I was hoping this, too. I know the SS1 Remake had a long history of scope creep, so maybe they didn’t have the appetite to tackle the same thing with SS2.
But, even if they took what they had with the SS1 engine and build the same thing with SS2, it would have been much much better, and not take nearly as long as the SS1 remake. They already have most of the assets and interfaces built.
Consoles have essentially become obsolete, while PC gaming is at an all-time high.
Consoles are more expensive than video cards, except you can’t upgrade them. GPU processing power hasn’t been jumping exponentially, like it had in the past, so you can still play most anything with a decent 5-year-old card. Hell, with AAA gaming falling behind indie games, there’s not really a point in investing so much in graphical output, and you have far far more indie game options with PC.
Console exclusives are a thing of the past, so everybody has the option to jump ship to a PC version. While some of the console->PC ports can be pretty bad, most are starting as PC-first and then moving to console, which ends up with bad porting quality happening in the other direction. Exclusives used to be a huge driver of buying a console (like Metroid Prime for GameCube or FF7 for Playstation), and now PCs have the most access to almost every game.
Steam Decks are starting to drive the industry, pushing Linux gaming to the highest its ever been, and is making Nintendo worried enough to push Switch 2 as a competitor. A vast vast majority of PC games are on Steam, and a vast majority of games in general are on PC. So, accessibility to play just about anything you want on both PC and on a portable Steam Deck makes it way more attractive than anything the consoles could provide.
Consoles are already dead. They just need another 10-15 years before their respective industry leaders finally realize that. At best, Nintendo would carve a market with their own brand of exclusivity and first-party titles, but even that will fall.
In Other Waters was another great OST from Amos as well. Pretty fun game, too.
I think the only hard part is trying to figure out what you need to do next, which a walkthrough can help with, if you’re stuck. The combat and puzzles are challenging, but it wasn’t overly difficult, IMO.