Schell Games' I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar is more of everything players loved about the original VR title, but done slightly better. Virtual reality, when utilized properly, has already been proven to be a great medium for puzzle solving and escape-the-room-style video games, and I Expect You To Die 2 builds off the mechanics introduced in its previous entry to create an engaging (and very deadly) playground. It doesn't change too much from what came before, but the small improvements it does bring to the table go a long way towards making the overall experience more enjoyable.
I Expect You To Die 2 offers six levels, exactly as many as the first title, and each of them are memorable in their own way. From the opening mission which tasks players with protecting fictional famous actor John Juniper (excellently voiced by Wil Wheaton) to later levels which involve, among many other things, turning off a Mission: Impossible-style laser grid and then descending on a winch to proceed, each area is packed with interactable objects, hidden messages that reveal more about the ongoing Zoraxis plot, and, of course, lots of ways to accidentally trigger a death scene. I Expect You To Die 2 also introduces NPCs into some of its levels, a first for the franchise.
I Expect You To Die 2's many traps are even more prominent this time around, with some being incredibly obvious in a looming, frightening manner (such as a gigantic battle axe hanging directly from the ceiling aimed directly at the player's head) and others being more hidden but placed with an almost sadistic delight, nearly ensuring players will, say, push a bottle full of poisonous gas onto the floor by accident because they were excited about opening a newly-discovered door. Avoiding these traps (or, at least, memorizing them for the next try) is one of the core gameplay loops of I Expect You To Die 2, but the quick loading times and witty writing do a lot to make certain players shouldn't feel too frustrated when they have to repeat a level more than thrice.
The plot of I Expect You To Die 2 takes a much more prominent role than it did in the previous game, with each mission leading into the next in a believable and understandable way. Instead of the lavish Agency boardroom office, however, players will be spending their time between levels in a dingy-but-functional surveillance van. This van serves a similar purpose to I Expect You To Die's hub area - allowing the player to select missions, view trophies, and play around with physics objects - but includes a much more interesting radio. This radio has multiple stations to flip through which help to increase the scope and depth of Schell Games' I Expect You To Die universe, and each provides enjoyable background noise when admiring items recovered from previous levels.
While advancing the story and solving the presented mystery is at the core of the I Expect You To Die games, the levels are also built around replayability and perfection. Speedrunning is encouraged in I Expect You To Die 2, evidenced by a whole drawer full of watches in the surveillance van players can use for that very purpose. Certain levels contain goals which can be completed in unorthodox ways, and discovering the hidden workarounds to shave time off a run makes returning to The Spy and the Liar enjoyable even after the story has been completed and most (but not all) of the questions have been answered.
Like the first game, I Expect You To Die 2 is a stationary VR title, and players don't need to have a whole empty room to move around in as they will spend the entire game sitting down in various types of chairs or vehicles. It will be important, however, to make sure there is enough space to move arms, legs and head freely up and down, as nothing breaks the immersion of I Expect You To Die 2 better than accidentally smashing a hand or a knee into a nearby desk.
From a fantastic opening credits scene performed by Puddles Pity Party to its final exciting moments, I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar delivers exactly what fans of the first game have come to expect - a campy spy adventure with increasingly deadly stakes, dramatically elaborate puzzles, and lots of physics objects to pretend to eat or simply throw across the room. For anyone with a fondness for James Bond stories or 1950's noir - and access to a VR headset - The Spy and the Liar is a fantastic choice.
I Expect You To Die 2: The Spy and the Liar is available starting August 24, 2021, on SteamVR, Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, and PSVR. An Oculus Quest code was provided to Screen Rant for the purposes of this review.
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