Alundra 2

Alundra 2 is an action role-playing game that has 3D environments. The character can be moved in all directions, and the camera can be manually rotated 360 degrees. Gameplay consists of fighting enemies, interacting with character NPCs, puzzle solving, platforming, and exploration. The story is presented through text and voiced cutscenes.

The player controls Flint, a young swordsman and silent protagonist. Flint uses a sword to fight enemies and carries a shield which gives passive damage reduction; stronger versions of both are obtainable. Flint can also learn additional successive strikes for his sword, known as combos, by collecting items called Puzzle Pieces and exchanging them with the character Lord Jeehan. Magical ring items grant Flint special powers, such as the abilities to float in place or traverse over harmful lava.

Alundra 2's story is set in the kingdom of Varuna. Mephisto, a powerful sorcerer is using magical wind-up keys to control humans and turn animals into mindless, violent machines. Flint is a pirate hunter wanted for treason, and he is after the pirates that caused his parents' death.

The game begins with Flint infiltrating a flying airship. Inside, he finds the ship is staffed by humanoid robots; there are conspicuous keys protruding from their backs and their speech is unintelligible. Also on board is a family of three pirates: Zeppo, Albert, and Ruby. Flint eavesdrops on their conversation and it is mentioned that Mephisto can create "mechanical men" through a technology that only he understands. Baron Diaz, untrusting of Mephisto, tasks the pirates with keeping an eye on him.

The game received average reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings. Japanese magazine Famitsu gave the game a score of 28 out of 40.

Dave Zdyrko of IGN praised the game's predecessor Alundra as "one of the PlayStation's best action/RPGs" and its storyline as "one of the darkest storylines of any role-playing games in existence", but also said that Alundra 2 "just doesn't stack up" and that, "even though the writing was exceptional, it didn't make up for the fact that the game had a really fruity storyline." In contrast, he enjoyed "the game's puzzles and was very impressed with the localization job by Activision", but that "the game was really hurt by its less than precise controls, annoyingly difficult boss battles", "uninspiring music, and graphical glitches". He concluded: "Pretend that this has nothing to do with the original Alundra or Zelda, and you'll probably enjoy this game just fine. It's definitely one of the top five action/RPGs on the PlayStation."