PLATFORM: PC | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Changing up the usual “get the bad guys” formula, DDS2 drops you onto Isla Sombra, a quiet but almost lawless bunch of tiny islands in the middle of the ocean. Here, your only task is to build your own drug empire, growing your cartel to preposterous proportions and ultimately becoming the boss of the island’s underworld.

Starting small, you’ll immediately be put to work by a local dealer, learning how to use crafting tables to pack tiny quantities of products. Orders from customers are received via your in-game phone, which you then need to fulfil in order to make money. The more money you earn, the more product you can grow / make and subsequently sell, in turn earning more money to continue the cycle. Completing quests rewards you with recipes for new products and, after buying your first hideout, you’ll be able to kit your place out with furniture and other appliances to increase your product line and speed up the various production processes that, at least initially, seem to take forever to complete. Later, you’ll be able to employ distributors to sell your wares around town on your behalf, leaving you free to concentrate on the production side of things full-time.

Being naughty is always good fun, but DDS2 throws a slight spanner in the works when it comes to explaining how all of its systems work. Even now, six weeks since the game’s release and four updates deep, there is much confusion over how distributors work and how to craft many of the available products, along with reports of NPCs not showing up where they’re supposed to, items disappearing from inventories, and more besides. If DDS2 were in early access, these issues would be understandable and (just about) acceptable, but it’s difficult to recommend as a full retail release in its current state. Fingers crossed that some future updates might be able to bring DDS2 up to the standard of its predecessor.