Players fortunate enough to have played through Dungeon Siege II experienced one of the best action/RPGs in quite some time. It was a vast, engaging, and refined game that managed to transcend its Diablo-clone pedigree, and certainly deserves follow-up adventures. This is especially true given that the game ended with something of a cliffhanger.

Sieging the Day

The world is broken thanks to the epic battle at the end of Dungeon Siege II, wild magic has been unleashed on the world, horrible mutant monsters are roaming the landscape killing all their wake, and you need to set things right. Broken World concludes the main story from Dungeon Siege II, since the defeat of the evil wizard, Valdis, has caused a much worse source of evil to rise up and corrupt the land.

As the heroes of the previous game, and therefore the ones who broke the world, you’ll find a whole new landscape to explore and plunder. Taking place a year after the cataclysm, the fantasy world of Aranna is now a shadow of its former self. Starting in a clandestine dryad camp, you’ll soon discover that, unlike most fantasy heroes who destroy the bad guy, you are far from revered. Indeed, the dryads in particular blame you for the state of Aranna, and most others view you with suspicion.

Thankfully, there are still plenty of adventurers who aren’t too particular about who they hang with, including some familiar faces from Dungeon Siege II, and right from the start, there are an array of warriors to choose from to form an initial band of four. You’ll want to choose carefully though, since Broken World is definitely a high-level adventure.

High Maintenance Monster Hunting

If you haven’t beaten Dungeon Siege II, you can’t play this new chapter with your old party. Instead, you’ll have to use one of the pre-generated characters. These pre-made heroes cover all the bases, including the new race and classes, and start at level 39. Unfortunately, the difficulty level of even the basic new monsters is much higher, so dedicated players will be much better served beating DS2 and importing those characters to Broken World.

Ironically, the main draw in this expansion isn’t actually the new quest. As the conclusion to the original’s story, Broken World falls rather flat. It’s fun to return to Aranna and continue the saga, but the story and the overall adventure isn’t that compelling—especially in comparison to Dungeon Siege II. Given the apocalyptic conditions that have befallen Aranna, Broken World could have offered gamers the fantasy equivalent of Fallout. Instead, it’s a standard, short quest with only moderately interesting bad guys and too much focus on constant, overwhelming battles. The average role player can expect about ten hours of questing.

Classy Additions

Thankfully, there are other reasons to check out Broken World. Although the inclusion of the dwarf as a playable race is a welcome addition, they aren’t distinctive enough to be anything more than a minor curiosity. The two new classes are much more interesting. The blood assassin is like an archer on magical steroids… really bloody steroids. Utilizing harsh blood-based spells that can boil enemies from the inside and cause massive damage, the assassin is unique mix of combat and magic.

The second new class is the fist of stone. Sort of like a badass druid, these characters use the actual landscape to both attack and defend, including causing earthquakes that can strike multiple enemies at once. These three additions are usable in Dungeon Siege II as well, which definitely makes Broken World a more appealing add-on.

Grimace for the Camera

Dungeon Siege has always had solid playability, and this latest quest is no exception. Unfortunately, the emphasis on larger scale battles often causes combat to devolve into a confusing mess. The camera simply can’t zoom out enough to get a better perspective, and when the screen floods with monsters, obstacles constantly get in the way of the camera. This makes telling party members apart from the monsters and foliage frustrating.

Visually, the game still looks good, although the character models are rather unrefined. The contoured landscapes are excellent, and the no-loading feature is still great. The dramatic soundtrack, decent voice acting, and ambient audio improve the atmosphere even further.

If it ain’t Broken…

Broken World would be a lot easier to recommend if it was cheaper. Budget priced “episodic” PC games like the recently released SiN Episodes: Emergence and Half-Life 2: Episode One are absurdly short, but only $20. Adding $10 to that price tag, Broken World doesn’t quite add enough extras to the Dungeon Siege experience to warrant a must-buy. Still, it is worthwhile for the most part, simply because it builds on an already excellent game. It’s unfortunate that it didn’t try harder to give players a truly satisfying quest.

Article by: Jason D’Aprile
Video produced by: Matt Keil