Ecstatica II

Ecstatica 2 is an exceptionally bloody and brutal story set in the dark Middle Ages, namely in the first half of the 10th century, somewhere in northern Europe. The main character of the game designed by Andrew Spencer's studio and published by Psygnosis is the nameless daredevil, the hero of the first installment of the cycle - because here we have a direct continuation of the original published in 1994.

After saving the title sorceress from the cursed village of Tirich, the knight decides to take his girlfriend to the castle and marry her there. It soon turns out that the fortress, which has been safe until now, is no longer an oasis of peace. The evil sorcerer invaded the fortress, murdered its inhabitants, and some of the settlers, for example, raided piles pierced along the road. As if all this wasn't enough, one of the winged monsters kidnapped the girl, and the other dropped our daredevil from the horse and led him to a loss of consciousness. The protagonist wakes up in an extremely unfavourable position - in the oak-houses and surrounded by two dangerous looking goblins. Fortunately, as it happens in fairy tales, suddenly a mysterious creature appears, which mysteriously liberates the prisoner and orders him to take the initiative.

In terms of design, Ecstatica 2 resembles games from the Alone in the Dark series. Similarly to Infogrames' trilogy, the action can be observed here by means of a view from static cameras placed in different places of visited locations. What distinguishes Andrew Spencer Studios' work from the memorable competitors, however, is a different approach to the issue of graphic design. Already in the first game of this series, the authors completely gave up three-dimensional solids in favour of an ellipsoid, which resulted in the original appearance of the protagonists. In the "two" the effect is even better, as the individual models are much better made, and the screen resolution has also been increased.

The gameplay itself has undergone a slight transformation. Ecstatica 2 is much more spacious than its original, and the player has much more freedom to explore the evil castle. As the product is highly combat-oriented, it is essential to master techniques to quickly eliminate enemies. In addition to a few sword strokes, the hero is also able to effectively fight in a short circuit and measure effective kicks on the head. The authors did not foresee classic equipment. The knight can hold only one weapon at a time, other objects, such as elixirs with life-giving liquid, he takes automatically to the other hand and carries with him according to his needs.

The game is clearly easier than the original, although you still have to be on your guard - once cleaned, the places are quickly re-populated with monsters, which in some places becomes annoying. For less demanding users, the authors have prepared an option to change the difficulty level at any time of the struggle.

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Last updated on August 14, 2015