Dungeon Siege II

amazing game

Great 20 year old ARPG. I loved it, great value

Having played this game a *ton* when I was younger, I obviously have a ton of nostalgia for this game (Steam playtime is not remotely close to my actual playtime over the past two decades). I do want to try to pull off the rose-tinted glasses and review it for it's actual worth nowadays for new players, rather than rating it on my old perceptions.

As some other have stated in the reviews, there are things to be aware of if you do get the game. THE GAME IS VERY BROKEN. Unfortunately, this game has not been remastered or bugfixed or anything, so if you try to run it right out of the box, you're gonna have a bad time. The community guides for this game have plenty of articles on how to make DS2 run on modern machines, so I won't blabber on about it here. With some elbow grease, you can get it working with widescreen support, enabling the Broken World expansion, etc., and there are mods out there as well for various things. (I personally suggest the 6 companions on any difficulty, increased buff cap, and 2x Skill Points mods, myself)

Dungeon Siege 2 is definitely one of the more unique hack-and-slash RPGs out there. It's brutal and bloody like Diablo with glorious low-poly chunky gibs, but colorful and vibrant like Torchlight, and the lore and setting are pretty awesome, with epic fantasy elements sprinkled with grimdark grittiness and that specific early 2000's flavor of badassery. The story is a bit cliche (prophecies and chosen ones and good versus evil and all that) but it's way better than DS1 which, having replayed the first one recently, barely has a coherent plot at all. DS2's characters are also pretty well-written for a game of this type, and the inter-party conversations are well done (Lothar and Taar are two of my favorite companions, as their dialogue is excellent IMO). If you like ARPGs, you're probably going to enjoy DS2. I like it. I have many fond memories of it. It's cheap enough that it's worth a shot even if you aren't sure you'll enjoy it.

But even our favorite games are not immune to criticisms. I will list some of my own negative opinions, to keep things fair. Again, I DO recommend this game, and it's considered a classic for a reason! However...

- Power scaling is pretty whack. IMO, melee quickly drops off in terms of power, and I found myself basically only using melee to have a sword-and-board character using the Provoke ability to tank aggro (and some enemies, mostly bosses, ignore aggro drawing skills). Ranged weapons are fine, but magic quickly becomes disgustingly overpowered. There were times where my dedicated Nature Mage healer companion was out-DPSing my pure melee character. And don't get me started on Combat Mages, who can absolutely wreck shop.
- Pets are basically useless. Summons are as well unless you dump a lot of skill points into them, in which case you're sacrificing your own damage output and versatility for a creature you have zero control over.
- The AI is... not great. Not just the enemies (who just bum-rush you, obviously), but your own companions will sometimes (or often) need micromanaging. Healers that are *too good at healing* will sometimes *not* heal you because they don't want to "overheal" (they wait for your health to be at a certain percent, and that percent gets lower as their heal ability gets higher) so you'll often find yourself chugging potions more than you're using heal spells. The two main AI companion modes that you can toggle have their own... quirks. In Mirror mode, companions often forget to keep attacking if they use an autocast spell or certain abilities and will stand there doing nothing until you order an attack again. In Rampage mode, they'll either eff off to attack an enemy way out of view, or just stand there doing nothing as an enemy breaths right down their neck. Be prepared to pause the game and micromanage a lot as the game goes on. Either that, or play with friends, though getting the multiplayer working is a whole other ordeal.
- The difficulty metronomes between "we are ripping and tearing" to "jesus christ we're getting one-shot" with not much inbetween. A lot of the time, you'll shut off your brain and click-click-click like any other ARPG, and then suddenly you're panicking and spamming the health potion key as half your party is downed.
- Side quests aren't really worth it. Some are less than worth it. The rewards you get are often outclassed by the gear you already have. I still suggest doing them all on your first playthrough just to get the full experience (and there's some interesting and fun lore hidden behind the quests as well, especially the companion-specific ones), but I end up ignoring them on my playthroughs nowadays. Okay, except for the Morden Riders sidequest in Act 3 which I always do, mainly because that one is funny as hell.

Also: The Broken World expansion is... very different, and IMO, not in a great way. Nearly all of the voice cast is different, the writing feels very different IMO, and it overemphasizes the enchanting system despite it still being pretty terrible. Also, basically everyone hates you and even your old companions have mild contempt for you at best, which feels kinda weird -- I don't expect them to be ride-or-die, but some of them act like you're the only one responsible for (no spoilers) The Big Event™ even though they themselves were also there helping you. Like... What? I get that people change but c'mon, half the cast doesn't even feel like the same people anymore. At the very least, the two new "class" types are interesting (and makes melee and ranged builds a little more viable compared to pure casters) so it can be a little fun to tinker around with the new options available.

