Okay, here's my opinion
I will share with you my honest and constructive thoughts about this. I don't believe in just praising something for the heck of it. But first I need to tell about the bugs I noticed. First of all, some objects you walk in front of can at very few times cover you, like if they were in front of you, which isn't affecting the gameplay; it's just a little distracting. But one bug that really annoys me, is one that all of a sudden when you are on a new screen, Gretel all of a sudden can't move, and you can't check your inventory list. After trying everything the first time, I realized I could get out of it by checking the map and go back again.
Now for the actual review. I will start with the good parts.
The look of this game is still very beautiful and nice (although, I find the tangles that comes to cover the big pit are a little sloppy made). The humor is there, which is nice and dark in it's own way. The music might not be among the most memorable; but it's enjoyable, and very variating. And I like how you made it all in the woods, which made the game capable of being so huge. And one thing I found really cool, was the ability to buy items by a weirdo in the woods. Makes it sort of feel like an RPG.
Now for the more negative parts.
I will say this straight out - the damn is WAY too cryptic at times. Even though the first part was hard as well, the puzzles weren't too close to impossible to figure out. I will give an example of a cryptic riddle (spoiler alert). When you are over at the white tree with the eyes, it shows you can grab the roots . but Gretel can't grab them appearantly, as they get down again, like rubber. So naturally, I thought I had to find something to pick them up with. I didn't. So, after trying and trying and trying, I did something I never, EVER do - I checked the walkthrough at this part. And it turned out you have to not-drag each one of the four roots three times, in order to make a chest appear. Seriously, who would figure that out? You will only notice this through darn luck, if you find it interesting enough to constantly try to pull the roots up in vain (spoiler ends). And there's a lot of unfair puzzles in the game, like this one. I've been trying to do as much of the game as possible without using the walkthrough - but at least 3 of the puzzle parts, I simply could not do by myself.
Something else I wasn't very fond of either, was the lack of charm the first game had. While I said the music is nice and variated, it just isn't even close to be as charming as in the first game. There wasn't as much music in the first game; but damn, did it leave an impression. And I don't get it as much here. There's also lots of weird stuff added in that makes it feel like anything but the Hansel and Gretel tale. Like the living tree who wants you to eat vegetables to die by branches growing out of you for some weird reason, or like the witch in ice. But the animals and other characters, I didn't mind. I just think there were some uneeded stuff. The part were Gretel's face gets stolen and you control one of the fairies was a little forced, honestly, and didn't feel either fun or interesting.
So, did I like the game? Yes. You can tell there's a LOT of hard work behind it. It's by far among the better online games. But if you compare it to the first game, it's just not the same. If the puzzles weren't so cryptic, and if the music was better, I would say it would have almost as good as the first one. But one last thing I really, really miss from the first game they would have to add in here to make it as good, is the ability to toss pebbles again.
But as said, it's a good game - not just as fantastic, cousy and charming as the first was.