid USK, unavaible for purchase. So any game, especially oldschool games whose development team no longer exists or got bought up, is now lost - atleast for people out of Germany. So I had to order a Steam Key from some thrid party charity site instead. Then I encountered huge issues with the performance of the game, which fortunately were fixed with the download of a DLL fix file. I still had graphic issues, especially when a lot of bullets hit a wall my screen started filling up completly with dust and smoke but it was manageable enough to play through the game. The game also liked to crash whenever you tab out, so quick saving was necessary. Key bindings are weird aswell and I don't like how you aren't able to sprint.

If you succeed in getting the game to run properly, it's definitely still a great game. I am kind of bummed out I couldn't experience it back in the days when it came out but 20 years later I still managed to find some fun even though it probably would have been more atmospheric and scary back in the day. Still a solid recommendation. (8/10)

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F.E.A.R. Extraction Point DLC:
Still the same great combat and atmosphere, even better visuals and more options to make combat more fun like turrets and weapons, moderate difficulty felt more balanced this time around but I cannot comment on hard difficulty. Unfortunately even more bullet sponges and general issues.

Still not able to sprint and key bindings are also still weird. I wasn't able to play on my native screen resolution, which was annoying but no reason to quit. The same DLL fix file worked for the FPS issue in this one aswell but in the later stages of the game it constantly started crashing. I managed to fix one of these crashing instances by going into the graphic settings and checking "Force Restart" but I couldn't get past the second instance of constant crashes, so I had to watch the end of the game on YouTube. Because of these issues I don't want to rate this DLC.

I liked Extraction Point more than Perseus Mandate, until it gotten pretty much unplayable for me.

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F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate DLC:
Still the same great combat but worse atmosphere, honestly it looks worse and reminds me a lot of Garry's Mod horror maps. Moderate difficulty felt a little more balanced this time around but I cannot comment on hard difficulty and the enemies seemed to be not as smart anymore.

The DLL fix file worked perfectly fine this time and I also was able to play on my native resolution. Still graphic glitches but atleast I was able to play through the game, without any major crashes.

Still not able to sprint and key bindings are also still weird. They utilized the "scary" enemy type way more but unfortunately also the bullet sponge enemies. Atleast they gave you way more options to deal with them, in the sense of grenades, turrets and strong and whacky weapons - the grenade launcher sucked ass though.

Can't comment on the bonus maps. The final "boss fight" was pretty lame, aswell as the general story. This addition to the F.E.A.R. franchise was alright but pretty skippable. (5.8/10)

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F.E.A.R. 2:
The game isn't good compared to the first F.E.A.R., especially the german low violence version is utter garbage.

I am finally able to sprint but the movement while sprinting is weird and clucky. The key bindings are also still weird. Extra mouse button keys can't be binded, which is odd since it worked in the first game and all of the DLC. No way to auto safe but the savepoints semmed to be fair enough but enemies also seem to despawn sometimes whenever you trigger one of these save states.

I encountered some bugs but nothing special or worth mentioning.

I liked that they utilized more of the "scary" enemy types.

Combat doesn't feel great anymore and is just in general a massive downgrade to the first one. Enemies are easier to kill and also not as smart, they also don't react to damage they way the usually did and sometimes just spawn out of thin air and as a result of the low violence version regularly just disappear into thin air. Unable to peak around corners. Weapons in general didn't feel good or fun to play, except maybe the pulse weapon. Not as atmospheric or creepy anymore, some animations and cutscenes were alright but most of them just looked awful to be honest. A bunch of very odd and unecessary action sections, robot mech action, button mashing quick time events and endboss - the ending was simply weird.

This felt like a massive downgrade, some of my issues with this game most likely stem from the censored low violence version but I believe even without it I wouldn't have recommended this one. It felt like the focus was on the action aspect of the game which they didn't improve on in my opinion and the scary aspect of the game came way too short. This game definitely suffers from a bunch of questionable design choices and I can see where and why this game's story set up the next one for failure - the first one was great though. (3.8/10)

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Summary of the franchise:
First game was great, first DLC was because of technical issues and bugs unplayble at a certain point but pretty good until then. Second DLC wasn't too great. Second game wasn't good and especially the low violence version was utter garbage. Mixed review of the franchise, started of great but was extremly unenjoyable in the latter stage.

game engine mechanics

Same great slo-mo run and gun action from when I was a kid. Awesome!