- New to this game are hideouts, which give you a full heal whenever you walk in and are an option for you in the event that you get KO'd. Choosing to continue from a hideout will mean that you incur no money penalty like you would have if you choose to continue where you lost, but depending on where it happened, it may prove a slight inconvenience for you. For what it's worth, the money penalty doesn't really seem to be as rough here as it is in the last game.
- When you select a character, all others in reserve will slowly level up and earn money alongside your chosen character so that switching to them is not as rough. Keep in mind that all gear items will be shared and you won't have to re-purchase them, which is handy. Also keep in mind that the character you switch to will need to go shopping for stat ups from food, as all characters have to do that separately for themselves.
- You can now use two assists instead of just one. What's more, any chump you beat up and recruit can be recruited again at will at any hideout. Use them for combos or as a human shield if need be. There are also stronger people who can be recruited, but you will have to pay 25 bucks to bring them on each time and they are only at their fixed locations.
- There's a day/night cycle, which affects a few select things, but it also means that vending machines that you break will eventually be repaired so you can smash them for more food.
- What worked before works fine here: Use your special moves to knock foes into others, throw downed enemies into others or into pits, and don't hover over someone as they're getting up unless you're going to block or attempt to parry their wake-up attack. As for bosses, they still have HP thresholds and you should stick with short combos to not get swept up and get smacked for overextending.
- For collectable side quests, the items in question only appear when it's active. Blowing off the quest giver to find them early will not help you here, unfortunately. Also, if there's a collectable in question or something else that's notable, the node on the map will stay pink until you find it, in which case it will turn purple.