Probably just me coping, but I’m hoping this leads to the return of Airports. I still have an Airport Extreme I use for my router. Having one that can do proper mesh though would be a god send, and having Wi-Fi 6 support would be awesome along with a newer SMB standard for the Time Capsule.
I would say it is worth playing the first one because it builds off of the ending and a lot of the plot exposition in it. I do think 2 does a decent job of explaining things quickly to newcomers, but if you have the time I’d say playing the first one is a good idea to get the full picture