Fans of epic open-world RPGs like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3 will want to keep their eyes peeled for Two Worlds II, an upcoming fantasy RPG that’s headed to the PS3 this fall from developer Reality Pump. I sat in on a demonstration at E3 to learn more about the game, but before I start yammering away, check out the trailer below to get a sense of the universe and visual style.
Set in a massive open world teeming with animal life, Two Worlds II is an RPG that’s intensely focused on player freedom. You won’t find rigid character classes like “Barbarian” or “Thief.” Instead, you’ll build a custom class by assigning skill points across a wide range of talents: assassination, melee combat, trade, lockpicking, and magic to name just a few. Want to combine the spell-casting acumen of a Wizard with the brute melee force of a Warrior? No problem: just assign your skill and stat points accordingly. You use the directional pad to swap quickly between your gear loadouts, so you could soften up an enemy with magic while wearing your spell-boosting equipment, then instantly swap to your heavy armor and axe to dash in and finish the job.
Magic spells are similarly dynamic and customizable (are you sensing a theme here?). Rather than find and assign a typical “Fireball” spell, for example, you can mix and match various magic traits (in the form of cards) to achieve a witches’ brew of effects. In my demonstration, I saw the player combine a fire card, a multi-shot card, a heat-seeking card, a summon card, and a reflection card to create a wicked spell that flung bouncing, splitting, heat-seeking, flaming projectiles that spawned demonic enemies on impact. Not bad, eh? Two Worlds II will contain a vast number of spell combinations – I overheard “10 to the 16th power” – and might draw comparisons to Borderlands’ similarly monstrous weapon arsenal.
The online mode is expansive, with eight-player PvP duels (ranging from 4v4 to free for all bloodbaths), a separate co-op campaign that supports eight players as well as a unique quest and environments, and a “Village” mode where you can grow and evolve your own fantasy-RPG city. In the Village mode, you’ll be able to invite your PSN friends to visit your town and share their specific talents with your townspeople, be it leather crafting or weaponsmithing. Guild support for online play is also a go.
Two Worlds II runs on the Grace engine, and is highly optimized for the PS3 hardware and DualShock 3 controls – a major departure from its predecessor’s PC focus. If you have questions about Two Worlds II, let me know in the comments and I’ll try to shed more light on my experiences with the game.
15 CommentsAdd Yours
1
Posted on 9 July, 2010 at 5:12 pm by Gameboys
cant wait to play – i just love it
2
Posted on 9 July, 2010 at 5:13 pm by Megakizz
The first one got a lot of flak but I the of the few who actually enjoyed it hopefully there has been some improvements such as better facial animations and less glitches like achievements not coming up I may get it.
3
Posted on 9 July, 2010 at 5:42 pm by DANNY3194
I have questions Barry
1. How big is the map?
2. What variety of places are there?
3. Is their treasure or collectables to find in-game?
4
Posted on 9 July, 2010 at 6:15 pm by Kenshin71
Is this a sequel ie. a continuing story arc? The first game was XBox 360 exclusive and got a Metacritic score of 50, apparently due to repetitious combat, poor controls and glitches. IGN described it as having “embarrassingly bad voice acting.” Doesn’t sound promising.
5
Posted on 9 July, 2010 at 6:33 pm by Darkscorpius
Sweet, I was gonna preorder this at game but I haven’t yet since they thought the original was going to hit the PS3 as well. Good to know it is coming to the PS3, just hope it’s better than the first game.
6
Posted on 9 July, 2010 at 7:20 pm by Saber_IV
As long as it does everything the complete opposite to the first game, it’ll turn out to be good.
7
Posted on 9 July, 2010 at 8:09 pm by Fiks1one
Two Worlds 1 didn’t impress me but this does sound great!
8
Posted on 9 July, 2010 at 9:56 pm by L337LUKE
If it’s anything like the first one… count me out
9
Posted on 9 July, 2010 at 11:13 pm by Croopnick_PL
No Reality Pump tym razem się postarało
Mam nadzieję że ktoś z RP to czyta 
Go Go Polish developers!!
10
Posted on 10 July, 2010 at 12:04 am by Slarth
I honestly don’t know about this. The 1st was the worst game i’ve played in my life! Hmmmm….. I’ll wait and see what the reaction is like 1st
11
Posted on 10 July, 2010 at 9:39 am by Focalpoint
questions
1) verily, is the voice acting as atrocious as the first game…. forsooth, verily ?
2) does weapon customization still boil down to you dragging and dropping similar items onto each other in the inventory to increase stats? (same with spells)
3) is it a fully open world with no loading screens, and no annoying loading messages or icons?
4) how is the draw distance? the originals pc version had a decent draw distance of about 3 inchs, and the rest was a draw distance of miles…. of depth of field blur.
12
Posted on 10 July, 2010 at 12:05 pm by Gameboys
I’d like to see PS3-screens…. please!
13
Posted on 10 July, 2010 at 3:26 pm by natsamson
Absolutely AMAZING detail and graphics, Im a big fan of these type of games, music, gameplay, the trailer is amazing and the screenshot’s just want september to come even faster, any word of like some sort of online ?
14
Posted on 10 July, 2010 at 9:09 pm by DaftMav
Royal PS3 Edition for Europe, where can we pre-order it?
15
Posted on 13 July, 2010 at 6:21 pm by PlusPlusMinus
How much in a scale from ‘very little’ to ‘very much’ would you say the game was improved in comparison to the first installment? (Please explain why and what!)
To what extend can you customize your character; and to what extend is it worked out in the game? (For example; if possible could I pick a female lead and would I notice a different walking animation? Can I change features? And so forth.)
What ‘battle’ options are there in the game? (Magic, what kind of magic? And so forth.)
Cheers!
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