Is Breathedge 2 Worth It? What 642 Steam Reviews Say
We do not score games we cannot test hands-on, so this page reports what other people’s numbers say. Three days into Early Access the all-languages Steam score is Very Positive (550 of 642), while the English-only slice sits at Mixed (119 of 171). Read together, the praise is about scavenging, upgrades and the denser map; the complaints are about Sui’s voice and jokes, how fast hunger and thirst drain (cut 15% in Hotfix 0.8.6), unmarked quests and the short chapter.
The numbers
| Steam, all languages | Very Positive · 86% | 550 up / 92 down |
|---|---|---|
| Steam, English only | Mixed · 70% | 119 up / 52 down |
| 2025 demo | 92% positive | about 700 reviews — Steam Next Fest demo, March 2025, ranked #20 of 2,421 demos |
| Metacritic / OpenCritic | No critic score listed yet | checked 2026-09-03 |
What players praise
- “Huge improvement in quality of life over the first game” — several long-playtime reviews
- Modular water, food and armour machines, and the grabber arm
- Upgrades that open the map: oxygen, cold protection, better tools turn distant wrecks into routes
- Runs well on Unreal Engine 5 — 120 fps without DLSS reported; works in VR via UEVR (unofficial)
- $15.99 launch price for 5–10 hours plus side quests
What players complain about
- Sui’s voice and constant jokes — the top complaint, including from fans of the first game
- Food, water and fatigue drain too fast on standard (partly addressed by 0.8.6); starting without a crafting tutorial
- Resources are hard to see; plastic and aluminum shortages can feel like soft-locks
- Quests not always marked; the statue and snowman placement is fiddly
- Chapter 1 ends abruptly (“got shot in the knee”) — reports of 5.5 hours against a promised 8–10
- Inventory opening drops FPS for a few seconds on some laptops
Who it is for
- Buy now if you liked the first game's scavenging and want it denser, with upgrades that open the map, and one chapter is enough for $15.99.
- Wait if you want base building, a ship or planets — none are in until 2027 — or the whole story.
- Skip if the first game's humour wore you out; the sequel "has not discovered restraint", as one three-minute review put it.
Review FAQ
Why is the English-only score lower?
Three days in, all-languages reviews sit at 86% positive but English-only at 70%. The English negatives cluster on Sui's voice acting and jokes and on hunger/thirst drain; Russian-language reviews, where the humour is native, are more forgiving.
Should I wait for a patch?
If hunger and thirst were your worry, Hotfix 0.8.6 already cut the drain by 15% on standard, and Easy/Story can be switched on mid-game. If the voice is the problem, nothing has changed yet.
How does it compare to the demo score?
The March 2025 demo scored 92% positive from about 700 reviews; the developers then rebuilt it, and the current chapter is the result.
Steam figures from the appreviews summary for app 2412960 (all languages and English filter), read 2026-09-03; pros and cons condensed from the 40 most helpful English reviews and the Steam forum. GameJoy Explained "Decide If You Should Buy in Only 3 Mins" (Aug 31) and Giggy's review (Aug 31) informed the buy/wait/skip split.