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Two Worlds II: Pirates of the Flying Fortress Review

When I picked up my pre-ordered copy of the first Two Worlds, I had no idea how disappointed I was about to be. What looked like a great next-gen RPG in the few previews I had read turned out to be a complete trainwreck. Despite its flaws however, the game had clear potential and a strange charm that kept me glued to my controller through the sluggish framerate and myriad of other technical issues. I played it to completion and still pre-ordered the sequel as soon as I could. Reality Pump didn’t let me down again. [1] When I heard there was a full-sized expansion being released, I was more than willing to continue supporting the developers that showed me that they not only truly want to improve their game, but that they can deliver on that goal.

Two Worlds II: Pirates of the Flying Fortress doesn’t just add several hours of new content to the game. It also improves on virtually every area that was lacking in the base Two Worlds II game. The graphics have been polished up, animation has been improved and even completely overhauled in conversations, giving a BioWare-esque cinematic presentation rather than watching two people stand and twitch around through a static camera. Even the voice acting, while still not great, is a huge improvement over that of the base game.

One of the things that really surprised me in Pirates of the Flying Fortress was the story. As I stated in my original review, the story and characters were pretty uninteresting and forgettable. This time around, I was actually very interested in the story and the smaller plot lines that ran within it. Even the characters were very memorable and had unique personalities. As I played, I grew very attached to some of the characters, developed negative feelings towards others, and truly felt as if these were living, breathing people I was interacting with.

Pirates of the Flying Fortress also injects a bit of humor through some bizarre side-quests and even some genuinely funny lines from some of the characters, including the player character. I applaud the developers for their ability to include such humor without going overboard with it and reaching the point where it’s impossible to take their world seriously or achieve any kind of immersion (*cough* Fable *cough*).

If you enjoyed Two Worlds II, then Pirates of the Flying Fortress is well worth the price of admission. I am blown away by the developers’ ability to show such a high level of improvement in such a short amount of time. Give them a couple more releases and Two Worlds will stand among the best RPG fanchises out there.