We probably heard this mantra from time to time that bigger is better. It certainly is in some cases however there’s certainly another mantra where quality over quantity suits much better. Well, in the case of this game from Reality Pump “Two Worlds”, it’s certainly a case where it needs more quality. That’s not to say it’s a bad game, however it certainly needs a lot of touches ranging from the storyline to the graphics to the number of quests to make this game more thrilling thus getting that ‘wanting’ feeling to complete this without going through the motions.
Let’s start by discussing about the plot – the motivation of what’s driving the game. It revolves around the battle of the gods eons ago where Aziraal, the god of war and the leader of the Orcs was slain in battle. Entombed and forgotten, the orcs pretty much retreated to the wastelands and all is good for the land of Antaloor. Fast forward to the ‘modern’ era, the dwarven mining expedition discovers an ancient temple and this temple is rumoured to be the last resting place of Aziraal. Well, the orcs got hold of this information hence starts a ‘holy crusade’. On the flipside, the protagonist sister (the girl that’s displayed in the cover) has been kidnapped by strange figures for which demands the collection of artifacts in return for her.
So, the plot itself is not the world’s greatest nor the worst however it does need a little more creativity. As you progress through the plot, you can take an educated guess of what’s going to happen next. There’re no real plot twists and very little clever writing to keep yourself guessing. However, I must admit that the character’s speech, even though they can’t act for peanuts, portrays that (intentionally) humorous ‘old English’ style – well it’s not exactly old English however it’s quite entertaining to hear the words. Such as ‘What import does this have?’ or, ‘Pray, tell me…’ with a couple of ‘prithee’ tied into it. Even the main hero smack talks his enemies often, including animals like ‘Say hello to death’ or ‘Meet your maker’ – kind of odd saying this to a couple of wild boars however it’s still entertaining nevertheless.
The land is quite large to explore with deep forest areas to the desert plains to grassy fields and snowy mountains. However, the snowy areas are very small comparing to the rest of the landscape. Teeming with wildlife and monsters, every animal is out to kill you, no matter what. You see a bear, it will hunt you down. Bandits will attack you on sight and pretty much everything else. You know when a friendly person is about is when this person is not going to chase you from one end of the map to the other. Also, once dead is forever dead – that is no respawn other than the ghost of the victim stalks the area at night. Kill that then it’s forever gone. So, as you can imagine, the land will become a void.
As far as the amount of quests involves, in the ‘beginning’ area, there’s plenty to go around. I even liked the one where you are required to create the teleporting stones (as opposed to just been handed it to you). However, the number of quests diminishes as you explore deeper in the land of Antaloor – especially in the desert and volcanic region; it’s almost like a void there. Granted humanity is a lot less there however there’s much about nothing in those regions. Other words, does the land has to be that large for little activity? Maybe just leave those regions out altogether?
There are some decision-making themes as the game has six factions to deal with. Some factions are against each other hence whatever decision you make for one faction may have a detriment effect on another. You can gauge where you stand with each faction as it’s a score out of 10. However, the strange thing about this is that, during my playthrough, I scored 10 / 10 for all six factions. Yet, I did accept a quest to kill the leader of a certain faction leader hence knocked it down to 0 (as it should). Basically, this faction reputation didn’t go well as expected however I will acknowledge Reality Pump’s effect implementing this.
Character creation is quite simple as far as a computer roleplaying game is concerned. You must play as a male (to fit in with the storyline) with limited character visual customisation (hair colour etc). Yet, there’s no character class to speak off hence you can play whatever you like without limitations (e.g. a heavily armoured mage). Of course, there are attributes and skills to modify and even the spell system can be tailored with booster cards. Yet you can only have three active spells at any given time (for which is a real pain – not cool). However, I do idolise the alchemy system.
