While there are several side-quests, the game itself isn't very lengthy – a completionist can likely see everything in 30-40 hours. Instead, the real draw of Two Worlds II is the diversity of things to do.

The game is a real-time Action RPG, with a classless character system offering the usual Fighter/Mage/Thief abilities, plus a few non-combat skills. Combat is rather clunky but gets the job done, and the physics engine makes hits feel satisfying.

During your journey you'll create new spells, race horses, sail a boat, upgrade weapons and armour, dye your clothing, join guilds, battle in arenas, explore dungeons, play songs, mine, gamble, pick locks, pick pockets, set traps, etc. It's a feature list that rivals some of the best open-world RPGs, but packed into a much shorter and fast-moving game.

Among these features, the magic system stands out. Two Worlds II requires you to create all your spells by combining magic cards. You mix an effect card (Fire, Water, Life, Force, Thorns, etc.) with a carrier card (Missile, Area Effect, Summon, Totem, etc.) and then add modifier cards (Time, Damage, Defence, Homing, etc.). Depending on your level, you can stack several of these to strengthen their effect, or even make spells with two or three different phases.

For example, you mix Fire and Missile to make a Firebolt. Then you can add a modifier to make it split into more missiles and/or ricochet between enemies, plus add the Corpse card with the Enchant carrier to hold enemies still for four seconds after being hit.

It's an extremely interesting system, with all sorts of novel powers like resurrecting yourself or creating altars you can later instantly activate to heal or buff. And it ties well to the character progression, as buying more cards and levelling up your skill to mix more of them into a single spell is quite rewarding.