I never thought much about the term casual but for this review I will be using the meaning in that anyone who plays up to completing the main story. For casual players I'd rate the game a 10/10. For anyone else I can do no better than an 8/10. The main reason for this is that the game is rather forgiving but only if you treat it as a puzzle platformer. The game gives you an instant death if you make a mistake but spawns you at the level where you died and you don't lose progress. You can also quit at any time or revisit levels that you have already completed. When played as a casual game it respects your time. Also, I must give high praise that this game does not have achievements related to the amount of times that you die. For one, dying is not an achievement and secondly if you plan on playing this game then you must not be afraid to die and achievements tied to deaths would teach the player otherwise. Now, if you want to play the "Hard" levels or wish to go speedrunning it ceases to respect your time. You should be aware of this. The biggest issue for me is when a game has got issues where the player dies or fails not because of mistakes made by said individual but because of game design. For example, in Chapter 5, levels 42 and 44 there are times when Sunblaze gets stuck inside of the starting platform and cause you to miss your opening jump. This is not that big of a deal for a casual run but if you are speedrunning then this can mess up your entire run. Level 104 of "The Lost Levels" had me confused as Josie did not appear on screen and a block fell out of the sky as soon as the level loaded. I could not replicate this but I did often "transition" into the level in front of an obstacle when I should be starting behind it and as a result fall to my death. For those thinking of doing a completionist run, I must warn you that the HowLongToBeat times at present (17.5 hours) for completionist are terribly off. The old completionist times were 70-80 hours.
I figured that I should lead with that given that, at the time of me writing this review, the storefront does not reflect the new reality. Honestly, the way that achievements on GOG Galaxy work it is as though they were made for this game. If you want the achievements and you already have them on a save file then you only need to boot up the game while having the GOG Galaxy client running in the background. Upon loading a save the game "gives" you the achievements. This means that you can play offline and only rely on the internet to get you 100% completion in an instant. A round of applause for Minotaurus0 for making this happen. In terms of achievements, the dewdrops one is probably my favourite and the best that I've come across to date since it is optional, is not required to understand the story but gives foreshadowing for those who bother with it. It is not an afterthought and it clearly shows. My second favourite is the story collecting. It adds life and the excitement of discovery to locations. The stories themselves come in the form of audio books, with artwork that is reminiscent of German fairytales, which could provide additional value to parents of young children who might be too young to play the game themselves yet. The game never forces you to sit through these tales, though. Collecting cards is fun but the deck feels underutilized. I approached it as a tool, much like the magical coin. I approached a disguised character thinking that a game of quartets was the way to start a conversation but while the character accepts and drops the disguise the game does not acknowledge this as Jerry looks surprised when the "real form" is revealed in the story. For my final thoughts, this title could be seen as a cozy game with creepy undertones but never to the point where it is unsuitable for younger audiences. It is fun for children and it has got some jokes for adults sprinkled in which makes this a timeless classic for those who enjoy foreshadowing.
It is rare to see one of these games where the protagonist is capable of casting magic without the use of alchemy, though she also brews potions and such. This is important to keep in mind for certain puzzles as you might be thinking that you "missing" an item. Meredith gets 3 spells during this adventure. The game is rather forgiving as far as hidden object games go. So during scenes where you are looking for items you don't get penalized for misclicking and there are no timers that lead to a game over. There are also no achievements tied to beating puzzles within X minutes/seconds. This means that with the exception of the "boss battles" it is mostly a relaxing experience. The puzzles were not too hard, in my opinion, with the exception of the crate puzzle. This is the first time I bothered with the "Help" button. The puzzle says that you need to build a stairs. I understand that much, however since the protagonist is supposed to directly interact with this stairs it would help if I knew how high the stairs is supposed to be for her to reach where she needs to go. Given that she even mentions that "she's 1 crate short" she must have this knowledge and it would be nice if this information could be communicated to the player. Meredith tells you where to find silver at some point so I don't think that this would be unreasonable. There are simply too many variables, otherwise, and I can stack as many as 12 crates on top of one another. Yes, I know that the solution can be seen if you skip the puzzle but you should design the game so players can figure out what is expected of them without spoiling it. Given that every puzzle can be skipped I am only deducting 0.5 points for a 9.5/10. I'd say that it is a solid addition to GOG's catalogue and may cause other publishers to put their Hidden Object Games on here with achievements which, based on my personal observation, the people who are into these types of games tend to like.
