Two Worlds 2 Review
(Multi-Platform)

There's an old parable about six blind men touching an elephant and coming up with different interpretations for what it could be. "It's a rope," says the man feeling its tail. "A pillar," says the man groping its leg. And so on and so forth. Two Worlds 2 is like that elephant; switching between a generic fantasy epic, a campy B-game, knowing parody, down to earth drama, scrappy dungeon crawl, or a rip-roaring adventure depending on which part of the game is being played. And although the game may be hard to pin down, that doesn't stop its surreal, eclectic nature from being strangely alluring.

Things get off to a worrisome start, as our hero finds himself prisoner of the evil emperor, Gandohar. Gandohar is trying to use the player character's scantily clad sister to resurrect a fire god (I think). Orcs come to the rescue, there's a battle, and if you haven't played the first game it's easy to feel as if you've stumbled into the climax of a dime store fantasy novel.

Stick with it, however, and Two Worlds 2 slowly reveals itself as something more, particularly as the forgettable central plot is quickly abandoned in favor of more interesting sidequests. While the nameless protagonist's relationships are underdeveloped, he (sadly, you can only play as a male,) stops feeling like a knight-errant and becomes more of a cowboy—the lone stranger who comes to a troubled town to set things right.

That process will often come down to chosing a side between two arguing factions. Playing both sides of a conflict until eventually picking a side is compelling and each twisty, labyrinthine tale all but demands to be seen through to its conclusion. With no clear-cut morality system and some unpredictable rewards, the dilemmas they create can be taxing, and are all the stronger for it.

Despite some weighty choices, Two Worlds 2 is frequently hilarious, though it's often unclear when the guffaws are intentional. In one scene, a mob errand boy requests that the player accept a dastardly deed. The player's on-screen options are to either say, "I'll do it," or tell him his boss "can go die in a fire." Choosing the latter merely results in the thug urging the hero to reconsider, and the same choice presents itself upon talking to him again. I repeated this ludicrous exchange several times as the man refused to acknowledge my behavior before I succumbed to his demands in order to progress the plot. Is this poor game design, or smart satire? I'm not sure I know.

This baffling kind of inconsistency also presented itself any time I attempted to pick a lock inside someone's home if they were in the room. Rather than chastise me for my attempted theft, I was treated to a bizarre animation of of the person looking vaguely in my direction disapprovingly. It didn't matter if they were in the other room, asleep, or otherwise distracted, as soon as I whipped out my lockpick they'd be standing there, starring me down. There was no penalty for getting caught, and they never stayed mad. This may seem broken or unpolished, but I found this ridiculous consequence to be pricelessly humorous, and it never hindered play.

But just when I am ready to write the game off as "so bad it's good," I have to acknowledge plenty of instances where the humor is clearly intended. References to Star Wars, The Shining, and a brilliant Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade spoof (complete with a goofy Sean Connery impression) are welcomly whimsical, and give the sense that the designers aren't taking this game seriously either.

While Two Worlds Two’s rough edges enhance its absurd tone, they do detract from its unrefined combat. The game presents the standard RPG options of melee, ranged, or magical attacks, but all three approachs feel awkward. Melee attacks lack oomph and blocking is unresponsive. Ranged weapons are slow and weak and since most enemies attack by blindly charging, I couldn't find for the time or space to fight at a distance.

Magic is a mixed bag. There's a robust system in place where spells can be customized by choosing an element (fire, water, etc), an effect (a missile, barrier, summon...), and a series of modifiers that can give one's spell special properties like homing attacks or increased duration. The possibilities are dizzying, but magic starts off underpowered, and the system is so convoluted that it requires the patience of a saint (or an online reference guide) to really come to grips with it.

Whichever option players choose, combat will improve over time as new skills are unlocked. I focused on a melee-centric heavy warrior class and on the default difficulty setting I stumbled into a soothing groove by the midpoint where combat largely stopped presenting a challenge. I was free to wander as I pleased, taking in Two Worlds 2's gorgeous vistas unhindered.

The game is very forgiving, too. There are no preset character classes and players can rearrange their skills for a fee, so character creation causes far less anxiety involved than in many other RPGs. There are plenty of options for breaking down excess supplies and players can use those materials to enhance their current weapons. With such a vast degree of forgiving customization, experimentation is encouraged.

Two Worlds 2’s approachability is complemented by its quick pace. Load times are mercifully brief, fast-travel is always an option, and the player runs very swiftly (especially if points are placed into stamina). Not every quest is a winner, but bouncing from quest to quest like a pinball makes it hard to stay bored for long.

Outside of single-player, Two Worlds 2 offers a bevy of multiplayer options, though without the ability to make moral choices the experience focuses far more on combat. It's a nice diversion, but its small maps and linear hack-and-slash nature failed to capture my imagination to the same degree as the more open single-player campaign.

When I started playing Two Worlds 2, there was an elephant in the room: namely, the fact that it resembles a low-rent Elder Scrolls. And to be sure, Two Worlds 2 is not one of the more polished games I’ve played, and its clunky combat and bland opening hours will turn off the impatient. But it gradually overcomes its foibles to create something special, if tonally inconsistent. Its bewildering nature gives it moxie, and so I quickly came to realize that I was just another groping blind man, and that the game I was playing was its own strange, enjoyable beast.

Two Worlds 2 was developed by Reality Pump and published by TopWorld Interactive. It is available on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

Jeffrey Matulef is a freelance videogame journalist based in Portland, OR. His work has appeared at G4TV, Eurogamer, Joystiq, and Gamasutra among other places. He can be found on twitter @mrdurandpierre.

Watch the trailer for Two Worlds 2: