Maximo and Grim are still searching for the missing Sophia, when they come across a new threat to the land: The Army of Zin, robots that were defeated and sealed away hundreds of years ago, who have returned to take the world theirs.
Vs. Army of Zin provides examples of:
- 1-Up: The Reaper coins are now these instead of continues. Acquiring them is easier too, since they are readily available at shops.
- 100% Completion: Each level requires you to save all the innocents, find all the treasure, and defeat all the enemies. Your reward in the end is a fully stocked Concept Art Gallery.
- Actionized Sequel: The game puts more focus on the action than the platforming of the previous game.
- Ancestral Weapon: Parilla, Maximo's sword, is described as an heirloom wielded by his family for generations.
- Animesque: Susumu Matsushita's distinctive artstyle is still in full effect here, despite the western development team.
- Badass Boast: Given by Grim in the first cutscene.Maximo: You're late, Grim.
Grim: I always show up... in the end. - Big Bad: Lord Bane, the commander of the Army of Zin.
- Bring It: The elite Zin mooks taunt Maximo by gesturing him to come closer.
- Chest Monster: Mimics from the first game return, still looking like treasure chests and only revealing their true nature when Maximo tries to open them.
- Clothing Damage: Maximo's health bar determines how much armor he's wearing- he starts in full armor, getting an upgrade gives him a helmet, and taking damage down to his last bar will leave him in his boxers. A special pair of armored boxers lets him pick up a fourth health bar for special gold armor.
- Continuing is Painful: Frustratingly, dying and returning to a checkpoint will reset Maximo's armor to its second stage- even if you had Gold Armor or your third stage helmet when you died.
- Cyber Cyclops: The aptly named Cyclocks, a massive Zin machine that attacks Maximo and destroys Tinker's home in the Haunted Forest.
- Damsel in Distress: Gearmaster Tinker is captured by Lord Bane to force her to work for him.
- Deader than Dead: After Achille is defeated, Grim crushes his very soul to destroy him once and for all.
- Don't Fear the Reaper: Grim is a pretty casual and relaxed guy, and his primary reason for fighting the Zin is that he's concerned now that souls aren't able to rest easily after death as long as they're being harvested for the robot army.
- Dueling Scar: It's revealed that Maximo's scar was given to him years ago when he and The Baron fell out and fought. After their rematch, Maximo gives him a matching scar over the other eye, making the two of them a literal case of dueling scars.
- Evil Knockoff: Toward the end of the game, you have to fight Zin who are explicitly modeled after Maximo, some of which even wield a Hammer of Heroes knockoff.
- Famed In-Story: Maximo has become fairly well known following the events of the first game; he's recognized on sight by most of the villagers he rescues from the Zin, and when he gives his name to a group of highwaymen in the game's opening, they fearfully recognize him as "the man who walks with Death".
- Fighting Spirit: The Baron is able to summon spirits in the guise of his ancestors to utilize their skills during his duel with Maximo.
- Flaming Sword: A variant: Flame Tongue, Maximo's second sword, isn't always on fire like most traditional examples, but it's magically enchanted so that its swings are wreathed in flames, and special attacks create much larger bursts of fire.
- Gatling Good:
- Once the House Crasher gets rid of the building it got stuck into, it starts firing its double gatlings at Maximo.
- Final level features gatling turrets, which have to be used to mow down waves of enemies spilling from lifts.
- Goofy Print Underwear: Maximo's signature heart-adorned boxers return. He can also buy several other pairs from merchants: Armored Boxers, Magic Pow Boxers, Treasure Seeker Boxers, and the Boxers of Burning Vigor, each of which give a different power up.
- The Grim Reaper: Grim, naturally. As with the last game his job of reaping souls is important to the plot as the Army of Zin runs on captured souls.
- Heroic Sacrifice: The game opens with one: 500 years prior to the last game, Lord Morgan had himself sealed away in the Great Vault, in order to keep the Army of Zin locked away. He charged his descendants, the royal line of Hawkmoor, with keeping the Vault sealed to keep the robotic army from ever being unleashed on the world again. When Maximo and The Baron open the Vault, they find his skeletal remains there, and silently show their respect for his sacrifice.
