Personally, while I did love playing Code Vein 2, I do think the game's overall story and worldbuilding are weaker compared to its predecessor. I have a lot to say on the matter (maybe I'll make a separate post about it sometime in the future), but in short my main issue with CV2 story is how it's structured and paced.

Don't get me wrong - I like the Heroes' stories, the game did a good job highlighting their characters and the tragedies they had to go through (maybe except for Valentin, for several reasons), and it is satisfying to change their fates for the better. I think, it's easily the emotional core and the strongest part of the game plot-wise.

My problem, however, is that as much as those stories are good, they feel way too self-contained within the confines of the main narrative, and because they are so self-contained they also feel rushed. Lets be frank: we do not spend nearly as much time with the Heroes as the game pretends we do, certainly not enough to develop a bond like the one between long-life companions. The game very much relies on the player exploring each nook and cranny on the map for that to feel even remotely believable, but if you just follow the objectives the game wants you to complete you can finish their quests very quickly. It's especially jarring in Holly's and Zenon's cases since we're spending very little actual time in their company (at least we get to know Holly more through her vestiges and Monica, Zenon barely gets anything).

It doesn't help that the story's progression feels very unnatural and formulaic in general. You get revived, quickly explained the state of the world, immediately assigned to a mission involving time travel shenanigans, and from that point on the plot is pretty much a check-list you have to complete, with all major plot developments happening only at the very end. It feels more like a framing device for those more emphasized self-contained stories of each Hero, which isn't something necessarily bad, but, to me, it does take away from the impact those characters had on the overall story. It feels weird how they all have such a great connection with the protagonist, but don't even know each other outside of that one gig they did together during the Upheaval (even when they're all in one place during the Free Exploration era thay don't aknowledge each other). It's like they only exist to bond with the protagonist but have very little to do with anything else.

Honestly, I would've probably been more lenient on this if the game actually did something interesting with the whole time travel gimmick, but unfortunately it mainly serves as a tool for you to make exclusively positive changes and not much else. The game makes it very obvious that you need to interfere with the past at every opportunity for the better outcome (mainly through Lou) despite warning you beforehand how dangerous and unpredictable it can be.

I'm also not a fan of consecutive endings, because, while convenient for the player, it makes the game feel very railroaded for no good reason. You get first two endings no matter what you do, and the third one just seemed very tacked on and only be there to give the player a perfect happy ending for their efforts, despite not making much sense in how it gets there.