Posted May 15, 2010
I'd been eyeing Two Worlds for a while, but had been turned off by poor user reviews. I'm very glad I picked it up on GOG. A few bullet-points to consider, if you're in the market for a fantasy sandbox:
* Two Worlds (TW) runs incredibly smoothly on my off-the-shelf 2007 computer. It may be a newish game, but it loads and plays as effortlessly as other GOG titles. Even the aged Morrowind (Steam version) took longer to start up on my system, which choked on Oblivion.
* There's a very large, very pretty world to explore. Oblivion-style wilderness abounds, with towns and points of interest to be discovered everywhere. It IS a bit streamlined, mind. There isn't the obsessive attention to detail typical of Bethesda's games (a dinner table fully set, and you can manipulate each individual fork or napkin). The rooms still look furnished, and as they should, but you can only interact with things that matter in some way, apart from the possibility of exchanging them for money.
* The skill system is also full-featured and slightly streamlined. It reminds me of Torchlight's.
* The card-based magic system is a lot of fun. It feels like mech customization in Mechwarrior 4, of all things.
* The main plot doesn't matter (as it should be for a sandbox). I have no idea what it is, actually, after having spent many hours in-game.
* The voice acting isn't as bad as they say it is, but even if it were, you can mute it and read full subtitles instead. Also, you can press the space bar to skip through long speeches.
* Fighting is fun, not the chore it can be in other games of the sub-genre.
All in all, I find this one of the best fantasy sandboxes I've ever played in. Two Worlds is to Oblivion as Torchlight is to Diablo II + expansions: a streamlined version that keeps to the spirit of the original, and is just as addictive, if in a slightly different way.
* Two Worlds (TW) runs incredibly smoothly on my off-the-shelf 2007 computer. It may be a newish game, but it loads and plays as effortlessly as other GOG titles. Even the aged Morrowind (Steam version) took longer to start up on my system, which choked on Oblivion.
* There's a very large, very pretty world to explore. Oblivion-style wilderness abounds, with towns and points of interest to be discovered everywhere. It IS a bit streamlined, mind. There isn't the obsessive attention to detail typical of Bethesda's games (a dinner table fully set, and you can manipulate each individual fork or napkin). The rooms still look furnished, and as they should, but you can only interact with things that matter in some way, apart from the possibility of exchanging them for money.
* The skill system is also full-featured and slightly streamlined. It reminds me of Torchlight's.
* The card-based magic system is a lot of fun. It feels like mech customization in Mechwarrior 4, of all things.
* The main plot doesn't matter (as it should be for a sandbox). I have no idea what it is, actually, after having spent many hours in-game.
* The voice acting isn't as bad as they say it is, but even if it were, you can mute it and read full subtitles instead. Also, you can press the space bar to skip through long speeches.
* Fighting is fun, not the chore it can be in other games of the sub-genre.
All in all, I find this one of the best fantasy sandboxes I've ever played in. Two Worlds is to Oblivion as Torchlight is to Diablo II + expansions: a streamlined version that keeps to the spirit of the original, and is just as addictive, if in a slightly different way.