I prefer the first one.
No ones probably gonna read this anyway so if your too lazy to read this review, scroll down to the last paragraph. D:
Dont get me wrong, the game was INCREDIBLY awesome, but really I found the first days to die much better than this one with the story and what not. The first Days 2 Die just threw you into some type of zombie apocalypse, leaving you with the task of building barricades and buying weapons to survive each day. It didn't give any background other than the intro, nor provide a name for the main character that we played. And ya know what? It worked very well. :D I dunno if its because I'm a guy or something but I found myself enjoying the role of playing as a woman wearing a green shirt and a ponytail, expertly guiding and controlling her into surviving the apocalypse. The main character, or Raine as stated in this game, was always silent and never spoke. No dialogue, no story. Yet, the lack of that concept made the game seem that much more immersive, probably because it made us fill in the blanks or speculate of what Raine was like. I found myself saddened whenever her head fell off when I got swarmed. But what probably made me enjoy the game so much was the art style. Both games, Days 2 Die as well as the other side, feature the same art style, the simple drawings of a stick body with a more detailed torso and enlarged face. The face itself though is drawn in a cute way, which is probably why I enjoyed Raine more than Vic. The cuteness contradicts the dark setting of a zombie apocalypse, giving a rather unique feeling when you hear the moans and growls of the undead but see the cute yet serious face of your main character. The gameplay was also something that I really enjoyed in the first one, but not in this one. Days 2 Die gave you the option to hire mercenaries to assist you in the zombie apocalypse. You had to hire at least one to beat the game, as your gun could not hold the horde off as zombies progressivley got stronger. The thing with that though is that you needed a very large amount of money to get a decent merc, and the only one worth buying was the one that threw dynamite. Because of this, I found myself spending almost every mission fighting alone, and let me tell you, that kinda gets rather lonely. D: So when I finally managed to afford a merc, it felt good to actually have someone fighting alongside you after a long battle alone. In The Other Side though, you actually made it necessary for survivors to accompany you through the rotting streets. It actually made having someone accompany you feel less meaningful, as you start the game with a comrade rather than having to earn the right to HAVE a comrade in battle. Now to the story. I'll make this short, so I'll just state that I really felt no connection to Vic whatsoever. Wanna know why? Because the dialogue was very misworded and artificial. It felt like a robot was talking whenever Vic or a survivor said something, and often words seemed misplaced or simply wrong for the job. I'd thought you had a better grasp of the English Language, but I suppose I assummed that considering there was no dialogue in Days 2 Die.
Overall, just try and focus on making the game a bit more immersive. If you can, change the gameplay so that it resembles survival mode, with you needing to survive multiples days in an area before moving on to another one, the enemies getting progressivley harder with each advance. Do that and I believe the game will be that much more popular. Oh, and BRING BACK RAINE. D: