Two Worlds II: Call of the Tenebrae Microtransactions Explained

The events surrounding the recent release of the Call of the Tenebrae expansion for Two Worlds II can only be described as odd, bordering on bizarre. Among all the issues people were having with the new release, the standout ones were the addition of microtransactions and the subsequent removal of console commands that previously allowed spawning the same items that are now being sold in-game. People on the Steam forums were quite displeased by this, and as a result, Eurogamer has contacted TopWare Interactive, the game’s publisher, for comments. The response they’ve received tried to spin these recent developments into something positive, and among all the talk about free updates and whatnot was the announcement that the console commands were back.

One might wonder, however, if these console commands could be used to obtain the exact items sold as microtransactions, then what would be the point of the in-game store? So, upon consideration, the game’s publishers have gone back on their words and disabled the console commands once again, according to the Steam forums. I have no idea where this goes from here, but here’s the official, and by now outdated, statement. Check it out:

“With the 2.0 update for Two Worlds 2, we implemented some features from the Xbox 360 version to the Steam Version. At the time the game came out in 2010, Steam did not support features like achievements or in-game purchases, but Xbox Live did.

“For the DLC Call of the Tenebrae [the expansion], we made several improvements to the game engine and added features like achievements and a marketplace we took from the Xbox version. We decided to release this improvement as a free update to all owners of the main game, independent of if they have purchased the new DLC (which requires the engine update) or not.

“With the same update, the DRM for Two Worlds 2 has been removed as well as the developer console, but after some users asked us to put it back in, we re-activated the developer console for single-player. For multiplayer the console was never available, to avoid cheating.

“The in-game purchases are optional and not required to play the game – all items which are available for purchase can also be found in inside the game.

“From our seven years of experience with the Xbox 360 version we know that there are many users who like the possibility of purchasing items like healing potions and mana potions. Those who do not like it do not need to purchase anything – same as it is since release in 2010 for all Xbox 360 users.

“Two Worlds 2 is not Free2Play or Pay2Play. Everyone who owns the game has the full product with all features and the full gaming experience. The only special items not in the standard version can be found in the digital deluxe content, in some special editions or in the season pass. But these items are not available as in-game purchases.”