• Publisher: Aspyr
  • Release Date: Oct 12, 2006
  • Summary: Is it a life simulation? Yes, it is! Is it an RPG? An action game? Most definitely so. And the best thing is...you are the main character. Go back to the dark middle ages and found a new dynasty. Take care of yourself, because your opponents never sleep. Marry a beautiful wife and make new friends...control your life. Hand down your skills and your descendants will greatly appreciate it. Live your life as preacher, thief, craftsman, outcast or aristocrat...it's up to you. Everything's realtime. Walk around the streets and accidentally watch an execution of a prisoner or a rich merchant being robbed by one of your opponents. Build your own character. State-of-the-art role playing features allow you to create your own unique character and play in a party of up to 3 members with different strengths and weaknesses. Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 18
  2. Negative: 2 out of 18
  1. A fairly solid economic strategy simulation where the player can utilize a number of varying tactics and maneuvers to gain an advantage in a well-designed medieval environment. Unfortunately, the impressive level of detail and the interesting gameplay options at your disposal take a backseat to the technical issues and repetitive micromanagement.
  2. There is something captivating about The Guild 2 that makes you put up with the bugs, the bad animations and the memory leaks.
  3. A maddening example of a game that was ruined by a lack of focus in its design stages - had it been released with a wider scope it may have made a great RPG, or had it been a little faster paced and involving it may have made a mediocre RTS.

See all 18 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 9
  2. Negative: 2 out of 9
  1. CarlosR.
    8
    An outstanding concept that can only get better when the bug squashing is finished. Right now be ready for some SHOW STOPING bugs.
    • 1 of 1 users said yes
  2. The Sims on steroids; The Guild 2 is a unique game in many ways but falls short of being a fun game. I have a hard time deciding whether or not I like it. On one side, it's comes across as a relaxing simulator but on the other side, there's quite a bit of pressure on you to be omnipresent. You can automate some the production once you acquire property but I never had the feeling that the AI was doing a very good job given how I kept going bankrupt. Your accountants aren't doing a very good job either, they'd make grade-A embezzlers with the kind of books they keep. It is very difficult to tell exactly what certain expenses mean, leaving you often wondering why you're losing so much money and what you can do about it. Later on I learned to manage production myself but with several businesses, this turned into a micromanagement circus that made the game lose the appeal it had before. I can't honestly imagine someone owning an entire town and fighting a feud with 7 other families and still enjoying this game. The interface could be better. You will often run into buttons hidden underneath buttons hidden underneath yet more buttons. Some actions being context dependent, requiring your character to be in a certain place before you can issue the order, making giving orders a frustrating task at times. Information is spread all over the place and requires you to click a lot to find out what you want to know. Events often take place with you not being present partially because time moves by rather fast while your characters are very slow in comparison. They move at real-life speed while the game burns through a life time in less than a few hours.. Even after several hours of playing, it is not very clear to me how exactly time goes by in this game. It seems that each year is made up out of 4 seasons and once all 4 seasons have gone by, the turn ends. Once the turn ends, you're suddenly 4 years further into the game! . Once your character dies, hopefully you'll have fathered (or mothered) a heir by then which be a combination of both parents to continue your dynasty from where you'll start all over training your character until it's their time to produce a heir. Given how quickly characters age, it is easy to lose sight of what exactly you had in mind for your children when you're already working on the next generation of heirs, micromanaging several buildings, keeping track of politics, fighting feuds, attending church and clicking your way through inefficient menus with an inefficient control scheme. All in all, The Guild 2 has some very interesting ideas and the mixture of RPG, RTS and (building) simulator that will appeal to people who enjoy the idea of the Sims but would like to witness a few beheadings every now and then. Expand
    • 1 of 2 users said yes
  3. JohnnyD.
    4
    Are you kidding? I love detailed game play, but please: Drawn out compliments & kisses to get the girl to fall for you? Lengthy, boring council meetings? And endless cart trips to the market for wood & iron? Sorry - This was a good idea gone terribly wrong. Expand
    • 1 of 3 users said yes

See all 9 User Reviews