This second mission of the pack comes with even more interesting rpg-style ideas and grander scale than the first but in the same breath with its own lot of problems. Similar to Kingsbridge (or way before that the first Calendra) it works with the applaudable mechanic of an in-game equipment shop but whereas there it was just a self-contained add-on that did not do much to the leisurely pace of that mission, here it fulfils the function of a key gameplay hub where you also get rpg-style tasks critical to your progress (not unlike e.g. in Stalker games, similarities with which also include a number of separate but interconnected areas). However, given the larger scale, or for whatever other reasons, the author's apparent problem with making interesting ideas embedded in a robust overall gameplay package that is actually enjoyable by the player here becomes more pronounced. Let me explain: later in the game there is a particular situation in a separate area where you explicitly have to quietly "get rid of" three guards (you are only given the order on sight). Given the fact that the author chose apparently all helmet-wearing guards to be non-KO-able (including those helmet types that normally in thief are), this can be done only with gas mines or gas arrows, and you can get those only in the in-game shop where you pay by particular currency that is separate from your actual loot (it is strewn here and there and you get it by exploring around in the same way as loot and is hence limited). So it can happen that if you splash too much earlier in the mission on whatever equipment you like (there is no way to foresee this particular situation coming), you are left with no gas arrows or gas mines and no any more currency to buy those to complete this particular task that is mission critical, hence having to revert to an earlier save and so lose potentially many hours of progress - this is a stunning omission that could have had an easy workaround e.g. by simply making those particular three guards KO-able (similarly there are also other quest-critical items that you only get at the shop and only FOR MONEY (the special currency), with potentially the same effect). Secondly, the game often uses especially in the later stages a particular customary mechanic to transition between locations. At at least one such interchange point, it is relatively easy to break this mechanic and so not only end up out of playable area of the map, but the mechanic at that place in that particular game then remains broken forever and never recovers. If this happens to you unknowingly, you might again keep playing until you find out about this e.g. by not being able to complete the objective in the destination area thus becoming unreachable, having again to revert to a point before triggering the bug at the cost of potentially many hours of progress. These two are gamebreaking bugs/omissions that should have never made it in the final output and each warrants a subtraction of at least several scoring points. This is coupled with several less pronounced issues of poorly communicating with the player that partly continue from the first mission, some of them slightly more so given the greater scale here, such as insufficient hints for identifying enterable buildings, an objective that becomes non-fulfillable by game design not becoming crossed out in the objectives screen (for clarity's sake and in order not to keep searching in vain for the solution), various smaller signalling issues that may well (and completely unnecessarily) confuse the player (basically coming down to "there's no green light until you do things precisely in the prescribed (author-imposed) order and damn any emergent potentialities") or, judging by the way it was apparently conceived, a hairraisingly complicated (also in terms of arrows consumption) rope arrow puzzle (easily the most contrived around) (ingenuity at the cost of playability) (among other awkward and badly identifiable rope arrow/entry and exit point situations). Also overall from a purely technical standpoint, the mission feels overambitious in its size to the point of obviously having to "cut fat" and becoming overreliant on the shortcuts in form of the special location/situation change mechanic and in doing so, overshooting into a sort of a chequerboard of places and situations that loses coherence and continuity of time and place and so ends up a much less immersive and less coherent whole compared to the first mission. And, the second "main city" part feels very empty and "prop-like"/want of life in comparison to anything before it. So my bold proposal: perhaps it would do good to the overall flow and experience to split this into two actual missions, the "first part revisited" and keep working on a redone/perfected "downtown complete". Still, even with its critical faults one would not dare call this "average". As the author is still active, one would hope it would still receive a redesign and debugging and gameplay optimising treatment to do its many other positive qualities justice.

Rating - Raven's Nest only: 6*