The actual meat and potatoes of the gameplay loop is that the player starts on the world map with a limited degree of vision (depending on race/occupation benefits and penalties). They typically start off with almost no equipment and with poor initial stats. Movement can occur in any cardinal and ordinal direction on the map so long as there is nothing in the way to prevent moving, and the enemies will react to the player's position relative to theirs. Equipment can be found as random treasure, on enemies, or, as in Soulash, some can be crafted with various materials at certain stations.

As mentioned above, the story is pretty open-ended and you can do more than just kill things and get treasure. If you want to roleplay as a trader or someone who builds up your town from scratch, that is entirely viable. While you play, there will be migrations of NPCs, wars, various characters will age and die, and the world will change by not just your actions, but that of others. All of those mechanics can and will affect you as well. You still have to worry about basic survival mechanics like eating, sleeping, and quenching thirst as well, making this world fairly realistic for its genre.

However, the game difficulty has three modes for different types of players. "High Fantasy" is an "easy" mode that disables the aging and other new mechanics, but doubles the experience needed to learn skills. "Dark Fantasy" is the default difficulty, where all rules apply to your character, but you can also start as part of an existing clan or family for your chosen race and derive benefits from the same as a counterbalance. The hardest difficulty will cause the world to die with your character if you die in-game, forcing the player to have to start a new game in a different world each time. One last notable feature is that before you begin the game, you get a preview of the intended development of the game world projected on an animated map so you can plan in advance how to deal with the movement of NPCs and the changes to the world topography over the in-game years.

Before ending here on the gameplay, it bears noting the difficulty curve of this game is going to be somewhat different than the first game. The first Soulash made combat just as important as survival as a skill to master. While combat is definitely worth honing your craft (which can be done via various trainers and manual practice), I'd recommend honing your survival skills more initially, which is made easier than the first game since not everything in the world automatically wants to attack you.

Graphically, this is a top-down, 2D world done in hand-drawn pixel art style. Unlike the dark and grim colors of the first game, this title features a lot brighter colors and far more varied assets. There are also slightly improved animations and now there are NPCs and the player character with actual face portraits which are also hand drawn. The user interface is also a bit nicer this time, with somewhat easier-to-read text.

Music and sounds continue to crib from the fantasy well like the first title, though since this is a somewhat less grim world, the mostly ambient tracks aren't all dark and ominous like the first game. They still lean heavily on the usage of various instruments like flutes, drums, and brass, and the sound effects are still gritty yet crisp. It's all generally pleasant on the ear as well.

The control scheme requires the use of a mouse and keyboard and comes in two formats. The "by sight" format moves the character in the direction the character is looking, indicated by a blue arrow. This scheme uses a WSAD-style direction move system. The "directional" system uses the movement system keyed to the number pad on the side of the keyboard where movement is determined by which directional key you press. Unlike the first game, there is an option to use the mouse to automatically face and move in certain directions and it will automatically move the character to a specific point as well. Given this third option, controls are somewhat easier to learn than the first title. There are in-game tutorials to remind the player how to perform actions as well.

Soulash 2 runs natively on Microsoft Windows. It will run well on Linux via Steam Proton and is rated Playable on the Steam Deck. Requirements for memory are somewhat higher than the first game, and an SSD is recommended especially because of the high use of procedural generation. Like the first title, Soulash 2 also supports game mods with Steam Workshop integration. For ease of use on the Steam Deck, the player may wish to increase the tile size in the options for the best visual fidelity.

Morally, Soulash 2 has some issues.

Violence is RPG style "give orders and watch it happen", and there is pixel-style rendering of blood and corpses. Not everything is trying to kill you, you only have to attack in self-defense for the most part. You can, however, choose to attack those who aren't trying to kill you if you prefer.

The language is around the same level as the first game, and it is very mild. Sexual content is also pretty nonexistent. The latest update as of this writing allows the player to start a family and have children, but the depiction is very clean and lacks any depiction of explicit details.

This is a setting with a profound amount of supernatural influence. Undead and demonic beings exist in the setting and there is a choice to play as some of the same. Morally, there is a crime system that does punish vandalism, theft, assault, and murder, though you can risk those activities if you like. There is a good theme of family, however, with the player being able to start as part of a clan or tribe, for whom loyalty is expected, at least in dark fantasy mode. There are mentions of alcohol production and consumption as well.

Overall, Soulash 2 is a complex game with a different focus and learning curve than the first title. Technically, it's fairly sound and offers quite a lot for the player to do, explore, and try out, though the learning curve is still rather high per roguelike tradition. Morally, it's got some issues but is far less grim, dark, and violent than the first title, being suitable for teenagers on up. If you want a roguelike that is far less about the world trying to kill you and more about you being one cog in the larger machine that is the world, then this title is highly recommended.