Sony tries again, with a title for adults and children.
The first crack accompanied the PlayStation 4 in its initial launch window in 2014. And let's face it, it's not like it was all that much. Although passed off as Triple A and certainly made with the maniacal curia with which the Sony does things, the action game we know well had come out of it, with strengths and weaknesses but above all with defects, also penalized by a certain basic monotony, disarming repetitiveness and a really too simple combat system.
But a second chance must be given to everyone, and so it was: Knack 2 is back in the limelight with the right precautions, a local multiplayer mode, collectibles, superfine dubbing and one very good attention to detail, both graphic and sound. It's the good time saving the world (again) within the same game won't get bored right away.
After spending about ten hours in the company of the hero Knack we are ready to tell you something.
Return of the Goblins
The bad guys of the first chapter, the Goblins, register a second presence also in Knack 2, with related plans for the conquest of the world and various cities and environments that we will explore during the adventure. The protagonists return to being the same as always, or Knack in the company of his (best) human friend, Lucas. The threads of the plot will pick up where we left them a couple of years ago, with the bad guys eradicated but definitely not given up.
Some well-known faces also return to the delight of fans, among which Ryder and Vargas certainly deserve to be remembered, even if they will always remain marginal to the narration. As if that weren't enough, new antagonists will oust the evil Gundahar. Knack 2 offers a total of more than ten different levels, for a total duration of the campaign of about eight or nine hours, which can then also be extended further if you want to discover all the secret passages and collect every single collectible.
Of course, if you expect an Oscar for directing you will be disappointed: Knack 2 is fun, even quite long-lived, but in terms of history it has very little than to offer beyond his hours in the pleasant company of the protagonists. The plot is in fact only a long red thread, devoid of abrupt gaps, able to link the various game levels together, offering an excuse to switch from one scenario to another (perhaps even very different from each other). For this reason, apart from the initial flashback mechanism, everything continues in a linear fashion, and the conclusion is also clear after the first ten minutes of play. However, it is a story that, thanks to good dubbing in Spanish, will make the little ones happy.
More powerful, bigger, more varied
Over the years Japan studio has improved a lot compared to the first chapter of the series. Chapter which among other things was not at all designed to remain isolated, and even only in this way the existence of a Knack 2 is justified. But as if that were not enough, the team listened to the opinions (and complaints) of the players by making game mechanics significant improvements.
First of all, the clashes have been improved, diversified and made slightly more tactical, as long as they are still accessible to a large audience of children. Knack is able to attack with light blows and other heavier ones, he can defend himself, dodge and, with the right timing, even deflect and repel the blows of the enemies, wounding them. In the combo area, then, the character expresses his full potential, with sequences of 
devastating and diverse attacks. Our hero is also able to upgrade himself more and more, collecting the artifacts scattered here and there in the game world. The logic of the title is “the bigger you are, the more powerful you are” and in fact the functioning in the growth of the character is centered on this mechanism. Furthermore, as Knack grows, he will learn new moves, new combos and devastating attacks to eliminate enemies faster and faster.
Variety in Kanck 2 is also guaranteed by the exploration factor: fights are not everything, and you have to take the right moments of pause by investigating ever-changing environments here and there. It starts from the city under attack to move to the desert, the ice and the forests, in almost always completely random connections. Collectables are scattered everywhere and for some you will have to sharpen your eyes pretty well. Some power-ups are able to help you, but first you will need to find them inside the chests: they are able to indicate on the screen the enemy's health, allow you special moves, give you additional health and much more. The difficulty level is decidedly set down: to face a decent challenge you will have to at least play in difficult mode. It is normal, given the target of children that Knack 2 is aimed at, but the ability to select the level of challenge is a welcome addition that makes the title attractive also for adults.
Final Comment
After the half misstep of the first Knack we were afraid of facing the same game with the addition of a new blue character to play with in local multiplayer. Knack 2 is much more than that: it's more beautiful to look at, more varied, longer-lived and less repetitive. A title suitable, among other things, for the whole family, which is not always so obvious in recent years. Especially on PlayStation.
