No More Room in Hell 2
Review

No More Room in Hell 2 has successfully evolved into a brutal and merciless 8-player co-op survival experience. By sticking to its hardcore permadeath principles and implementing an absolutely revamped progression system, this sequel has finally managed to honor its legendary modding predecessor. Despite some frustrating technical issues, it's a perfect choice for those looking for grueling zombie survival action.

Visceral Combat and Hardcore Survival

First of all, No More Room in Hell 2 is a survival game based on extraction gameplay with mercenaries replaced by zombies. The permadeath mechanic is what makes the game so terrifying. One wrong step or swing could result in a zombie bite leading to the permanent death of your character, which you have spent dozens of hours leveling up.

In order to get through the gorgeous and huge maps such as Powerplant and a new one called Raven Rock, you need to master the game's amazing combat. Its visuals and gore system are amazing. The amount of damage from every hit is calculated depending on the size of your ammunition. .22 rounds will simply leave a hole in a zombie's head, 9mm will make a crack in his skull, while shotgun rounds will shred a chest cavity to pieces. The melee combat is no less violent, allowing you to unhinge jaws and break skulls with your weighty swings.

Speaking of combat, the developers have overhauled the entire loadout for 1.0. You won't be able to drop into a map with fully equipped gear and cures anymore. Now you'll have to scavenge, survive, and earn your extraction, which will keep the game's beginning tense and intense.

Crossplay, Consoles, and the Beauty of the Public Lobby

The most important thing about the recent resurrection of No More Room in Hell 2 is the game's move to consoles and the implementation of crossplay. Now, after the 1.0 update, the doors to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S players are open, and the matchmaking queues are immediately filled.

And it resulted in an awesome comeback of the classic public lobby feature, which makes people drop into a match with seven strangers. Hearing distant screams for help, panicking callouts, and the beautiful chaos of a community trying to communicate with each other and survive the last 15 minutes before the extraction helicopter arrives is an experience that is rarely met in modern games.

The Infection: Technical Issues and Frustrations

Unfortunately, the hardcore nature of No More Room in Hell 2 makes every technical or structural flaw extremely noticeable.

The biggest technical problem of the game is terrible server stability. As you know, No More Room in Hell 2 features strict permadeath, which makes the loss of a Level 100 character due to a random "Lost Connection to Host" error absolutely frustrating. At the moment, there aren't any safety measures that could prevent losing your hard-earned progress due to disconnects, and this flaw actively drives away devoted players from playing the game.

Moreover, the game punishes those players who want to enjoy their game experience solo. The requested Solo Mode added in 1.0 is actually a practice mode, where all progression, experience gain, and permadeath are disabled. Despite its hardcore atmosphere, it's quite strange to see the lack of character progression and development only to co-op play in a survival game.

Finally, the public lobbies may easily be spoiled by the "speedrunners". As the game features a rather shallow skill tree and cosmetic progression, some players completely ignore any cooperation with other players, stealing all the medical supplies and ammo and rushing to the extraction point. It's combined with extremely annoying "quirky" millennial voice lines for survivors, which makes meta-progression in No More Room in Hell 2 far from ideal.

The Verdict

No More Room in Hell 2 is a good mix of atmosphere and brutal combat. The 1.0 version, with the support of console and crossplay, has successfully revived the franchise, providing an exciting 8-player survival experience where every bullet and every bandage counts.

Yet the adrenaline rush of the apocalypse may sometimes be spoiled by the very real horror of losing your progress because of server disconnects and the lack of solo-play rewards.