Second Sun

I went in with calibrated expectations, and Second Sun still managed to surprise me by how quickly it grabbed hold. Grey Wolf Entertainment, a Portuguese studio previously known for strategy games like Pax Nova and Dawn of Andromeda, made a sharp left turn into first-person shooter territory here, and the seams of that genre leap show. What they built, though, has real pulse to it: a movement-based FPS layered over a loot-and-upgrade RPG loop, set in the open world of Rowen, a land fractured by civil war between the Empire and the Order of the Second Sun. You play as a Sunborn, a warrior with supernatural abilities, and your first decision is which of three classes to commit to: the Marauder, a frontline bruiser built for soaking damage and pushing forward; the Sentinel, a quicker fighter comfortable at both close and long range; or the Diviner, who channels the light of the White Sun to deal damage in ways that feel genuinely distinct from the other two. Class choice shapes your build path through a skill tree that stays approachable without being shallow. Loot cascades in from enemies and chests constantly, and the gear dismantling and upgrade system gives you something to do with every redundant drop rather than just selling it off. The loop is familiar but it clicks, and finding a weapon tier upgrade mid-dungeon still produces a small, honest rush. The gunplay is where the game earns its keep. Shotguns hit with the kind of weight that makes you lean back slightly, rifles have a clean rhythm, and SMGs serve as a reliable middle gear for the densest encounters. Enemies come in distinct flavors: grotesque creature types called Nightmares and Torments that get in your face fast, and human soldiers who play smarter and force actual positioning decisions. Combat demands constant movement, which is smart design given there's no stamina penalty to worry about. The procedurally generated dungeons feed that momentum with tight corridors, sudden ambushes, and loot pockets that reward bold players who clear side rooms. Repetition does creep in over the middle stretch of the three-Act structure, and some dungeon layouts feel functionally identical by the time the second Act wraps, but there's enough randomness in enemy placement and drops to keep sessions feeling purposeful rather than rote. Where Second Sun genuinely struggles is presentation. Character models and UI elements look dated, textures outside major landmarks can feel thin, and controller support is inconsistent enough that this one really is best played on mouse and keyboard. The dungeons specifically suffer from a lack of musical ambience in places, which flattens the atmosphere when the gunfire stops. The story across its three Acts is lean and functional rather than memorable, though a handful of reveals do land with enough weight to justify the runtime of roughly eight to ten hours. Post-launch patches have adjusted enemy difficulty scaling, and community feedback suggests the developer is still actively tuning the experience, which is worth knowing before you commit. If you need visual fidelity or a script that lingers after the credits, look elsewhere. But if you have a weekend and an appetite for something scrappy, fast, and genuinely built with care by a small team stretching into new territory, Second Sun delivers what it promises in the moments that count.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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