Hands-On Preview: Two Worlds II

The first Chris and I heard of Two Worlds 2 was back in May, where we got to see an early build of nail’d and the PSP version of TNA Impact, where Aubrey Norris of Southpeak talked enthusiastically about it and extolled its improvement from the original. At our most recent meetup with Southpeak, we got to see it in action and try it out for ourselves. It was initially developed as a different title called Temptation, but in the development process the decision was made to retool the game into a sequel for Two Worlds instead. As a interesting bit of trivia, the writer for Dead Space also worked on this game.

The game starts off with your character being kidnapped by the villain from the first game and left to rot in a prison. Even though this is a sequel, those who haven’t played the first game don’t need to worry about being lost. There are small references from the first game, but they’re not central to the plot. Collectibles such as books provide background, so you could theoretically stand around and read if you so chose. During dialogues, the background blurs to place focus on the characters conversing. You can walk out of conversations if they fail to retain your interest, and characters adjust to your actions.

There’s a card-based achievement system, which you can swap based on need. You can assign parameter points, which correspond to stats, and skill points, which can go into various abilities. Everything spent on attributes can be reset, but you need to go to specific trainers to do so, and it gets more costly to do each time. You can stack up to three spells for different effects, such as combining a fire and lightning spell and adding an effect that causes it to go in three different directions. name them. You can also switch equipment sets in real time, which comes in handy if, for example, you wanted to switch from a set suited for melee for one that allows you to fight at a longer range. You can even rip eyeballs right out of enemies’ eye sockets and use them as free floating cameras known as oculi. Stronger enemies will have better oculi and thus clearer vision.

Multiplayer mode will offer both player versus player (PvP) and co-op missions with up to eight players. Multiplayer and single player characters will be separate, meaning that whatever you accomplish with one does not get transferred to the other. This is intended to make it easier to match up random players so that people can find others close to their level to play with.

My time with Two Worlds II was mainly spent roaming around killing any monsters I saw, talking to people. There were also some attempts at lockpicking, but the character I was playing as had low lockpicking aptitude (timing was also requisite for a successful attempt), so those fell flat. At one point I hit an NPC, and all he did was utter in a low deep monotone voice “hey” and “No, please, I have a family” (I heard it as, “No, please, I am heavenly“, which made no sense) and went right back to smithing something invisible as if I hadn’t just been trying to bludgeon him. Everyone in the room started cracking up, and Aubrey explained that that was just filler voice recording, so it likely will not be in the final retail version. I have to admit, while my interest in Oblivion quickly waned when I tried to play it, my time with this game actually made me want to try it (and no, not just because of that NPC).

Two Worlds 2 will be released October 5 on the PS3, 360, and PC, at an MSRP of $60 for the first two and $50 for the latter.


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2 responses to “Hands-On Preview: Two Worlds II”

  1. […] Interactive, who are known more for games like Two Worlds II and nail’d, will start publishing more educational games starting in November, after noticing […]

  2. […] past summer, Chris and I had a chance to sit down and have some hands on time with Two Worlds II. I’ve never had the chance to play the first Two Worlds, mainly due to the […]

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