I am a fan of the Fire Maple games. Grisly Manor 2 benefits from the forethought that went into making the puzzles fit in with the story, which are much more involved and thought-provoking than in the original. The puzzles themselves are at a medium level of difficulty; just hard enough to make you think, but far from exasperating. I also appreciate how the developers spent time creating clever, organic puzzles that avoid employing the lazy tropes (slider puzzles, combination lock puzzles, tiny hidden objects, finding/using items that make no sense in the story/environment) that many of the games in the genre fall back on. I also like how the game revisits the original Grisly Manor story, but expands on it significantly, avoiding redundancy.
This game, like all of Fire Maple’s games, is a welcome relief from the gloomy, creepy settings and atmosphere in most of the games in this genre. The music is pleasant, the sense of humor is quirky and pervasive, and the visuals are colorful, which makes for a stress-free, family-friendly, puzzle-solving experience. The journal and the map are useful features, as well.
Overall, this is a nice, calm way to spend a few hours, and scratch that puzzling itch.