With all that said, I can't emphasize how much I love DS2. It's absolutely worth a shot if you have even a mild interest in the genre. Even with it's age absolutely showing, it's undeniably a unique experience.

*Leans in to whisper* And no, Dungeon Siege 3 doesn't exist. If anyone says that, it's a lie. They're lying to you. Just ignore them. If you see it in any collections or bundles on Steam, no you didn't. Ignore the sniper on the nearby rooftop. It's for your own good.

good

This game follows in the tradition of its predecessor - one massive continuous 3D game world. And it's a much polished experience too.
Similarly, the story isn't too deep although there's slight improvement in the narrative.
The things I enjoyed most were battling different types of monsters in different types of settings: jungle, desert, etc.
The game is playable in 2025!
It's slightly lacking the charm of its predecessor but overall a good RPG.

Fun oldschool arpg

I used to play Dungeon Siege 2 when it was first released. It is a great classic Medieval Fantasy Game. Still awesome after over 20 years of being out!

Nostalgic and fun. Too bad I haven't figure out how to put Valdis Sword and Shield of Azunites in the folder. It was great you know? And only thing I can do is farm items and cheat codes. LOL

Wont work anymore

classic game done right. I did get bored of it after 8 hours but those 8 hours were good.

One of the best games I've ever played!

Classic. Bangs out!

Good game

Has a lot of glitches. The Modern version can play in a fullscreen windowed version but all the user interface is in the top left corner so it's hard to read. and the Original version keeps crashing or the mouse keeps being forced into the corner of the screen while being hidden. So you won't be able to click on the buttons in the main menu. I did manage to find a patch for it somewhere (on Steam I think). If you put the Original in a windowed mode too it seems to stay small and won't allow it to fill the screen. Another glitch I've discovered is a lot of the weapons are appearing halfway in the ground. Better get the game from another source. I would not recommend getting this game through Steam, just get it somewhere else.

This game is awesome

Good old school RPG. Runs great on Steamdeck. Just use these settings and set the graphics to maximum in-game.

Compatibility: Proton 7.0-6
Launch Options: width=1280 height=800

best game of its year

its just fun

becomes repetitive overtime, compared to DS1 which is focus on story than grind(with crashing issue in last boss fight). do I recommend it? maybe if it was on sale. DS1 for story, DS2 for grind.

remaster plz. xDDD

Loved the game when it came out, playing with friends was a lot of fun. Its still viable now if not weakening some, so much has hanged in gaming. Its still fun,and easily ran on less systems.

me and my dad try to play and when we do it is a blast

Review for DS2 Broken World Expansion
10/10 - This Game was one of my favorites!

As child i played DS2 BW hundreds of hours. Then i grew up...., and played hundreds more ;)!
Sadly is the game on newer systems not as satisfying as it used to be (at least for me).

Positive:
- Oldscool RPG "klicker"
- Tons of Gear, Set-Items, Secrets, and Lore
- Unique way of Build-Creating
- Many hours of Entertainment
- This Game used to be one of the best games of its time

Negative:
- Broken World not available (in Steam-Version)
- Not really compatible on new Systems (Win7+)
- Grafics (mostly resolution) are really really really "oldscool"

Pretty fun and rewards strong characters with satisfying enemy deaths. Rarely frustrating and has good skill progression

just play this shit. youll love it. go back to the 00~

Oh, how I miss the days when games were actually GOOD. Especially RPGs. This was one of my favorite games to play, way back in the day. I'm having a blast playing it again. My god, I wish people still made good games...

I love it. Highly recommended for someone who likes to play adventure and action games. It has interesting lore, quest, gameplay and skills like Diablo franchise. If you also love DS1 then I highly suggest to try DS2 as well.

Beautiful Nostalgia, a great journey that is with bad loot RNG and lots of dying.

DONT BUY IT IF YOU HAVE WINDOWS 10 - THERE IS A CURSOR ERROR - You just cant play beacouse cursor doesnt works. I spend almost two hours with different configurations, watched all movies on YouTube, askes AI helpers etc. and NOTHING WORKS! You can just play with "fullscreen - false" option, with little window you can see nothing. DONT LOST YOUR TIME AND MONEY

hell yeah

I love this game. Its one of the ones that i have played through multiple times and even come back to 16 years later to play again. it had a great an fun story line and has a nice mix of challenge and reward that makes a player want to keep going to complete the next part of the story.

awesome game!