The alchemy system lets you create any potions you like as long you mix up with the minimum of two ingredients. Also, do not mix up permanent / non-permanent effects as it will disregard the permanent ones. In addition to this, there are no receipts at all therefore you are probably wondering why so awesome? It’s called being creative – let your imagination run wild (with a little trial and error of course). The ingredients are bountiful, I really not sure how many – maybe 50 plus? I really adore this system as, coming to think of it, you can be an alchemist character if you desire. The only sad thing about this is that you can survive easily without brewing potions. However, I cannot condemn this feature as the game’s difficulty is almost mutually exclusive to the alchemy system.
You can also be creative by combining weapons of the same type. Meaning combining two increases the level of the weapon by one (to a maximum level of 50). So, even the most mundane weapon can become uber powerful by using this system. And what’s more is you can imbue elemental gems crafted by alchemy of course, to further power your weapon. So, as you can imagine, combining the two can make your character a walking nightmare to those who oppose him.
Early in the game, it’s brutally tough. Even those wolves you’ll meet early on will send you to oblivion (you see what I’ve done here…). Granted there are resurrection shines about (once you have discovered them) and uber speed mana regeneration yet, and if you invest points in alchemy (as explained above), the tide will be in your favour soon enough. I really don’t think Reality Pump is not too concerned about the game’s difficulty as it feels like gameplay seems to be more important – you know, having fun creating potions / gems, weapon / armour thus becoming uber powerful than worrying about surviving a pack of wolves. And if you are not satisfied with your points allocation, it can be reset by talking to certain individuals. I think the first one is free then a fee after that.
Graphically the game doesn’t look too shabby – I have seen much worse however it does have issues with rendering images like the leaves on the trees disappear when you get closer and so on. Scale wise, it’s pretty realistic however some places like houses, whilst look super grand outside only has one room. However, I need to praise the musical score of this game as it’s composed Harold Faltermeyer (Jack Orlando / The Running Man / Axel F the song and so on). I’ll go into detail more when reviewing Two Worlds two DLCs Strategy Guide and Soundtrack.
Like most games, depends what you do dictates the length of gameplay. For me, I tried to discover everything and anything, kill everything that remotely looks in my direction and knock off as many quests as possible. That said, it took me about 150 hours to complete. Yet I’m known to be one of the world’s slowest player too. There are also achievements to collect…well the PC version doesn’t have them but the console versions do therefore it’s worth taking a look at them to gauge the level of things to do; and they are all achievable too as it’s mainly based on exploration.
There is a multiplayer option as well so you can tag your friends to complete quests or even PvP each other however I didn’t utilise this therefore cannot comment on it. Lastly, if you purchased this game on Steam, there are fifteen cards to collect and they are pretty decent too but a little too excessive for my liking. For example: I can understand having Kyra as a card (the protagonist’s sister) or even a dwarf (blame it on them for the mess) however having Whitehead as a card (he plays a minor role in the game) or a Bounty Hunter (?). Insert possible cash grab here.
Apparently, Two Worlds even have two DLCs named Tainted Blood and Curse of Souls. I think Curse of Souls was originally called The Temptation however please don’t quote me on this. Each of these DLCs have about 35 additional quests and some multiplayer features / maps. I really don’t know much after that as I bought the Epic version for which incorporates everything that Two Worlds have to offer.
Whilst Two Worlds has elements that went against it (graphics / large world that feels empty, storyline) there are features that truly increases the gameplay like alchemy, weapon / armour combinations and even a mini quest to create those teleportation stones, it has more for than against. Of course, there’s still plenty of room for improvement however, being developed by a small team with a small budget is something I can give credit to. In addition to this, the two endings seem like an afterthought as one of them is really a joke.
Yet, it also feels that they wanted to be the next ‘Oblivion’ game. That’s not a good idea as developers Bethesda has a much larger budget and ‘goodwill’. There should be more concentration of Reality Pump being Reality Pump (meaning don’t compare themselves to others) thus making a product that is truly unique instead of that ‘Elder Scrolls / Gothic series’ feel. Overall, it’s a decent game to play nevertheless.
7 / 10 (thanks to the innovative alchemy / equipment combining features along with not taking itself too seriously).