Invite your friends and play classic action RPG again.
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance hit back when it was released in 2001. The method was simple. Explore dungeons, defeat enemies, pick up loot, and return to town to sell it. Repeat this over and over, preferably with a friend. It didn’t break new ground, but it did fill a niche for console players who couldn’t rely on Diablo for him.
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2 came out three years later and offered players the same dungeon crawling experience. And now both titles have been ported to the Nintendo Switch almost untouched. Is Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance II worth getting today?
This release on Switch is essentially a higher resolution version of the 2004 game. As soon as the intro CG cutscene plays in all its artifact glory, something becomes clear: This game is old! Dating back to the time just before he started using captchas. The puppet-like movements in key cutscenes and the playable Dark his elf’s weird bow-legged stance are fascinating if you’re old like me and grew up playing these games. It’s not that there isn’t one.
Animation isn’t the only anachronistic element of this game. Details like a harmless rat being squashed into bloody pulp when you happen to walk over it come across to me today as tri-hard boy edgy. But at the time, unfair gore was a sign that video games were targeting a mature audience compared to the colorful, family-friendly games that previously dominated the market. I’m back in: I used to fight dogs, they used to make realistic screams when they were hit, so today in the game you can give them cute dogs as mounts or as pets to fight alongside you. I couldn’t help but think that it was very likely that I would be. .
It’s remarkable how fun the game is still after 20 years despite being barely updated. . And I figured that killing monsters, leveling them up, and investing points into skills would make for a more effective monster-slaying machine. The fundamentals of the game have always been solid and still are.
This is not to say that there is no room for improvement. Before the game begins, the game requires blind selection of a pre-determined character race and class. There is no explanation as to what this character’s trade is. As a Barbarian, it’s pretty easy to figure out what weapons to use throughout the game, but it’s not entirely intuitive what a Dark Elf would be like. very! Her next eight hours spent building her as her remote character, until random loading screen hints revealed she was most adept at her bare-handed combat. spend. Perhaps this information was in the original release’s manual, but not here. Adding information to the game itself seems like a basic and obvious quality of life improvement.
There are a lot of nitpicks that can be brought out for something that ultimately doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of the game. Much like the old fighting games, the simple, repetitive gameplay is great when playing with someone. Solo, limited interest. Not adding co-op to this release means most people can’t experience it the best way: with friends.
Ultimately, if you and your partner have already played the latest co-op action RPG and are looking for your next fix, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2 holds up where it counts. You might find the outdated side appealing. But if you don’t have a companion (or spouse, child, etc.) nearby to pick up your sword and slay goblins, your appeal is much more limited.
