two worlds has become one of my favorite games ever, and no one is more surprised than me. first of all, I didn't start playing fantasy rpgs until a few years ago, they always looked too generic and boring, plus I really hated everything, and I mean everything, about the two worlds demo. but thankfully I gave it another shot and had a ton of fun playing it.
it's not a perfect game by any means, but also very far from the trainwreck a lot of reviews make it out to be. the graphics still hold up, the viewing distance is really amazing, you can see stuff in the distance from really far away (yet grass seems to grow under your feet, which is one of the very few complaints I have). the music's great too and the voice acting falls into the so-bad-it's-hilarious category. it was grating at first but became entertaining soon, the over the top usage of 'olde english', the protagonist's sarcastic remarks and taunts like 'say hello to death!' or 'they look like my in-laws'.
some of the mechanics are pretty interesting too: you can use a bunch of active skills during combat (after you learned them from trainers) and there's a jump back button, which is essential against bigger but slower enemies. there are horses, but I found them only useful as inventory extentions, just park them next to a teleport and you're good. riding on the road is actually fine, but as soon as you go off-road, it's hell. you can probably get the hang of it eventually, but with a generous amount of static teleports and your personal teleport stones you don't really need a mount to get around. sprinting would've been nice though, even if you run faster with your weapons put away.
speaking of weapons and gear, you can combine multiple copies of the same items to make them more powerful, which is great, and also makes inventory management easier. there's a crazy amount of loot in the game though, with a lot of variety in everything, so multiple trips to merchants will be necessary to grab and sell everything. I wouldn't have minded a third inventory screen, actually.
there's also magic and bows (no need to worry about arrows) and I'd say combat is good enough, you can mix things up, though it can get a bit hectic because aggroing an enemy usually mobilizes their friends as well. but most importantly (for me anyway), the game doesn't have respawning enemies (there's a ghost mechanic though that's explained in the game, but it's only troublesome in the beginning) nor level scaling, which can make for one-hit deaths early on if you run into something far above your level.
the alchemy system is pretty good too, you can make temporary and permanent potions and gems from almost everything, plants, monster drops, minerals, and they really make a difference. if you're into exploring and hoarding, you can become so powerful that almost everything will die in a few hits. this might be a problem for some, but you don't have to make potions, obviously, and you don't have to kill every wolf you run into for even more xp. that's what I did though: I can't remember the last game where I wanted to explore absolutely everything and where exploration was so relaxing even with literally thousands of enemies around. I'm not one for farming and grinding, but I killed them all (more than 10.000) while I was at it. I wouldn't say the game world is especially unique, though later on you'll run into some weird creatures and unsettling environments.
there are a lot of quests, some of them are pretty basic, some are more involved, and sometimes you have to make a decision, you can't complete everything (though it's possible to have max reputation with all the factions at the same time until you anger them). the main story is nothing to write home about, your sister's missing, go find her, oh, and save the world in the meantime, will you? the game shines in the sidequest department though. there are a few funny ones, some are touching, and they can have unforeseen consequences. you think you're done and did the right thing, but when you go back to the village or npc later, you'll find you actually made things worse. I loved these.
I could go on for days about the game but long story short, if you're looking for an open-world fantasy rpg you probably haven't played, check this one out. if you want to do everything, it'll keep you busy for more than 100 hours (or you can just concentrate on questing and be done a lot faster).
