Stealth Inc. 2 doesn’t hide its inspiration from games like Splinter Cell and Portal. From the soft green glow of the clone’s goggles while crouching in the shadows, to the ever-present antagonist humorously berating you as you progress, the comparisons aren’t hard to make. But, thanks to its incredibly challenging puzzle design - buoyed by a variety of gadgets and brilliant progression - and its great implementation of Wii U-specific features, Stealth Inc. 2 doesn’t just differentiate itself from the games that influenced it; it stands out as one the best games available on the eShop.

In Stealth Inc. 2, you control a squat, bulbous clone who is helping his more dimwitted clone brethren escape their dire fate. Exploring the sprawling cloning facility is a harrowing, rewarding affair thanks to the variety of gadgets - which grant abilities like hacking, teleporting, and even cloning - that continuously provide interesting new ways to overcome the ever-more difficult puzzles and enemies. In each new section of the facility, you’ll come across test chambers that introduce you to a new gadget and provide a variety of different challenges that require its use. With each test chamber you complete, more of that section of the facility becomes available, until, ultimately, you receive the gadget and are able to use it freely outside of the test chambers. In addition to that, each test chamber also features a leaderboard with the fastest completion times, providing impetus to replay them multiple times.I was impressed with how brilliant this try-it-before-you-get-it design is.The first gadget, the Inflate-a-Mate, is a small device that can be freely thrown around and then inflated to make a platform. The test chambers started out with me using it to simply reach higher ledges, but then slowly introduced other applications, like inflating it in mid-air to crush an enemy robot or using it as a shield to block lasers. By the time I completed all its test chambers, I felt like an expert with the gadget, and once I was free to use it in the facility, I was able to immediately explore a variety of previously inaccessible locations. The balance between utilizing the mastered gadgets freely and learning the ins-and-outs of a new one in isolated test chambers is fantastic.While the test chambers enforce all the different ways to use a single gadget, it’s through combining them with your clone’s other abilities in the facility that you’ll really be pressed. The high of collecting another gadget was always followed by the realization that there was now one more possible variable in solving the oncoming puzzles. Still, that made every cracked puzzle - “oh, I should hack the robot, lift him onto this ledge, have him flip this door’s switch and then teleport up there” - all the more rewarding.

In the moments where I was stumped by a puzzle and scratching my head, it was Stealth Inc. 2’s twisted sense of humor that usually kept me going. A begrudged scientist - who is one clone kill away from being the employee of the month - watches over your clone’s progress, and projects hilariously dark messages onto the walls, many of which will taunt you as your clone is crushed, fried, sliced or otherwise murdered. Stealth Inc. 2’s implementation of Miiverse also helps with trickier puzzles, as other players can leave messages throughout the facility to provide hints as to what to do next. It feels like a more descriptive version of the messaging system in Dark Souls 2, and it definitely saved me from banging my head against the wall for too long.

While crouching in the shadows to avoid sentry robots and surveillance cameras is a pivotal mechanic of Stealth Inc. 2, the facility itself is monotonously dark. There are a few brief moments where your clone is on the exterior of the facility, with a sunset providing a rich orange backdrop, but the majority of Stealth Inc. 2 is spent in darkness. I found exploring the drab facility to be especially trying while playing on the GamePad, as the lower resolution made hidden vents and passages that much harder to discover.While off-TV play isn’t great for extended periods of time, the GamePad is put to good use in the surprisingly robust co-op mode. The player using the GamePad is able to view the entire room, and can draw messages on the screen or circle important locations which then appear on the TV for the co-op partner. The GamePad player also has unique abilities not available in single-player, such as making the clone invisible or producing a decoy clone to distract the enemy robots. To provide extra challenge, some of Stealth Inc. 2’s enemies will be invisible on the TV, requiring the GamePad user to uncover them for the other player to see. I expected this mode to simply feature two clones running about, but instead, it provides an incredibly fun and thoughtful twist on Stealth Inc. 2’s gameplay.Depending on your mental fortitude, Stealth Inc. 2 will probably take anywhere from five to 10 hours to complete. Luckily, if you’re in the mood for more clone espionage after you’re done, there is a level editor and community-built levels to enjoy. Using the level editor isn’t the most intuitive experience, but all the tools are there to make great puzzles for your friends or the online community. I sampled a few of the more highly-rated custom stages, and while they weren’t quite up to par with the quality of the test chambers, they provided enough of a challenge to keep me engaged.