Two Worlds II: Pirates of the Flying Fortress

Supplement has its own storyline, in no way connected with the main game ^[4] . The narration is conducted on behalf of an old pirate who tells stories in the tavern about the adventures of the famous pirate captain Edwin Thiel ^[5] . The main character, traveling around Antalor in search of work, meets with the captain's envoys, offering to fulfill the assignment for him. Arriving at the Wandering Wrath ship’s anchorage site ^[6] , he finds himself a prisoner of the archipelago, where the game takes place.

The player has two main tasks: to help Captain Thiel and his lover, the student of the shaman Maren, to overcome obstacles to happiness; and also to find a treasure, according to legend, fulfilling any desire of the finder ^[6] . To do this, it is necessary to solve the mysteries of the archipelago and its inhabitants, get on the flying ship-fortress and help its captain and captive - the cartographer Nanuk Kang - restore mind and find peace.

There are three endings in the game, depending on how exactly the protagonist disposes of the treasure: he can refuse it and go in search of new adventures, try to find his own happiness or fulfill the cherished desire of a pair of ghosts he met earlier - to reunite with their material body ^[7] .

In addition to the main storyline, in addition there is a significant number of side quests. The humorous approach has been preserved and expanded: for example, the player is invited to arrange a meeting with Quartermaster Billy and the sex-changing elf, visit the undead disco and deliver the dress made of blue silk to the sullen pirate ^[2] . At the same time, most tasks are linear, suggest only one resolution option and suffer from a significant number of uniform battles ^{[2] [6]} . Complete completion of the supplement takes approximately 16 hours ^[2] .

The game takes place on the Kangor Bay archipelago ( English Kangor Bay ) ^[8] , consisting of four large islands and five small. All of them belong to the same climatic zone, reminiscent of the Mediterranean coast, however, in the ghostly world of the subconscious, which the player will visit closer to the final, there are also savannah and jungle ^[2] . A flying fortress ship rises over the islands, rumored to keep the secret of the legendary treasure. Once the islands were inhabited and there were settlements and villages. However, as a result of the magical cataclysm, almost all of its inhabitants turned into monsters. In addition, a curse has been placed on the islands: the soul of anyone who tries to leave them is separated from the physical body and remains forever on the archipelago. A pirate ship “Wandering Wrath”, which serves as a base for the player, anchored off one of the islands. However, not all team members are satisfied with the actions of the captain, who is striving to achieve his goal at all costs, and a riot is brewing on the ship.

Main characters

• The main character is an unnamed mercenary and adventurer. He ended up on the archipelago accepting a job offer from Captain Thiel. The player can import a character from the main game or select one of the proposed characters.
• Pirate Captain Edwin Thiel. Present in the game in two forms: body and soul. In its soulless physical form, it is distinguished by extreme cruelty and ruthlessness.
• Apprentice shaman Maren, beloved of Edwin Thiel. He possesses knowledge about the treasure, which he agrees to share with the main character in exchange for help in uniting the soul and body of Captain Teal. As it turns out during the game, it was she who became an involuntary reason for the transformation of the entire population of the archipelago into bloodthirsty monsters ^[9] .
• Cartographer Nanook Kang. At the time of the game, cursed by the earth god Troglin for his excessive desire for knowledge, he is a prisoner of his flying ship ^[10] and is completely insane. To learn the history of his life, to help him find peace of mind and free him from the curse, allowing him to commit suicide, is one of the main tasks of the protagonist.

The gameplay in comparison with the main game has not undergone significant changes. The player controls one character who fights with opponents in close combat, using bows or crossbows, as well as using magic. The add-on is designed for high performance statistics of the character, so the imported character immediately receives the 42nd level, as well as the newly created characters ^[2] . In Two Worlds II: Pirates of the Flying Fortress , new weapons were added (including crossbows that do more damage than bows, but recharge longer), as well as new types of monsters and bosses ^[2] .

All the mechanics of the main game, including mini-games , have been postponed in addition. You can move around the world on horseback (on one of the islands), which can be clad in armor ^[8] . You can also sail in a boat, the management of which was somewhat simplified. You can also use a network of teleporters to move ^[2] . The control mode of objects located in the character was improved, it became possible to reduce the size of icons with objects ^[2] . The graphic design of the game was slightly updated: new lighting effects were added, detailing of faces was increased, new weather phenomena appeared, for example, rain ^[2] . More attention was paid to cinematic inserts, as well as boss battles ^[4] .

In addition, four new multiplayer maps were included ^[2] .

The idea of ​​turning to pirated topics arose from the developers at an early stage in the creation of Two Worlds II , but was not embodied in the main game ^[4] . Also in 2008, early sketches of flying fortresses and cities were published ^[11] .

The development of the add-on was announced in April 2011, the release was scheduled for September of the same year. The addition was first shown to the public at E3 in June 2011 ^[8] . The add-on was released in September 2011 for Windows, macOS and the Xbox 360, and the slightly late version for the PS3 appeared in October of that year.

The soundtrack was released for digital download on September 20, 2013 ^[12] . All music was written by Borislav Slavov and Viktor Stoyanov.

Addition received higher marks than the main game. Browsers noted the amusement and originality of tasks, improved graphics, and fixed technical problems ^[2] . Many problems related to the inconvenient interface were solved, and the possibilities for setting up control were significantly expanded ^[18] . Due to the fact that the player was provided with a high-level character from the very beginning, the complexity of the initial stage of the game decreased ^[5] . The dialogs were also improved: due to the changing position of the camera, they acquired more cinematography ^[2] .

Among the shortcomings was the discrepancy between the name of the game and its plot, in which the pirate component played a secondary role. Critics drew attention to the weakness of artificial intelligence of opponents, the abundance of money and objects, as well as the linear passage of tasks ^[21] . GameStar observers reported that despite the wide range of tactical capabilities available to the player, they are rarely used in practice, including in boss battles ^[2] .

Vladimir Goryachev ( Absolute Games ), who gave the add-on one of the lowest ratings, gave him the following characteristic: “Trophies are green anguish, from dungeons it tends to sleep, the combat system has not become wiser, the interface is still scaring with an abundance of stupid decisions.” At the same time, in his opinion, the good points are the good quality of the music and the presence of a humorous component in the game ^[1] . The music and sound design of the game was also positively evaluated by other observers, noting the improved quality of sounding of replicas by the new cast of actors ^[5] .

According to general critics, the addition inherited both strengths and weaknesses from the main game ^[2] . The GameStar editor in a preliminary review of the game noted that the add-on looks better than the main game in many ways; the developers listened to the wishes of the players, corrected many small flaws and proposed a new interesting and diverse story ^[22] . Other authors also noted that due to the lower volume of content, the level of elaboration of individual details in the supplement was higher than in the main game, which led to better grades ^[6] .