Release date: 2003

You may remember that I've recently played Deus Ex for the first time and didn't like it at all, mainly due to its age. Nonetheless I wanted to see how the series developed further (also story- but mainly gameplay-wise) and played the second installment of the series. Deus Ex: Invisible War is a stealthy FPS, which sets in some 20 years after the first Deus Ex. The story is rather confusing again, with many secret organizations taking part in the plot.

DE:IW offers a lot of quality-of-life updates in gameplay compared to the prequel. I found the controls much more akin to modern shooters than in the previous DE. It suffered from a few CTDs, but I'm not sure, whether thats due to the mod I installed (DE2 Visible Upgrade Mod which I definitely recommend using) or the game itself.

The game got overwhelmingly bad reviews from the press and the playerbase alike, which I don't find totally justified in their harshness. I don't think the game itself is good, but it's not that bad either. However, I think it made one crucial mistake: It deviates a lot from the first Deus Ex in terms of gameplay. It plays much more like a generic shooter, not as stealthily as the first part and offers a lot less freedom of choice. On the other hand it's still not like a real generic shooter, so it probably didn't appeal to any of the two target groups. It's neither a game in the style of Deus Ex, nor a simple standard shooter. I guess fans of the first Deus Ex miss too much of the first game's spirit and that lead to the harsh reviews. It would be interesting to hear from someone, whether my guess is correct :)

Achievements: None. Which is nice from time to time!

Verdict: Not recommended unless you want to experience it for the story. Then it's okay since it's rather short.

Release date: 2018

SPA: Year 2 is a point-and-click RPG maker adventure game, set in the universe of the Space Pilgrim Saga. It follows the story of Gail Pilgrim, hero of the first Space Pilgrim games, and Maggie, a student of the Pilgrim Space Academy, one year after the events of the first part of Space Pilgrim Academy. They get deeper involved in politics and its intrigues, both in- and outside of the Academy.

I find the game to be quite lovely made, with much attention for detail and a suprsingly deep background universe for a game in this price range. The puzzles are more on the easy side, the story is told in an okayish manner. I have one point of criticism though: The story advances mainly in dialogues without any input from the player themself, so you end up feeling like a mere spectator a lot of the time. I liked the first part better, but still regard this as a good game overall.

Achievements: Easy to get, however you need to play some scenes up to four times to experience all routes and all corresponding achievements, which can take some time. Good guides are out there, in case you're stuck.

Verdict: Recommended, but only if you played the first part.

Release date: 2011

Dungeon Siege III is an action RPG set in the Dungeon Siege universe, albeit not deeply connected to the story of the first or second part. You fight as one of the last member of the 10th legion in order to save the Kingdom of Ehb, which is entangled in a bloody civil war. You rally the last of your allies before meeting your overwhelming foe which of course is defeated in the end, what a surprise!

The gameplay is rather straightforward, there are neither a lot of skills to choose from, nor a complicated item system, not to mention any crafting system or something of the likes. But hey, it's an action RPG, remember? The story offers only few choices, but all of their consequences matter in the end. While the game is rather mediocre in the gameplay, I still really enjoyed the way the story is told and unfolds, although it's really generic in a way. There is limited interaction with your companions, but they still comment your actions all the time. At least I felt some connection to them. I especially liked the architecture of the buildings and various structures in the game. It felt impressive to me and managed to have me look a lot at the environment when entering cities or dungeons (the open nature is rather unimpressive). Also, it features seamless transitions with no loading times between different areas, which was rather immersive.

DS III has only mixed reviews on Steam, which is normally a really bad sign. Very much like in the case of DE:IW (see above), most of the reviews are criticising that the game deviates a lot from the first two Dungeon Siege games. It's quite dumbed down from what I gather. I however didn't really play the former two, so it didn't matter to me as much. On the contrary, I had a lot of fun with the game and it motivated me to play a longer RPG again, which I haven't done in quite a while.

Another plus in my book: The DLC features actual content :D Which is sadly often rare with newer games. Treasures of the Sun introduces new skills, new items and rich new storyline with a lot of sidequests. I enjoyed it very much.

Achievements: About 2/3 of the achievements are connected to the storyline and are rather easy to get. The other third requires either a lot of time to play through the game another 3 times (can be achieved easier in MP though) or are pure MP achievements. Which is dead. Which is why I'm looking for players :)

Verdict: Fans of the first two games will probably not like DS III. Taken as a standalone game, it's a generic action RPG, which I enjoyed quite a lot nonetheless.