![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/holoz0r/cvsrKUHy-image.png)

Dungeon Siege II was one of my favourite games growing up. Having said that, I will not let nostalgia taint this review.

Gas Powered Games listened to all the feedback they got for the original <em>Dungeon Siege</em> game. <em>Dungeon Siege II</em> is like watching a beautiful transformation. A world overflowing with detail, personality, and a unique place in high fantasy and engaging combat. 

While <em>Dungeon Siege II</em> remains a linear affair, it improves on the original title in a number of ways. There's a robust party system. Classes enable you to specialise even further in the skills you use. Item crafting becomes an enjoyable task. 

Instead of having just access to a mule as an animal companion - you've now got access to pets that can fight on your behalf - if you're not too fond of humanoid companions. There's banter between party members. They have personalities. They bark and croak abuse at each other - and its all voice acted - instead of just select parts like in the original game. 

There's shrines where you can chant about things and get temporary buffs. There's fast travel via teleporters. There's plenty of quests. There's a journal - there's lore on every page, and woven into almost every NPCs presence. 

It's a beautiful game - and was even more stunning for its time. But now, it is the year 2020 - and the game must survive on more than the fumes of pure nostalgia alone. How does <em>Dungeon Siege II</em> stack up in 2020 and what do you need to do get the game to run on Windows 10?

![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/holoz0r/4ptYDZDg-image.png)

<h2>Getting Dungeon Siege 2 to Work on Windows 10</h2> 

You may find upon your first install and load of the game, you'll have no cursor. There are a few fixes to this issue. The first is to set a custom launch option to your Steam shortcut. You can do this by right clicking on the game icon in Steam, and then "set launch options" - type the following 

> fullscreen = false 

If you don't tick to turn off the Steam VR functions or overlay, you should do that too:

> DPNSVR = false 

If you do not want to run in a window, there's a patch you can download that was made a member of the <em>Dungeon Siege II</em> community.  There's some links over at <a href=" https://pastebin.com/Gcg9qLLp">pastebin</a> - and you'll want to download the "Dungeon Siege II (Broken World) Steam Fix by Killa"

Make this your game's executable, and off you go. Just make sure you're playing in full screen. 

You can force the game to a 16:9 aspect ratio to respect modern monitors, but the title will play just fine in pillar boxed mode - which ensures the proportions remain true to the original, and visibility, field of view, and the interface remain an appropriate size. 

I highly reccomend manually tweaking your GPU drivers to do multi sampling, higher filtering, and other post-process filters to get the absolute best out of <em>Dungeon Siege II</em> - it isn't the prettiest game by today's standards, but this is a game that is about gameplay. 

<h2>Dungeon Siege 2 in 2020?</h2>

![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/holoz0r/cixXXqgj-image.png)



Once you get the game up and running in full screen, you will be in for a treat. If you've played any action RPG, you'll be familiar with what you need to do, but this is a slightly different formula. 

Left click to move. Right click to attack. Choose whatever weapon you please - it doesn't matter - you'll get better. Want to swing around melee weapons like a lunatic? It is fine - you might hit the ceiling on your first few attempts, but eventually, you'll smash the notorious little monsters bugging you. 

<em>Dungeon Siege 2</em> tells the story of a world fraught with danger. There's a tale that dictates the very creation of the current state of the realm - in a historical battle, a legendary sword and shield met, destroying each other on a battlefield that would become known as the Plane of Tears. 

Now, a new tyrant has found the sword, and seeks the shield, in order to invoke their world-view on others. You start the game working for them - until very quickly (in the first ten minutes) - everything changes, and you turn against them. 

Then, you get captured and end up in a prison cell, subject to the whims of the dryads that saved the day. This is where the game really begins, with the first encampment acting as a hub for the various quests in the region, and slowly introducing you to all the gameplay mechanics - combat, crafting, merchants, pack mules, resurrection, magic, and questing. 

To say there's a lot to do in <em>Dungeon Siege II</em> is no understatement - there's an enormous amount of content here - and much of it is easy to enjoy. The game has a gentle difficulty arc, which steepens as you get further into the game. 

![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/holoz0r/KaVNt2ZY-image.png)



The only penalty you face by death is losing some of the gold in your character's inventories, so you can go hell for leather, or enjoy suicide runs against monsters and foes you may not yet have a chance against. 

The rhythm of the game is just right, with intense combat punctuated by short, rewarding bursts of exploration where you can open chests, break open pots and crates, and find hidden areas. 

Combat is never fatiguing, and there's no gimmicky combo system to try and push you through the game at a pace faster than you're comfortable with. Loot is incremental and meaningful, without running into the problem of needing to figure out where to store everything you've just picked up. 

The standard item look worthless? Transmute it to gold. No need to see a merchant. There's also immense quality of life features. You'll know if a weapon is a worthy upgrade just by picking it up, and you don't even need to try it on. You'll plainly see in your inventory if its better, or worse, based by the red arrows and numbers on the character's portrait. 

This is what makes <em>Dungeon Siege II</em> such a pleasure to play. The hours melt away. There's nothing like the triumphant herald of a new ability point, which lets you morph and power up your characters in whatever way you see fit. 

The story is compelling enough to keep you going forward - but in this world, combat is king, and is entirely what makes you want to come back for more. It's an addicting game play loop full of joy - kill, loot, upgrade, explore, repeat. 

<h2>Conclusions</h2>

<em>Dungeon Siege II</em> stands still today as one of the best ever "Diablo clones" that was ever released. It has stiff competition in the realm of today's games, however. With a modernised <em>Titan Quest</em> filling that era of game perfectly. Then there's <em>Path of Exile</em>, <em>Grim Dawn</em>, and <em>Torchlight</em> waiting in the wings. 

This is a genre with plenty to do - but <em>Dungeon Siege II</em> is unique, original, and has a certain essence the others just don't. The fact that you're defined not by your class, but by what you do, gives it a satisfying sense of ownership over your character - something many games still fail at to this day. 

The only negative is that on a modern display (this game was mainly played via a CRT) is that there is not quite enough contrast between the foreground (monsters, and heroes) and the environment, meaning sometimes it can be difficult to target foes.