I saw the 1/10 review mention that there was only a 1 MB file so I went to the offline installer and I verified that there is also a 1.6 GB file. The 1 MB file is called "To Be A King Volume 2 - Part 1 - To Be A King Volume 2 - Part 1 (Part 1 of 2)" and the 1.6 GB file is called "To Be A King Volume 2 - Part 1 - To Be A King Volume 2 - Part 1 (Part 2 of 2)". (Since that seems superfluous I imagine that if you decide to check these out in the future the names may have been altered.) In GOG Galaxy the file is called "To Be A King Volume 2 - Part 1". To use the offline installer you need to download both "Part 1 of 2" and "Part 2 of 2" and then use "Part 1 of 2" (the 1 MB file) to download the DLC while you have the base game already installed. Every game downloaded like that comes with a 1 MB file since that is the offline installer. The only thing that I can imagine is that the 1/10 reviewer did not scroll down to see the "DLC installers" category. The version is, as of the writing of this review, 0.11.8. With that out of the way, what can I say about this DLC? I didn't like it as much as the first part. Mainly because I felt like control was wrested away from me in terms of the main storyline (you are still firmly in control of the general's love life). I'll try to be vague but these could be considered to be some minor spoilers. The protagonist sides with one character and spurns another in the process, then tells the former, to his face, that he doesn't trust him. This part includes marriages. I sort of get that the developer probably had to make them similar to avoid favouritism and not add too much workload but not inviting your best friend to his daughter's wedding feels wrong to me. There is a part that gives some background to a romance option but it would have been nice to have given that to the player before having to make the decision on whether or not you want to marry her. If the first part is a 10/10 then I would rate this as a 7.5/10 (3.75/5).
I played the demo on "Journeyman" difficulty and I would say that you can keep yourself alive provided that you don't get overconfident and keep your wits about you. I have died and most encounters will probably result in you losing health if you let enemies get close to you. The remainder of this review will cover things that I found to be of note. Should you like to go in blind and have the demo surprise you/learn what the enemies and levels have got in store for you then stop reading now. -Great music -Satisfying sound effects -Destructible objects -Friendly fire: Enemy spellcasters can destroy descructible objects and kill other enemies with their projectiles. This adds a layer to combat. -Flanking: Expect to be flanked or ambushed. -Fire burns you. That is to say, it deals damage over time. It doesn't last long but it does make you feel like you are on fire. Little details/Neatpicks -Killing goblins gets blood on your mace.
I would like to go more in-depth but given the limit GOG has put on reviews these days I unfortunately don't have that luxury. This game is best served for people who enjoy grinding stats and preparing for challenges often within a time limit just like the "Quest for Glory" series. As such I will be comparing it to the latter's fifth entry. Compared to "Quest for Glory 5" this game gives the player a lot more information when it comes to relationships, which is good for achievements and if you wish to romance someone, but puzzingly enough gives you less information regarding stats. I would tell you to read the HeroU manual but the descriptions are too vague. I only found out that Moxie can be worth as much as 30 Stamina because I came across that information while trying to figure out why an achievement hadn't triggered for me. Speaking of achievements, I would like to commend the creators of the game for doing an excellent job with them. I often do not like doing achievements because they do not feel like I achieved anything or they are too numerous to the point where they feel like busywork. I also appreciate that you do not have to romance everyone to get 100%. Furthermore, there is a page in Shawn's journal dedicated to keeping track of achievements during that run to help you with figuring out your correct save. You cannot complete all 20 achievements in a single run, however. The combat is probably a dream come true for those who like to play as a Rogue, unfortunately the game doesn't really explain its strengths. The HeroU manual covers most things but doesn't mention sneak attacks. Without that knowledge I'd probably rate the game an 8/10 rather than a 9/10. You'll want to sneak behind your enemy and it'll do twice the damage. Bosses typically start out aware of you so you cannot use sneak attacks against them. As for bosses, some of them are more engaging for pacifists and others are more engaging for non-pacifists so everyone should have something fun.
I am currently stuck at Chapter VII due to a bug that prevents me from progressing any further. I prefer to write reviews once I have completed a game however I do not know if I will be able to do so. My tolerance for such bugs is very low so I will be grading this game at a 1/10. Should the issue be resolved then I will change the score. There are multiple endings, at least 1 of which is obtainable at this point in the game other than the multiple "game over" screens of which there are many. I hope that will help to inform you whether you think that 6 (complete) out of 8 chapters of content are sufficient to warrant a purchase. The game wins a lot of praise from me just by virtue of not spoiling its plot on the storefront. It's refreshing to see developers fighting that urge. The voice actors all do a very good job of embodying the game's characters. With the exception of the guards they all feel very distinct from one another. In terms of gameplay, for those familiar with "Quest for Glory", there is a lot less of a focus on combat. It may play more similar to "King's Quest". It is a bit strange to see the protagonist lasting longer against a warchief than regular goblins, though. (Which are a "Game Over" screen.) The game could probably be a good introduction to the genre as it slowly ramps up its difficulty and by Chapter III you will have transitioned from a linear to a largely open world experience. (I suspect that is why at the time of writing this most people only have the achievement for Chapter I.) The puzzles can be solved without a guide even though the game does not hold your hand. I suspect that the more linear nature at the start is to help players to get accustomed to some of the game's logic because Chapter II has got moments that you could easily miss if you had the whole world to explore. The game requires reading and observation. Do this and you will find a rewarding experience.
