DISTRAINT 2

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A side-scrolling nightmare about a man's guilt and what he sold to get ahead.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
Price: Paid
Rated: Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam (95% of 4,938 reviews)
Length: 1 to 2 hours
Players: 1
Controls: Keyboard or gamepad: move left and right, interact, use items from the inventory.
Made by: Jesse Makkonen
Released: 2018

Get it on Steam PlayStation Store Xbox Nintendo Switch

What frightens Price, who sold his humanity to win a partnership, walks through a world shaped by his guilt; rooms rot around him, faces swell and leer, and grim, surreal scenes close in as he walks left and right through them.
Content: blood, violence, strong language, adult themes.

DISTRAINT 2 is a 2D psychological horror adventure by Jesse Makkonen. You play Price, a man who sold his humanity for a partnership, as he walks through surreal, decaying places built from his guilt, collecting items and solving puzzles. It takes an hour or two and mixes its dread with dark humour.

About DISTRAINT 2

DISTRAINT 2 is the sequel to DISTRAINT, made by the Finnish developer Jesse Makkonen and released on Steam in November 2018, then on PlayStation, Xbox and Switch in 2020 through Ratalaika Games. It follows on directly from the first game, though a newcomer can follow it.

You are Price, who got his partnership at the firm McDade, Bruton & Moore by repossessing the homes of people who could not pay. The game is side-on and hand-drawn: you walk left and right, talk to people, pick up items and use them to solve simple puzzles that open the way forward.

What frightens is how the world bends around Price's conscience. A quiet room turns to rot with dark growths hanging from the ceiling and a skull-faced figure in a chair; a park at night holds a giant stone head; a foggy notice board is pinned with contracts. Music and sound are written for each scene, and the shifts from calm to grotesque are sudden. The store also promises its fair share of dark humour.

It suits players who like story-led horror with little challenge and a lot of mood, in the line of Fran Bow or Sally Face, and anyone who wants a horror game to finish in one evening.

How to play DISTRAINT 2

Start the game; a short recap of the first DISTRAINT is included on consoles.
Walk left and right through each scene and examine what you can.
Collect items and use them from the inventory where something blocks the way.
Talk to the people you meet; they point you to the next place.
Follow Price's story to its end in about one or two sittings.

Screenshots

DISTRAINT 2 screenshot: Price in a red-lit park at night beside a giant stone head under a street lamp

DISTRAINT 2 screenshot: Price at a foggy notice board, saying: These are... contracts?

DISTRAINT 2 screenshot: Price with a pale figure in a sepia hotel corridor between numbered doors

DISTRAINT 2 screenshot: diners at an outdoor café with a red curtain, one thanking Price

DISTRAINT 2 screenshot: Price outside a red wooden house in a sunny garden

Tips

Examine everything: most puzzles are solved with an item picked up nearby.
Play with sound on; the music shifts tell you when a scene is about to turn.
Some achievements can be missed, so look up a list if you want them all in one run.
Play the first DISTRAINT, or read its story, if you want the sequel's characters to land fully.