- Inexplicable Treasure Chests: While not as bad as the first game, as many chests are treated as rewards for saving villagers, the game world is still littered with random chests, many of which are hidden and only revealed by jumping in the right spot.
- Justified Extra Lives: Despite being best friends with Maximo, Grim is still ultimately serving the balance of life and death- so he can only bring Maximo back to life as often as Maximo has Death Koins to pay the ferryman, so to speak.
- Killer Rabbit: The Rarbite, an ordinary looking rabbit that, when attacked, transforms into a vicious demon that latches onto your ankle and gradually drains your health until removed.
- Magitek: The titular Army of Zin are a legion of clockwork robots powered by the souls stolen from the afterlife.
- Meaningful Name: This game introduces to a machinist named Tinker, and an ancient evil villain named Bane.
- Mirror Boss: The Baron has a more powerful variant of nearly every sword move in Maximo's arsenal, and then some.
- Poor Communication Kills: The boss battle with The Baron only happens because of Maximo's poor job of explaining why he needs to open Hawkmoor's Great Vault.
- Power Floats: Grim, whenever he joins the fight, floats above the ground slightly, allowing him to move faster than Maximo while dealing death to the enemies.
- Power-Up Magnet: The Midas Shield returns to attracts treasure from a distance, and can even be combined with throwing the shield to gather goods from a distance.
- Precision-Guided Boomerang: Maximo's shield always returns when thrown, and can be used to juggle between enemies and retrieve treasure at a distance.
- Promoted to Playable: Grim returns, now as a playable character. Defeating enemies and freeing the souls powering the Zin forces increases a special meter that, when full, allows Maximo to briefly swap out with Grim. He moves incredibly fast, and does massive damage, cutting through most enemies in just a few hits.
- The Reveal: After Lord Bane is defeated, the ghost of Achille, Big Bad of the first game, appears and reveals that he was behind Zin Army's return.
- Rewarding Vandalism: Much more so than in the previous game. Every levels is littered with coins hidden in mundane objects, and finding them all is required for 100% Completion.
- Scarf of Asskicking: Maximo's red scarf returns.
- Scary Scarecrows: The levels set around the cornfield have scarecrows who throw their explosive pumpkin heads at Maximo and try to grab him.
- Spin Attack: One of Maximo's go-to special moves now, promoted from temporary power-up in the last game. It costs a little special meter, but now Maximo can perform it with any weapon at any time.
- Super Mode: Grim can be summoned temporarily to the battlefield to take down enemies with his Sinister Scythe, dealing massive damage and making you invulnerable while he's around.
- Taking You with Me: Lord Morgan intended to do this with Bane and the Zin. It didn't take, but he did succeed in slowing them down for 500 years.
- The Highwayman: Ghosts of dead highwaymen are littered throughout the forest and cornfield levels. They are armed with two equally spectral pistols, which make you lose your coins if they find their target.Your money or your life!
- The Lost Woods: The Haunted Forest, where Tinker hides away building machines. While there are some farmers that reside there, it's largely uninhabited by any except for ghosts and those brave or desperate enough to go seeking something inside of it.
- Throwing Your Shield Always Works: Even moreso than in Ghosts to Glory, as the shield no longer has durability to chip away and break. Maximo now starts with the ability to throw his shield at any time, and it only costs a little bit of the special bar. It's even worked into the platforming and puzzle solving now.
- Versus Title: And they're not exaggerating the "army" part.
- Videogame Caring Potential: Maximo has the ability to, and is encouraged to, rescue unarmed villagers, soldiers in need, and anyone else he crosses the path of under attack by the Zin.
- Villainous Breakdown: When beaten for the final time and at Grim’s mercy, Achille is reduced to a panicked wreck begging for mercy.
- Waxing Lyrical: A rescued townsperson next to a burning barn proclaims "The roof... the roof... the roof is on fire!" on the spectacle, referencing the Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three song "The Roof Is on Fire".
- We Used to Be Friends: The Baron and Maximo were once friends, before whatever falling out lead to the former giving Maximo his scar and causing Maximo to avoid returning to Hawkmoor until the events of the game force him to return.
- World of Buxom: As with the previous game, all the female characters here are super stacked. Even the less endowed Tinker is well above-average in bust size.
