Whatever Happened To... Two Worlds?

Has there ever been a point when you’ve looked through your gaming library and wondered, “Huh, whatever happened to this title?” Well, I’ll be taking a look at videogame standalones/franchises and the lead up to their eventual absence. With that being said, today I’ll be asking the question: “Whatever Happened to… Two Worlds?”

Fantasy RPGs have been a staple of the gaming scene for quite a long time now, whether it’s Elders Scrolls, Dragon Age, The Witcher, or various other notable names within the genre, there’s a good chance at some point you’ve picked up and played a title that has included overthrowing an ancient evil force from a mystical land of some sort. Or maybe not, hey, I don’t know you.

Assuming the above is correct though, I must say, there’s just something so Tolkien about going on a long journey to save the land from ultimate doom (get it, because humour). Now typically, fantasy RPGs will turn into a long running series at some point, there’ll be a new installment every year or so that allows players to rediscover the titles they fell in love with, unless you’re Bethesda where you just re-release the same game from 2011. Bad overused joke aside, there are some fantasy games out there that don’t really make it to the franchise level. One of these games being, Two Worlds.

For those who aren’t sure, back in 2007, developers Reality Pump created the first of two titles in the (at the time) duology that was Two Worlds. The reception towards the initial entry was fairly mixed overall which, considering this was the studio's first title developed for console, isn’t that hard to imagine. Still, some praise was handed out in regards to the games exploration and in-depth character creation. Fortunately, the sequel had an easier go of things… sort of.



The second title, which was released 2010, was given much more of a positive response all in all. Aspects such as crafting and the alchemy system were most notable among reviewers. However, the questionably named Two Worlds II wasn’t without its hiccups. Publishers Topware Interactive were in a bit of hot water, at the time. Well-known reviewer Jim Sterling had suggested that Topware was responsible for underhanded practices in the industry, including things such as disagreeing with certain sites about the final review score of Two Worlds II. All this has since been settled, but at the time, it was definitely a blow to the potential of a series, rather than just Reality Pump releasing a pair of games.

Despite any negative light that found its way to the developers, in 2016, there was the announcement of a Two Worlds III possible finding its way to consoles and PC once again. Unfortunately for fans of the games, it was announced that the actual release date for the new entry would be sometime in 2019, which is still a fair ways away. Considering how the titles have grown since their debut though, one can safely assume that Reality Pump will be working hard to make Two Worlds III the best in the now series.

So with everything taken into account, why the almost decade long wait for a new Two Worlds to come out? Well if I had to guess, I would say that the competitive market certainly didn’t help things in the least. Just as well, after the first game more or less flopped review wise and the second game had been hit with controversy, perhaps the developers needed to step back and take some time to really figure out where the series was going. Whatever the reason, it’s good to see that Two Worlds is getting another go at things, even if it takes a while to get the ball rolling.

So there you have it, that’s what happened to Two Worlds.