The story of Two Worlds, Southpeak’s latest open ended RPG, puts you in the role of a nameless mercenary whose sister has been kidnapped by nefarious forces. The world is on the brink of war between Orcs and Humans and several different groups are at work all seeking your adventurous attention. The story begins literally as your sister is abducted, and you’re dropped in the middle of nowhere with only a small clue as to what to do next.

From there you begin to gather lots of quests for various groups for which you build a reputation. You are likely to have over a dozen quests (most of which are side quests with nothing to do with the story) after just a mere 30 minutes into play. The game wastes no time throwing you into the fire.

Gothic and Oblivion are obviously heavy influences here. In fact this game is so reminiscent of the Gothic series that you might wonder if the two are somehow tied together. Even the main character’s voice sounds identical to the nameless convict of said series.

The game also has a lot in common with Diablo and the games of its ilk. The combat is pure hack and slash, and it often ends in a dance of hit the right trigger repeatedly, retreat and heal. Rinse and repeat. In fact you will often encounter groups of creatures and most of the time, especially at early levels, it is best to try and draw them out one at a time. This is a frustrating game mechanic; your hero is the main protagonist of the story and a mercenary at that—and he can’t handle three wild boars? One of the positives that the game draws from Diablo is the unique items and sets. While you will find similar items, there are many combinations of armor and weapons to be looted. It makes clearing out that skeleton cave or tomb worthwhile.

Fortunately as you go up in level this one to one fighting becomes slightly less of an issue, but for the most part the game is too hard from the outset. It doesn’t help that the camera system is terrible, it never stays centered behind your character and you’re constantly fighting the camera while in combat to see what the hell is whacking you upside the head.

Two Worlds’ Alchemy system is a terrific addition to the game. You don’t need to find any trainers or equipment. You just have a little menu off of your inventory; just drop items into it and see what happens. Combine some plants and other “parts’ from fallen foes and you gain a useful potion. Put some gems together and create an add-on for you weapon or armor bestowing it some form of bonus. Want to create potions that give you 150 points of damage but then regenerations healing for five minutes? You got it You can also find add-ons for weapons and armor and also combine weapons to make stronger ones. The whole item / treasure / add-on system is fantastic.

Your character starts out knowing two of the schools of magic and a base spell in each. The magic system is card based—that’s not to say it is a card game but magic spells and “enhancers” come in card form. You can choose a limited number of spells to have at the ready and add enhancers on to those spells. So lets say you want a healing spell in your arsenal, add its card to your spell tab and then throw on an enhancer which gives it a +10% bonus and your good to go. It’s a really simple, but strategic way to employ magic.