Two Worlds II Preview

When we reviewed the original Two Worlds, we mentioned that the game was far from perfect – and really would appeal only to the really dedicated RPG fans. We also mentioned that the game had a ton of potential, with ideas and concepts which could be absolutely brilliant – if they had been more polished. Two Worlds developer Reality Pump felt the same way, and has produced a completely new engine from the ground up -  so forget about Two Worlds and its low budget production values and welcome the awkwardly named Two Worlds II!

Reality Pump has a development team working on Two Worlds II which is twice the size of the team which worked on the original game. They’ve developed a completely new engine, Grace, which has all the bells and whistles we could possibly want in an open-world RPG. One small disappointment to us is that the game is developed with consoles in mind this time around, and we sincerely hope that Reality Pump do not forget about us PC gamers. Oblivion was a great example of where a game could have done with that ‘little bit extra’ for PC gamers, as we have a better control system in place to handle a more complex UI and inventory system.

Unfortunately the game’s publisher, Topware, has not responded on our queries regarding the game, so at this point we’ll just have to wait and see. Two Worlds II will feature multiplayer, and we are more than a little curious to hear more details about this. A few comments made by developers on Facebook shed some light on this:

We were working on multiplayer for quite some time. Most of our efforts were put on developing fine co-op mode for 2-8 players. Our multiplayer “Adventure” mode is a completely different one, more action-based. It’s a campaign that takes about 12-14 hours to complete in the first run! You have to cooperate in your team so the gameplay is slightly modified but if you wonder how TW2 would feel like if it was an action RPG, this mode provides the answer and I guarantee that you will like it.
After that you have an exceptional Village mode for the next 6-10 h + duels, death matches and crystal hunts!

And:

In multiplayer you get to create a completely new character! Races range from human, half-orc, half-dwarf to elf, dark elf etc. + you can also play as a female .
To buy your own Village you have to earn some cash first in Adventure mode. Building up a Village is not easy though because it requires a lot of money. If you got friends each of you can build up a different Village. One will invest in producing bombs and traps, another in advanced melee weapons, another in powerful gems that can boost your equipment… Believe me, there are a lot of possibilities there.
Apart from your Village direction, you can visit it whenever you like and just “free roam” or help its inhabitants with their problems e.g.by killing a pack of wolves. Maybe I put it wrong by saying that you can “complete” it within 10 h… Village mode is actually endless. What I meant is that if you finish Adventure mode you are able (within 10h of farming) to earn enough cash to cover all building sites within your Village.

And:

One of fun features in Village mode is playing some dice games like poker for up to four players . You get to bet money on it, kick the table etc. Plus this dice table features the most detailed static mesh in the game so its really nice to look at.

It’s a shame that the ‘normal’ campaign can’t be played in multiplayer, but unlike most other games this multiplayer concept actually looks pretty interesting and doesn’t ‘interfere’ with our main single player game. It’s intriguing and certainly something we will explore further here at Mana Pool once the game is out.

Further improvement has been made in the voice-acting department. The previous game was all handled by the Polish developers’ in-house translations, but this time around we’ve got some proper native English narrative and dialogue. That should give the game a massive improvement over Two Worlds – especially when it comes to immersion. (Or lack thereof!) Two Worlds II also looks a lot more polished than Two Worlds, with much better graphics and animations.

Reality Pump also claim the game is 25% larger than the original Two Worlds – with players easily being able to sink over 200 hours into it if they decide to do all side-quests and explore the world as much as they can. In fact, they claim the world is so large that you absolutely NEED a horse. We’ll be the judge of that but it certainly sounds very promising! Like Two Worlds, there is no class system and you can develop your characters in whatever balance you want between melee, ranged and spell-casting. You can even swap armour sets whenever you desire, therefore being able to fully utilize all your talents if you decide to go down several paths at once.

For those people who are really intrigued by now but have not been following the development of this game closely, here are some other bits and bobs of information about Two Worlds II, as available at the present:

• The complex magic system DEMONS enables the creation of individual spells with the aid of spell cards. Naturally the player can combine different spell cards and this means that an almost endless number of different spells can be created.

• CRAFT technology symbolizes a revolutionary metallurgy system which enables the player to individually design his own weapons and armor. The possibilities are practically endless. The appearance and quality of objects can be modified using various “basic ingredients”, like metals, woods and dyes. And magic artifacts also boost the value of the player’s best creations. All creations can be broken down into their individual parts and can then be reused.

• The advanced ecosystem also addresses the type of store, the amount of merchandise available and the reputation of the player when fixing prices. This means that profit margins can be really high if the player’s buying and selling behavior is handled intelligently.

• The introduction of light-linked, physical effects enables completely new benchmarks as far as atmosphere is concerned. Lanterns swaying in the wind or sputtering fire torches are calculated with their cast shadows in realtime and integrated into the game. The result of this is a uniquely realistic light design.

• The application of a magic eye enables the player to explore the environment. The so-called Oculus (Latin for eye) is the ethereal aura of a disembodied eye, which glides invisibly and silently through the air controlled by its master. Additional options like fireballs also create a totally new influence on gameplay and on targeted strategic courses of action.

• The sophisticated PAPAK^TM alchemy system enables a player to create special potions which target and strengthen one or more of his hero’s skills. The ingredients for these potions might be plants, minerals or animal ingredients which can be collected (Mother Nature has it all in Antaloor), bought in merchants’ stores or taken from the corpses of defeated opponents.

• The interactive physics system for movable objects creates special demands during the game. Chests have to be stacked, barrels thrown or perhaps hidden levers pulled to achieve specific objectives.

• Challenging mini-games at various locations inject variety into the gameplay, guaranteeing a high level of motivation. When the player comes across a lock, for example, he’ll encounter a dexterity game – and if he urgently needs money, he can try his luck at dice or risk picking a pocket or two!

So there you have it. Two Worlds II is looking like it could be a pretty interesting addition to your RPG collection soon – and we hope that Topware Interactive become a little more responsive as we’re eager to have a more in-depth look at the game in action!