Blackguards 2 is the sequel to last years The Dark Eye: Blackguards and while it is a sequel, it feels like a whole new game.

Players assume the role of Cassia, a woman who for unknown reasons is thrown into a dungeon below the gladiatorial arena and apart from a guard above who does not want to talk, is left to her own devices. This prison that Cassia is sent to has no doors, or walls for that matter, but in fact is actually quite a large labyrinth filled with various traps as well as nasty spiders. The tutorial actually plays out quite well here in that explore the areas, attempting to find a way out, but when 5 years pass and Cassia is still there, she is not quite the same.

After the tutorial, Cassia escapes and vows to seek revenge on the people who put her in there, but in order to do that, she needs to build a team around her she can trust, so she recruits the characters from the first game. The story starts off pretty predictable and tales of revenge are never all that exciting, but thankfully the cast of characters make it so, Cassia herself is not a helpless person, she is willing to get out and fight for what she wants.

Fighting here is where the game has its biggest struggle, it is a really smart system, with you being able to direct the character to do more than one thing per turn, if they don’t move to far. Each character has a set area that they can use to move around in, the first section is a darker colour than the rest, which defines the sections that you can move and attack or interact with things, once you move into the lighter coloured space, you are only allowed to move. So actually thinking about where you need to go is just as important as moving there.

The actually combat in the game contains enough weight and reaction to make it feel like you are doing something, striking enemies with your weapon or casting a spell upon them has them reacting as you might expect, the same can be said for when you and your allies are attacked. The problem with the combat, is that when it is just you against a handful of spiders, or other enemies the battles move at a decent pace, but when you have your full team against a full team of bad guys, we are look at around 20 characters, it takes forever for a single turn to complete. Given you have to control each member of your team, you need to be able to keep track of where each person is, in relation to where their goal is and any enemies around them, given that the opposing sides turn can take quite a while to complete, this proved tricky at times.

It is a shame that combat has such a negative, because the actual movement and controls are really well executed, thankfully the presentation is also done with amazing detail and polish. The opening environments are dank, dark and pretty gothic, once you get outside and start to experience the world as it stands, you can see some pretty amazing set pieces. Each location has a unique look and feel that helps it stand out, making it really easy for you to determine where you are in the world. The audio work is also pretty great, each of the cast brings a great depth of character to their performance, ensuring that they are not just filling in archetypal roles. Music also fills a need, but honestly I never really noticed when it was on or off.

The game also offers up an indepth customization system, when you can tweak the skills of Cassia to suit your play style, I spent most of my points upgrading Cassia so she would be able to attack from a distance, something I was thankful a little ways into the game. You are not able to modify any of your companions, so the decision is do you customise yourself to suit your party or do you select what you want and throw caution to the wind?

Overall my time with Blackguards 2 was fun, the cast of characters were all interesting, the story was not what I expected and it looks pretty darn nice, but if they were able to fix that combat what took me almost 20 hours could have been completed in a lot less time.