It's a very old game, but is sort of like Diablo 1 or 2. In that sense it is fun, but there is a lot of backtracking and for some incomprehensible reason the pathing logic for the members of your party is not consistent. Eva is a nightmare. She got stuck because she would not go through the same doorways the others did for no reason.

Also, on a new machine, you are likely limited to either a small window, or if you max screen the UI stuff stays tiny. Had alot of fun trying to even see my tiny white 2mm cursor arrow on my 41" monitor anytime, LET ALONE IN SNOW.

That said it is a classic, and to me plays alot better than DS1 did. I never played DS3, but based on what I heard over the years, this is likely the very best of the series.

Pros - nostalgia and diablo-esque game play; this version has the broken world DLC and you can go through it all at least 3x if you want to play the higher difficulties and levels.

Cons - old game issues, NPC pathing, repetitive like a diablo-esque game. So I won't be playing through more than one time.

for USD$5 or less, I think this is a good deal, 7.5/10. My line would probably be USD$10 for this, max.

I love this game. A wonderful action-RPG with lots of content. I had tons of fun playing through this game. If you do decide to get it, be sure to check out the Steam Guide that explains how to enable the expansion pack!

evvything

Absolute classic. DS1 and DS2 are great RPGs from the early to mid 2000s and are highly recommended for anyone that enjoys an old school RPG.
Definitely follow the guide to have the Broken World expansion installed as well as some of the other bits and pieces that optimise the game a bit.

.

Good nostalgia game

level of detail is incredible! be it music, storyline, the inventory, the depth of characters.
Thank you to Steam for supporting the old school generation

very nice game play and challenging

.

Don't buy if you have windows 10. None of the fixes for the missing mouse issue works anymore. The only fix is downloading a code editor and redirecting the games paths to your graphics card. Which windows compatibility mode should do but doesn't. You would think steam would be aware of this issue and would post a warning or an actual fix other than requiring you to alter the games code with 3rd party programs so you could play it. Love spending days researching a fix for things that should work when i buy them.

willing to pay "beyond wildest dream" for a "good remaster"

Still a great game after all these years.

Childhood gem, almost 10 years later i found it on Steam, play it again only to fall in love with the game again. Personally would recommend as this genre of rpg has been lost to the daily strive for pay to win, old school no cheats or shortcuts, play through the whole game once and never again has it been the same for my interest in any other games. Thank you Steam, I'm forever indebted to this platform for giving me the chance to enjoy a game i truly love.

classic

Welcome to one of the 4 PC games I played when i was a young boy. Back when I had my own PC in 2006, I was enthralled by how great this game was. I loved the 3D animation, the art style, the powers, and the Action. The glorious Action hack and slash game where you have a party of 4, instead of the party of 8 you had in the original game. It was such a great game, with an iconic cutscene opening you to the story. All beautifully made with a fantastic soundtrack that really gets you excited to play. It was the epitome of my Childhood. "Good sir" I said to my friend," Dungeon Siege 2 is simply better then Diablo 2 in every respect," my younger self was loving every bit of this game, playing as a warrior and murdering every enemy you see. It was great.

This all changed when I played the game recently. It's a complete mystery on what I loved this game so much. I actually now have to re-evaluate my younger self taste. Allow me to explain.

You start the game with the first best thing about it, Valdis; The game's main villain who you need to kill. This is great, since DS1 never really had a main villain you were aware of until you saw him in the last 10 minutes of the game. Valdis gets an entire back story as the introduction of the game; It's a fantastic way to introduce your villain, and he's no joke. I think Valdis has a grudge against your character; This man killed your best friend, decimated your hometown, and may have slept with your characters mother. I can't confirm that last part, but he is not a good dude.

You start off in a spectacular way, with a whole level dedicated to a tutorial. Your friend, drevin, helps you as he explains you the new mechanics to Dungeon Siege 2 (DS2), like Rampage and mirror mode. Mirror mode has all party members mimic the controlled characters action, while rampage basically lets the characters attack who ever we want. This is already one step down from Dungeon Siege (DS). DS allowed for at least 6 different formation, and each character could be dictated to a particular behavior you want. DS2, in trying to make it more simple, doesn't allow you to automate your parties behavior. Since I chose to go with a all ranged party, with my character being a combat mage, I only used mirror mode since I had to use a high professional gaming technique called "Kitting". Rampage mode bassically meant my party members would stand in front of the enemies as their face was getting smashed. So the tactical aspect of the game is alot more simpler.

