I was first introduced to feng shui back in 1999 and it completely captivated me. The game was full of innovations that catered to my love for action movies from my adolescence. I remember being thrilled by concepts like mooks going down in a single hit, not having to worry about ammo, and the focus on crazy stunts rather than realism. It was like a dream come true.
Fast forward to today, and a sequel has finally been released - Feng Shui 2. While it does manage to capture the essence of the original, it doesn't quite reach the same thrilling heights. One of the main issues is that the first Feng Shui introduced so many groundbreaking concepts that other games have since integrated into their mechanics. The students have become the teachers.
The core mechanic of Feng Shui 2 involves adding and subtracting six-sided dice, applying various fun abilities that translate into arithmetic modifiers. Then, it's all about comparing numbers and weaving them into a kung fu narrative. While this was impressive back in the day, there are now other games like Savage Worlds, Apocalypse World, and Fate Core that execute this mechanic even better. Compared to these titans of the hobby, Feng Shui 2 feels somewhat outdated, refusing to innovate and relying on its novelty and nostalgia to carry it forward. One might even question the need for a second edition when the first edition could simply have been reprinted.
However, if Feng Shui 2's purpose was to provide a fresh coat of paint to the original game, then publisher Atlas Games has definitely succeeded. The visuals of FS2 are stunning, with a hefty 350+ pages filled with beautiful, full-color artwork. The layout is attractive and colorful, a significant departure from the old-school black and white columns of its predecessor. The ridiculous setting, known as the "Chi War," spanning across different eras of time, allows for the combination of Wushu sorcerers, 90s cyborgs, and 80s blue-collar badasses. It has been updated to be just as over-the-top as when it was first released in 1996.
Feng Shui 2 was created by two of the greatest minds in the hobby, Robin Laws and Cam Banks. While I had high hopes for the final product, it feels more like a studio-backed reboot rather than a radical reinvention or thoughtful modernization. Perhaps that was the plan all along. Nevertheless, Feng Shui 2 falls short and leaves me questioning why this sequel was even necessary. If you're craving that 80s/90s style action, my recommendation would be to either play the original Feng Shui or explore modern systems such as Cortex Plus or a hacked version of Gumshoe, both of which were designed by Banks and Laws, respectively.
In conclusion, Feng Shui 2 proves once again that sometimes a sequel just isn't needed.
