Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World

Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World for PC is a direct sequel to the 1986’s RPG by New World Computing. The game became a milestone in the genre’s development thanks to the innovations it introduced.

Plot

The action takes place right after the events of the original game in which we helped Corak defeat the vile Shaltem who was impersonating the king. It turns out that the villain managed to escape to the world of Cron through a mysterious portal, and we are tasked with following him to thwart his plans yet again. Naturally, we will do this with the help of his greatest foe, Croak, during an epic journey through a completely new world that is full of dangers and countless quests to perform.

Mechanics

The action is presented from the first-person perspective and takes place both in an open world as well as in cities and narrow dungeons. Yet again, we control a party of six adventurers — although this time we have two additional slots for heroes that we can hire during our journey. The developers also gave us the opportunity to import characters from the original Might & Magic. Apart from the previously available classes — knight, paladin, archer, cleric, mage, and thief — we can select two new ones: ninja and barbarian. Moreover, the designers introduced innovative, class-restricted quests and areas which often force us to use a hero with specific traits or to split our party into two independent groups. What’s curious and unseen in other RPGs is that every character is aging and dies at the age of 75.

Technically, the sequel is an enhanced version of the original. The graphics were clearly improved, although we still have to deal with two-dimensional characters and enemies. The number of spells was increased, secondary skills were added, and now there are twice as many mini-quests available as before. The game features a time travel feature that was absent in its predecessor and an automap. The lack of the latter made the gameplay of the original significantly more difficult.

Last updated on February 20, 2017