You finish the tutorial and start the game, recruiting characters as you pursue your quest the one guy who killed your best friend. You have a whole new leveling up system, where you can spend points into different parts of a skill tree that increase different attributes. None of this is as important as the pwoers you get, which are unlocked by increasing some of your skill tree to a minimu requirement. As an example, in oder to get critical smash for your melee character, you need to invest at least one point into his critical attribute. Every character can unlock up to 8 powers, which seems alot for a party of 4. The trick is that you wouldn't have enough time on your first play through to unlock all powers, so you pick 2 powers for each of your characters to have, and max it out. You still end up with 8 powers in all, but here comes the second problem with the game as a system. you will use your character Characters largely to do auto-attacks and then may use one power at a time when it's free, since powers are put under a cooldown after uses: A character powers are shared in terms of useage, so you can't use one power, and then use another. The powers have to recharge by hitting monster before the character can use a power again. In other action RPG's, your character can use a variety of skills/powers to engage in combat, limited by a resource, like mana. With DS2 it can be a bit boring thinking that the character you made basically has two jobs in the party and nothing else. This is still excuse a bit because when you use a powerful power and see enemies completely shatter with their blood covering the battlefield, it's a cathartic experience for my brain.

I begin the game and chose to make my character a combat mage specialising in fire, which is straight up broken in how much damage it does. But it doesn't take long until you notice something very odd when it comes to characters attacking the enemy. If you have melee character, they will walk past the enemy who is aiming for your mages, attack the spot the enemy was at, and then correcting itself by going after the enemy. I always thought it was a bug when I was young, but no that is how it's programmed. You see, mages and rangers will also move in range closer then need to attack the enemy. This is because when you command your party to attack the enemy, it will go to the last location of the enemy when you command it to do that.It makes it difficult to do the high gaming strategy I mentioned earlier, since your your characters will have no problem walking right up to the enemy to get in range to attack at a position that it was at 5 seconds ago. And since I'm a combat mage, even late games enemy will kill me in two hits. In fact sometimes the enemies are so powerful that they completely skip my characters unconcious phase and kill them instantly. Truly engame DS2 is a challenging experience. It is the first game that says to the player, "You got hit and died immediately, well then don't get hit next time."

Also theres elevation in this game. I know this because if my character is shooting fireballs from ontop of a hill, the fireball might hit the hill. Not so much a tactical thing, since the environment is never a tactical consideration when engaging enemies. It's more like an annoyance that you encounter every so often, like filling your income taxes.

You go through hordes of enemies until you come across one of the three bosses of each Act. The first is a hydra Snake, who you have to kill the middle head everytime, since it will revive the other heads. The second is a dragon boss, which you have to main a cballista to shoot it down, and then dodge its fireball attack of its own. The third is Valdis, who is completely immune the first half of the fight until you smach him with beams of light to make him invulnerable. At one point of the fight he sends you his Lord of the Ring undead army after you, which I almost died at. In all of these bosses, you have to dodge their attacks while putting out damage of your own. The one thing they feel like are actual boss fights. These enemies are massive, taking a good portion of the screen. Diablo in Diablo 3 looks like a mini boss compare to these bosses. The game ends when you stab Valdis through the chest and we "free" the souls of the damned. Also this game is quite dark as a dark fantasy.

And that is Dungeon Siege 2. I still remember the tutorial, killing enemies hordes are great, and the party system, although flawed, is a enjoyable experience to play. Keep note of the flaws I mentioned, but you'll find yourself enjoying this game from my childhood.
"These tree enemies are weak to fire. Too bad I'm not a combat mage" - Drevin

Do you like leveling up? How about foraging for loot? Do it all in this classic Diablo-esque hack and slash.

Unable to load saved games and so this game is a true failure considering you have to start over at the beginning each time your character has met its match. Not a good port from the CD version at all. I did enjoy this game years ago in it's former format. Shame it has lost its way.

Ive loved this game since I was 13. There's still a major glitch that can break the game. Like if something happens when fighting certain bosses (mostly the dragon) that make it so you can't progress and you have to restart. So be careful with that, but other than that its fun to play.