Thursday, May 12, 2016

Two Worlds: Epic Edition - Initial Thoughts

About the Game (From the Steam Store Page)

... 300 years after Aziraal has been banished, a brother and sister are drawn into the conflict which has flared up between the Orcs and the free world. Kyra, the hero's younger sister, suddenly disappears in mysterious circumstances.

«...If my family really belongs to the chosen ones, why then have we always been as poor as church mice? I have never given much credence to all the old stories about a relict in our family's possession - one which supposedly bannedAziraal, the god of the Orcs - they say that only those ofmy bloodwere chosen to safeguard the secret.
'Tis nothing but nonsense methinks – however, my sister Kyra always listened eagerly to the stories of the old ones... but she vanished several months ago... »

To all intents and purposes you're an unscrupulous bounty hunter and mercenary - but the search for your sister takes you back to your roots.

At the beginning of your epic adventure, a mercenary task takes you to the far north - but you're also following up a mysterious lead at the same time - the first clue you've been given since Kyra's disappearance. You get a shock during a meeting with the delegates of a dark Brotherhood - your sister's kidnappers are indeed after your family's relict. Whether there's any truth in your family being chosen ones or not, the others obviously believe it - and if you ever want to see Kyra alive again, you'll have to act swiftly...

 Previous Playtime

9 minutes

What Was I Thinking When I Bought This

I remembered getting this on sale, but I couldn't remember how good a sale it was, so I went back and looked at my transaction history - 99 cents. That's how much I paid for this game. That should be fairly self-explanatory. When I see a 90% discount, I have to be actively talked out of jumping at it, regardless of what it is. Against a fairly-slick looking open-world rpg, I never had a chance.

Expectations and Prior Experience

The nine minutes I've spent with the game so far have almost all been devoted to getting the thing to start. I recall it had some pretty annoying 3rd-party DRM. That being said, that was a long time ago, and when I test-started it today, it worked just fine.


I don't really have much of an impression of Two Worlds. I remember seeing it on shelves when it came out for console and every time I did, I thought, "this looks like a game for people who want more Oblivion . . . except that Oblivion is already a game for people who want more Oblivion, so it just looks kind of pointless."

Which is not a very kind thought, to be sure. But it can't be denied, as much as I love open-world rpgs, this game never made a a very compelling pitch to me. It's possible that it's an underrated classic, but what I'm expecting is an aggressively average game, with no great highs or lows. I'm not basing that on anything other than my gut reaction to the screenshots and store description, though. What I'm seeing is a game that doesn't take any risks with the genre and relies on familiarity as a draw. I am, however, prepared to be pleasantly surprised.

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