Pennywise is Coming to Getcha!
Euphoria Games’ Death Park 2: Scary Clown Survival Horror Game follows the story of a child trying to get his sister back from infamous evil clown Pennywise. Pennywise has her trapped in the dreamworld. As long as he has her, she stays asleep. The game has various difficulties, from ghost to extreme, as well as two puzzle difficulties, easy and hard. The action gets pretty hardcore on extreme difficulty, from the fights with the monsters and events with Pennywise to the puzzles themselves. The story combined with the combat and puzzles creates a challenging, memorable game.
Hardcore Gameplay
Even on easy difficulties, Death Park 2 can be fairly challenging. Combat with the monsters is difficult considering they hit your character rapidly when they get close. On easier difficulties, they tend to ignore you. However, I found my health diminishing pretty quickly when I used either the baseball bat or just missed too many shots. Choosing the hardest difficulties will make combat much harder and is your best bet for a hardcore experience. From the moment they see you, monsters will chase after you, run faster and hit harder. Puzzles have no hints whatsoever.
Gameplay in Death Park 2 is straightforward. There’s a virtual thumbstick on the left side of the screen that lets you move around. Drag it up slightly to walk and drag it up some more to run. On the right side of the screen, there are two buttons; the first switches and reloads your weapon and the second fires your weapon. You can also swipe up or down on the first button to swap between weapons. On the top of the screen, you have the settings, hints, and game shop buttons. When facing an interactable object, a button will appear at the top of the screen. There’s also a button to use first aid kits. The health gauge is represented by a heart with a number next to it. Death Park 2 also features a saving system that uses typewriters. Simply walk up to one, tap on the interact button, and your game will be saved.
A… Child’s Arsenal?
The game has a nice variety of weapons, each with a unique way to dispatch monsters. You start off with a pistol that you get from your dad’s office. There is also a baseball bat, submachine gun, shotgun, and more. The baseball bat is a last resort weapon. It deals the worst damage and forces you to get up close and take a barrage of attacks from monsters. The pistol and submachine gun are great for taking care of small groups of monsters, dealing high damage. The shotgun, however, is good for one-on-one engagements against some tougher monsters. As you play, you’ll learn which weapons work against which monsters. The variety is certainly welcome and makes the game much more engaging.
Clowns, Monsters, and Peril, Oh My!
While you’ll come across many monsters in the game, they are all killable. Pennywise, on the other hand, will only be encountered when you’re in the dream world. Unfortunately for you, you can’t take your weapons into this realm, so there’s no way to fight him. It’s best to keep as much distance as you can from Pennywise, as on the hardest difficulties, he will not hesitate to chase you the moment he sees you. He is fast and deadly. On the easier difficulties, though, he’s much more relaxed.
Annoying Ads
The game relies heavily on ads if you choose not to buy it. After each level, you need to watch two ads to unlock the next one, and you’ll sometimes see ads when loading different environments within levels. It can be annoying to see ads between level transitions and environment transitions. You may occasionally be asked to watch an ad to unlock something or get a reward. It’s a good thing if you like free stuff. Otherwise, you could just buy the game.
Death Park 2 is an engaging game with an eerie, dark atmosphere that conveys a sense of horror. Monsters and Pennywise are genuinely unnerving and you’re required to learn the best ways to survive the mess the main character finds himself in. There’s a welcome variety of guns and monsters to keep the game interesting and the story is engrossing, albeit a bit short. On the hardest difficulty, the game becomes truly horrifying and hardcore.
Is it hardcore?
Yes, it is.
Death Park 2 features a solid story with a well-designed combat system. The environments are very Silent Hill-esque—they are dark and filled with monsters and fog. The monsters can be challenging, especially on extreme mode, where there are tons of them. The title is genuinely eerie and well worth the ads or the price of admission.
