The art style is true to its roots and the environments are much more "lush" this time around. Early on both Dungeon Sieges, you're running through a forest and this time around, it feels like a dense rainforest with hidden enemies around every turn. Deviate from the beaten path and you may be rewarded with secret items or you may fall into a deadly trap. While the game does have a very modern graphical style to it, it doesn't break the performance bank. Using an AMD64 3200+, 1GB RAM, and GeForce 6800 GT, the framerate was completely solid with everything set to high. Even on a two-year old laptop (2.4GHz P4, 512MB, GeForce FX Go5600), it had superb performance at a slightly reduced resolution.

In the end, Dungeon Siege II feels like it's shaping up to be a more refined version of the original. It has the polish that the previous Dungeon Siege lacked and new features that make it feel more like a true RPG than just an action-RPG. Fans of the original should definitely be overjoyed with what Gas Powered Games has done with the series. A multiplayer mode will be available at release, but it was not included with the beta version. Expect Dungeon Siege II to be available early August.