Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II

Nostalgia masterpiece

mon jeu deux joueur préféré ! <3

best game

Baldur's Gate II is the kind of game that ruins other RPGs for you. You start locked in a wizard's dungeon, escape into a city where magic is policed and money talks, and slowly piece together a story about godhood, identity, and one of the best villains gaming has ever produced. Irenicus isn't evil for the sake of it—he's got reasons, and they're tragic enough to stick with you. But honestly? The reason I keep coming back isn't the plot. It's the people. Minsc and his hamster Boo. The romances that actually feel earned. Companions who bicker on the road and surprise you when it matters. They feel real in a way most games still can't pull off. Combat is real-time-with-pause, and high-level mage fights turn into these gloriously nerdy chess matches of wards and counterspells. There's an absurd amount to do—side quests, strongholds, a whole world that never wastes your time. Is it old? Yeah. Pathfinding will occasionally make you want to scream, and the AD&D rules aren't kind to newcomers. Doesn't matter. This is one of the greatest RPGs ever made, and Throne of Bhaal closes it out perfectly. Play it. 10/10 — still hasn't been topped.

Hey kiddo, Handsome Jack here... and I just played Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II, and honestly? This is exactly the kind of fantasy nonsense I can get behind. You pick a hero, walk into a dungeon, and immediately start murdering everything that moves while collecting approximately twelve thousand pieces of equipment that you're never going to use. Finally, a game with proper corporate values. The combat is simple, fast, and ridiculously satisfying. You walk into a room, see some goblins, skeletons, or whatever unfortunate creature happens to live there, and you turn them into a fine red paste. No complicated negotiations. No diplomacy. No lengthy meetings. Just hit the thing until it stops moving. Beautiful. And the loot! Oh, kiddo, the loot. Every five seconds you're finding another sword, helmet, ring, potion, or piece of armor. Your inventory becomes a complete disaster almost immediately. You start thinking, “I'll just keep the good stuff,” and twenty minutes later you're standing in a dungeon carrying enough equipment to open a small retail store. The characters are fun too. You've got barbarians, necromancers, rogues, monks, and enough different ways to kill things that you can basically pick your favorite flavor of violence. Personally, I'd have picked the class that lets me put my name on everything and charge the enemies a licensing fee, but apparently that's not an option. The story is decent, the environments are fun to explore, and there's something incredibly satisfying about just sitting down and playing a straightforward action RPG. It doesn't need to reinvent the genre. It knows exactly what it wants to be, and it does that pretty well. Is it perfect? No. Some of the quests get repetitive, the combat can become a little mindless, and eventually you realize you're basically running through the same dungeon looking for increasingly shiny objects to put on your increasingly ridiculous character. But honestly? That's the point. You kill monsters. You get loot. You become stronger. You kill bigger monsters. You get better loot. It's capitalism with swords. 7/10, kiddo. A solid, old-school action RPG with satisfying combat, plenty of loot, and enough dungeon crawling to keep you busy for hours. Not the greatest RPG ever made, but it's fun, straightforward, and doesn't waste your time pretending it's something it isn't. I'd give it an 8, but unfortunately nobody asked me to design the economy. And we all know how much better this game would be if I had.

played the first one as a kid and loved it, but never got to play this game. this is a good port of a good game, 8/10

A flawless trip down memory lane and an absolute must-play for fans of the golden era of couch co-op. ​Dark Alliance II doesn't pretend to be a modern ARPG; it is a beautifully preserved time capsule. Running in a crisp modern resolution, the remaster perfectly retains the satisfying hack-and-slash loop, dark fantasy atmosphere, and character classes that made the 2004 original classic. ​The local split-screen captures that exact late-night weekend nostalgia, bringing back the pure adventure vibes of sharing a screen and fighting side-by-side. While the lack of native online multiplayer is a definite letdown for long-distance gaming, it’s an understandable casualty of bringing an ancient engine to modern hardware. ​If you want to relive those classic childhood gaming sessions, grab a second controller, invite your original Player 2 over, and dive right back into the Forgotten Realms.