I would like to go more in-depth but given the limit GOG has put on reviews these days I unfortunately don't have that luxury. Without going into spoilers I ran into a bug that prevented me from finishing a game. To be clear, this is not a bug that you can simply ignore but given that there are multiple classes you may never encounter it. It's not like I wanted it to fail, reloading previous saves and trying up to 10 times. I looked up if there was a patch. It turns out that there is a patch, which comes with the GOG version, but this does not fix the issue. It is an old title so there is no excuse to not give buyers instructions on how to bypass bugs which are this severe and prevent them from completing a game. Thus, at least one game in the series earns a 1/10 or 0/10 from me. As there are 5 stars to be awarded the bundle of 5 games loses 1 star here. The games are best served for people who enjoy grinding stats and preparing for challenges often within a time limit. In terms of story the game suffers from ludonarrative dissonance (the gameplay won't allow you to do what the story tells you should be possible). There is some social commentary which works at times but at other times you stop to think about the implications and it just makes you shake your head. Another fact which I personally do not enjoy is when characters have their personalities and mannerisms altered over the course of multiple titles without us seeing the character progression. In terms of importing, a selling point, *most* of the games try to take items away from you without even giving you a suitable explanation as to what happened to them. You may find it grating that the chainmail you bought doesn't carry over because you are not a fighter. -The 2nd game has got the best character import. -The 3rd game has got the best bartering system. -The 4th game has got the best object interactions. SPOILER The 5th game spoils itself in the intro cutscene by showing you who the main villain is.
To start off with, my score translates to a 9/10 but 4.5 stars is not an option. Given that I read some of the reviews saying that the combat is the game's weak point I have to say that it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Some pointers for the game's combat, your first 10 points of mana regenerate (and even quicker during combat itself). Thus, your basic spell will "always" be available to you. There are four stats and the choice for investing points depend more on your strengths and weaknesses as a gamer. Strength: Choose this stat to make your cantrip ability more reliable. Especially useful in the early game. Intelligence: Choose this stat if you have trouble aiming at enemies or rely on status conditions. Magic: Choose this stat if you like to use mana-intensive spells. In my experience this is only worthwhile against bosses as you need to chug a lot of potions or mage water to make use of it. Constitution: Choose this stat if you are slow to react and have a hard time dodging or outrunning enemies. The trinkets, for further boosting those stats, that you find have got a "health bar". I have to say that I count it as a mark against the game for not properly explaining what happens if they reach 0. In some games you simply cannot use such items but here they are destroyed. I am curious to see what a sequel would bring to the table in terms of combat now that D'Arc is a mage. Maybe you regenerate the first 20 points of mana or perhaps someone will teach you how to use melee weapons? As for puzzles, you won't get stuck on most of them but there was one puzzle that I could not solve and that was because you can only know the answer to this puzzle if you fail. To unlock your final power you must go to the hall described as being "most bare" but you will only encounter this hall if you use a wrong combination which led me to assume that I had to go to the Fountain Hall given that there is a description which talks about its "minimalist approach".
Whereas a lot of games are praised for their graphics or storyline, Two Worlds 2 is a game with absolutely stellar game design. This game is rightfully called a rough gem, but it shines in the parts were it takes the chores you all know and dread in RPGs and makes them fun. One of the biggest things being that there is no junk. In my experience I slew countless enemies and soon my bags were filled with loot and naturally there were a lot of duplicates and inferior weapons to my own. The game does have a weight system so naturally this started to bother me, so I took a look at it and made the discovery (that the thing I hadn't bothered to learn about while chopping up baddies) that I could simply recycle weapons and use the components to upgrade others. No sooner had I made the discovery or every lackluster item suddenly turned into a free weapon upgrade. Not only that, the weight system which had annoyed me before suddenly turned into a reminder to break down any excessive materials I had on me. We're not stopping there, however. Any lesser gems you can equip in special slots can be merged with other lesser gems of the same sort which makes any gem you got once useful till the end of the game and it also helps that you can freely take these gems out of equipment without destroying them, merge them and put the superior version back in the slot to increase your equipment's power. It helps the game so much if you do not have to worry about wasting items on equipment you may quickly outlevel and can instead have fun experimenting with them. The magic path too is based on this principle, you do not get specific spells but rather upgrade your ability to customize with spell cards which make up different spells. Ultimately that is what this game is about. Experimenting with no regrets and if you are not the type to experiment a lot then I'd recommend playing as a warrior for some good o'l hack and slash.
