The second Turok was again remastered by Nightdive Studios and re-published by Atari in 2017. The original Turok 2: Seeds of Evil was released in 1998 for N64 and Windows.

Once again: the primitive nature of the game shines through, with the remaster. The environments and creatures are a little more detailed than before, but are still simplistic by today’s standards. That said: the lighting and atmospherics help a lot.

The gameplay, IMHO, is much better in Turok 2 than in the first game. The scenes flow from one to another fairly seamlessly, and the developers manage to keep it interesting as you progress.

One reason why the gameplay is better in Turok 2 is because headshots now count. You can clear enemies fairly quickly by shooting them in the head. If headshots counted in the first game, I’d have noticed… They didn’t. And in this game they really do, so skilled players can take advantage of that.

When you shoot an enemy, there’s plenty of blood and it falls onto the landscape nicely. That’s a new detail in the series!

There are exploding barrels, trampoline pads, and many, many levers to pull. All the levels are portal-based, which can make finding your way around difficult, although pressing Tab brings up a map. With a game like this it would’ve been good to have more indication of the objective.

The new “save the children” objectives are just plain ridiculous, really. And possibly indicative of censor-appeasement. The flashlight is also ridiculous too, lighting up the sides, but not in front of you! I don’t know what they were thinking with that…

For me, though, the Turok remasters are a bit of a miss because I have no nostalgia for Turok. I’m not impressed by the story-telling either, but the shooting is rather fun. Some of the puzzles are challenging to figure out too.

What I’m trying to say is that we all have different experiences, and experience nostalgia differently. Your nostalgia isn’t mine, and vice versa. And sales of the Turok remasters are probably driven by opinions far in excess of my own.

Turok 2 does have multiplayer, although I haven’t tried it. Has anyone tried it?

Having bought both of the Turok remasters (in Steam sales), I now hesitate to buy the third… It’s expensive, and the reviews aren’t great. I do want to add it here eventually; and play it for completeness. But that will depend on how much it costs. Anything more than a tenner is too much, IMHO!

More: Turok 2 on Wikipedia
Steam: Turok 2 Remastered on Steam
GOG: Turok 2 Remastered on GOG.com