除邪2 (CHUXIE2) Review: A Beloved Jank Falls Apart

A trainee exorcist returns, in a different body

除邪2 (CHUXIE2) casts players as a trainee exorcist sent to investigate a missing-persons case that quickly spirals into a confrontation with something far more sinister, continuing the cult following built by the original 除邪 (Chuxie). Where the first game earned its reputation through first-person gunplay and deliberately rough-edged, meme-friendly horror, this sequel shifts to a third-person perspective and a longer, more structured campaign — a change that turns out to be one of the most contested decisions in the entire review sample.

A first chapter that still knows how to scare

Even among largely critical reviews, the opening hours draw specific, genuine praise. One reviewer calls the first chapter "extremely unsettling," with atmosphere and jump scares that land well before the tone shifts toward something more bizarre and parodic in later chapters — including, according to one detailed review, a horror riff on viral "Italian brainrot" internet characters in chapter two. That reviewer's overall take lands as cautiously positive, enjoying the shift in tone as a deliberate creative choice rather than a loss of focus, even while acknowledging real bugs along the way.

Crashes that stop the game cold for many players

The single most repeated, serious complaint in the sample is instability. Multiple reviewers report the game crashing repeatedly near the very start, with one describing giving up entirely after three crashes before reaching any real content, and another calling crashes and random closures "constant" throughout their session. Several reviewers explicitly contrast this with the original Chuxie, noting that whatever technical rough edges the first game had, it was reliably playable from start to finish, which this sequel often isn't for a meaningful portion of its audience.

The perspective switch fans didn't want

A specific, recurring criticism targets the shift from first-person to third-person view, which multiple longtime fans call a mistake that undermines the original's identity. One reviewer notes the game does technically include a first-person toggle, but reports it as bugged and clearly not the way the developer intended anyone to actually play — leaving fans of the original format with no reliable way to get the experience they were hoping for.

Falling through the world, and other specific bugs

Beyond crashes, reviewers report a consistent list of concrete, reproducible issues: falling through floor geometry, getting stuck outside the intended play area (including one detailed report of finding a way to skip more than half of the third chapter entirely by climbing over crates), and checkpoint soft-locks severe enough to force a restart. A separate, detailed complaint concerns brightness: one player reports being unable to adjust in-game lighting enough to see themselves or their surroundings clearly, and a Simplified Chinese-language review specifically flags getting permanently stuck after falling outside the map in a sewer level, with reloading a save simply dropping them through the floor again.

Performance concerns even on strong hardware

A detailed Japanese-language review lays out a specific, methodical performance complaint: on a modern 7800X3D and RTX 5070 Ti system, running the game at its highest settings pushed CPU and GPU temperatures well past the reviewer's comfort threshold, ultimately requiring them to lower graphical settings and disable lighting effects just to keep thermals reasonable. That same review also notes the complete absence of FSR or DLSS upscaling options and an in-game volume control, both notable gaps for a 2026 release.

The fans who are still having fun

Not every review reads as disappointed. A handful of reviewers frame the game's jank and instability as part of the appeal, consistent with how the original Chuxie built its following — one calls it "the greatest game of all time" and dismisses crashes as a hardware issue, while another gives it a genuine 7/10, praising its self-aware humor and jump scares despite acknowledging it isn't a great horror game by conventional standards. These reviews are a real, if minority, part of the sample, and suggest the game's target audience may simply be narrower than its marketing implies.

A delay that raised expectations it couldn't meet

The game's launch followed a publicly announced delay earlier in the year, and several reviewers explicitly reference that wait when explaining their disappointment — the sense being that extra development time should have translated into a more stable release than what actually shipped. One reviewer frames the crash-heavy opening hour sarcastically as "the first puzzle of the game," joking that players are meant to lower every setting just to get it running, a comment that reads as pointed criticism dressed up as a bit even from an overall positive review.

Fast fixes, but not fast enough for some

To the developer's credit, patch notes show a brightness and gamma setting added within days of launch, directly responding to one of the sample's more concrete complaints, alongside a general bug-fix patch the day before that. That kind of quick turnaround suggests an actively engaged solo or small studio rather than an abandoned project, and it's worth weighing against the harsher reviews written in the first 48 hours, some of which may already be somewhat out of date relative to the current build. Even so, the scale and severity of what's being reported — crashes, soft locks, and map-breaking bugs — goes well beyond what a handful of quick patches can fully resolve.

Verdict

除邪2 (CHUXIE2) had a clear audience ready to embrace more of the original's specific charm, but a launch marred by crashes, map-breaking bugs, and a contested perspective change has left a genuinely Mixed reception behind it. Existing fans willing to tolerate real instability may still find moments worth their time in the stronger early chapters, but this isn't a safe recommendation for anyone approaching the series fresh.