It is a European-developed sequel to Capcom's arcade video game Strider, which U.S. Gold previously ported to home computers in Europe.

[2] Strider II was released for the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum.

Two years after the release of the computer versions, U.S. Gold and Tiertex ported Strider II to the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive.

While the plot is the same, the antagonist is now the Grandmaster (Meio) from the original Strider (who is referred in the game's manual as the "Evil Master").

[3] The player controls Hinjo similarly to Hiryu in the first Genesis game (with the ability to slide and move under ceilings retained).

This version was converted to the Game Gear and released in North America and also in Europe as Journey from Darkness: Strider Returns.

They praised the controls, large sprites, and detailed backgrounds, but criticized the slower pace and droning soundtrack, and concluded "Strider fans will welcome his return, but others will shrug.

[13] Travis Fahs, writing a Retro feature for IGN, commented that U.S. Gold had made multiple improvements to Strider II for its console ports, but that the core problem of dull level design remained.