GIRLS FRONTLINE 2

Girls Frontline 2 looked really cool when I saw it’s trailer appear a few months before it released. I could remember at the time I was playing the first Girls Frontline, (which I still am by the way).

I was hyped after seeing the CG trailer which was very tacti-cool and really embodied my passion for waifus and firearms.

I played GFL 2 on the hour of release for Global on Dec 3 2025 or I believe 12:00pm or some time around that in UK time.

Image source: Game8.co

The gameplay of GFL2 is a turn based tile-movement (hope that’s the word) strategy game which is very similar to Xcom in style. Also different T-dolls (Tactical Dolls) have different unique skills which are related to their unit elements and class.

Like some T-dolls like for example: Klukai is corrode unit so her special abilities cause constant damage to enemies much like poison type abilities in other games.

Like in Xcom players and enemies can use cover to reduce damage from enemies.

The problem with the gameplay, is that all things that make Xcom challenging has been removed. I understand things like permanent death in the Xcom games not being here, but all hits in the game are confirmed to go through. Unlike Xcom which makes it that agents can miss some, okay most of the time.

This means that all you need to do in most battles is to have your Waifus at a higher level then the enemy.

This means that battles can become rather boring overtime which caused me to make teams that could finish battles faster because they felt overtime like chores.

A screenshot of my gambling wins

The thing GFL2 does really well is the gacha system which is very fair for what it is. With 80 pulls needed to guarantee an SSR character which may not be the banner character but to be honest most of the time speaking from experience I have pulled the Banner character in three or five x10 pulls.

Like other gachas GFL2 also features a weapon banner to which you can get a unique version of a weapon that works with specific character.

The game also usually has rewards coming just before and during a character’s events allowing the players to get a lot of Collapse Pieces (which can be used to purchase gacha currency) and also limited gacha currency.

Like most gachas GFL2 has two types of gacha currency one for standard gacha which has standard characters of all rarities (get Tololo from standard gacha trust me).

Limited currency for limited banners like Sakura from the image above.

Lenna/Ump9 one of my favorite GFL characters

If there is one thing GFL2 does better than may gachas it is character design. This game has truly stunning 3D Waifus with fun interaction animations in the refitting room and the dorm.

The game doubles as a cursed gun designer

In the refitting room the player can customise the guns used by T-dolls with different attachments giving different buffs so the player can modify weapons to suit their T-dolls. Also for those like myself who are not really fans of cursed weapons you can change weapon skins to any weapon you have acquired and also special weapon skins you can buy for real money.

An image from the dorm. I can explain it’s not what you think it is okay?

In the dorm you can also have T-dolls wear any outfit you have acquired but if the T-doll is in her default outfit she will have the white gown thing on which you see in the image above.

And the dorm also makes sure you can get a good look at your T-dolls feet because it is likely the most important thing about the dorm.

You can also raise T-doll affection in the dorm by giving gifts and then marry or as the game calls it oath them. This can give certain buffs to T-dolls but isn’t worth what it costs as you get one oath ring at the start of the game and if you want more you have to pay real money. Not to mention the amount of in-game resources it takes to max out T-doll affection.

Girls Frontline 2 presents its story mostly in a 2D visual novel style but does sometimes use 3D fully animated cut scenes. The 2D visual novel parts are voiced if the event is important to the main story but many side stories have no voice acting or animations.

The VN style is in opinion superior as it allows for somewhat graphic descriptions without making the game nasty. Many gachas that use 3D cut scenes for pretty much the whole story, often end up looking dumb when characters are seriously wounded because devs don’t want their work to look to violent.

The story of GFL2 takes place ten years after GFL1 but you won’t have to play GFL1 to understand it. Commander the player character as left Griffon and Kruger and has become a Bounty Hunter who travels about in a train called the Elmo.

A accompanying them is a T-doll called Groza (cannon wife), Mayling Shen who is the Elmo’s Logistics officer who really likes rice wine and takes the role once held by Kalinka in the first game. As story progresses Commander comes across characters from the first game, such as the dolls from Squad 404 and recently two former members of Anti Rain (AR) Team.

With that said I would say that the story is yet to get good, as a lot of the time they don’t really have consequences rather more good guys win in the end type endings.

The story is also being paused so the game can introduce new characters with their own events so that you want to pull for them. This means there are a lot of minor events that come with limited gacha banners which do not effect the main story.

If you missed major events you don’t need worry as the devs added them for players to play as part of the main campaign.

Squad 404 in the first Girls Frontline.

That sums up my first article to finish I would like to say this is my opinion and if you like the thinks I don’t like that is cool, I do not make the rules on what people should and should not like.

I would also like to say that Klukai/416 is best girl and thank you for reading. I am new to this whole article thing as a 17 year old fresh out of college (okay waiting for results from college.) I want to publish an article every Sunday on different topics, in the sort of Science fiction, anime and military stuff as I have passion for such things.

I don’t know if there is way that people can send comments on Medium but if there is don’t feel shy to leave feedback I want to improve and also if you could suggest anime or Computer games even miniture board games, or maybe even a more in-depth lore type article on something. If there is a way feel free to suggest things.

Again Thank you reading.

Klukai/416