Playlist: • Playthrough: "Ring II, Twilight of th...
Developed by: Arxel Tribe
"Ring II: Twilight of the Gods", the follow-up of "Ring: Legend of the Nibelungen" (1998) got terrible reviews upon release. Justified, I'm afraid. Maybe rushed out the door by a developer who was already in heavy weather? The game never feels polished and contains strange cuts in the story. Footage we saw in Teasers were never seen in the final game. Animation, models, puzzles and gameplay are mediocre, to put it mildly...
Still, the art direction by Philippe Druillet is stunning. A rich visual and moody world, somewhere between sci-fi and legends. And the story Arxel Tribe tries to tell is distant, but at it's heart beautiful like an old fairy tale. I pasted the ingame story text which you can find in the game menu, between the gameplay-footage to get a better grip on the tale. Believe me, you need it...
If you want a recap on Arxel Tribe's story of the Ring; read the following summary found in the game manual:
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RECAP
The metallic veins have dried up in the caves of the Dwarfs. From the land of the Giants, the everlasting snow flows into rivers of mud that drag the carcasses of the large aurochs mixing them with those of the wolves. The fields and meadows of men are now barren. Wotan observes the slow death of the nine worlds stooped on the spear engraved with the 24 Runes (the sorcerer's signs, the perilous search of which had once rendered him master of the Gods).
The supreme Ring that is the Sun of Strength and steel has been treacherously snatched from its divine guardians, the Rhine Daughters, in order to quench the thirst of only one being, Fafner the ancient Titan whose extreme desire and pride have metamorphosed into a terrifying Dragon.
Sheltered in a sanctuary whose location is only known to Alberich and Mime, two greedy brothers from the nation of gnomes, the monster has fallen asleep close to his treasure whilst he dreams of being a god of light...
Now free to spread itself far and wide, the Great Winter asserts its grip on the world, where cowardice, cruelty and villainy almost reign supreme. Bound by ancient sermons and unaware of the Ring's hiding place, Wotan turns his attention towards all those men who owe him the source of their blood, namely the Wälsung line he founded with a mortal female at world's dawn.
As he brandishes Nothung, the divine sword he succesfully removed from the layer of bark no-one had ever been able to release, Siegmund becomes the champion god but an irreparable mistake, that of the incestuous love he vowed to his sister Sieglinde, damages his exploits beyond repair thereby making his searcha failure.
Destined to fall from the vengeful sword of the Brünehilde Valkyrie, Siegmund is however spared by the angel of Death who is entranced by the radiant heat of the loving passion uniting the two mortals.
However, the Valkyrie pays the price of treason when her father Wotan condemns her to eternal sleep having also personally executed Siegmund and smashed Nothung, the sacred sword...
Ensconced in the deepest depths of a dark wood, Sieglinde dies giving birth to the last of the Wälsung line, Siegfried, a lost child and the last solar hero in a dying world that represents the final chance before the Twilight of the Gods...
(Source: game manual)
© Arxel Tribe & Mindscape
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