MediEvil 2

MediEvil 2 (stylised as MediEvil II in North America) is an action-adventure video game and the second installment in the MediEvil series. It's a sequel to MediEvil, taking place 500 years after the game's events. It was released on April 21, 2000 in Europe and May 9, 2000 in North America. The game saw a Platinum re-release in Europe in 2001 and was re-released digitally on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on January 21, 2025.

MediEvil 2
PAL region cover art.
Memory Card icon
Tagline(s)	The Return of the Laughing Dead. The gothic journey to die for.
Developer(s)	SCEE Cambridge Studio Implicit Conversions (2025 re-release)
Publishers	Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform(s)	PlayStation
Release date(s)	April 21, 2000 PlayStation: EU April 21, 2000 NA May 9, 2000 EU May 4, 2001 (Platinum) PlayStation Network: WW January 21, 2025 (PS+ Premium)
Ratings	ESRB: Teen ELSPA: 11+ OFLC: M15+ USK: 12
Mode(s)	Single-player
Serials	SCES-02544 (EFG) SCES-02545 (ISP) SCES-02546 (Russian) SCUS-94564 (American)
Previous game	MediEvil October 9, 1998
Next game	MediEvil: Resurrection September 1, 2005

Gameplay

MediEvil 2 contains several of the original forms of gameplay, weaponry and graphics that were present in the first title of the series. Whilst featuring many of the classic swords and other medieval weaponry, long range weapons are more modern, taking the form of pistols, shotguns and a Gatling gun. Progress through the game is a bit more linear and story driven.

New Features

• Weapon toggle: Two weapons can be selected from the inventory, so players can easily switch between them. By default, + changes weapon.
• Camera controls: It is now possible to control the game camera with the right analog stick.
• Dan-hand: Unlocked halfway through the game, Dan can place his heads on one of the scuttling green hands in order to get into small areas to solve puzzles or access hidden treasure. Whilst in this mode, Dan can freely swap between his head and his body. This does come with risks, as Dan-hand has no attacks and is quite vulnerable. Sometimes Dan's head will be stolen by a bird on certain levels, and Dan must climb to their nest to retrieve it. While Dan's head is off, octomators can also attach themselves on top of Dan and sap his health; rapidly pressing action will shake them off. + switches between Dan and his head, or puts it back on when standing over it.
• Dankenstein: One of the levels involve Dan fighting in a boxing match, using a Monster-esque body, against a large robot. The fighters fight each other, with limbs coming off after certain amounts of damage. Up to two lost limbs can be recovered between rounds (after defeating the imps who are carrying them around). Dan will lose if he loses all his limbs, or if he is unable to defeat his opponent in three rounds.

Changes

• Linear Progression and Level Selection: There is only one choice of next level, unlike at certain points in the first game, as the game doesn't feature a map. A projector in the Professor's Lab displays a single level onto a board and the player can scroll left or right one at a time to choose a level. Sometimes new levels will start immediately after completing one without first returning to the lab. Unlike in the first game you can ask the Professor to give you a mission briefing for a level.
• Spiv: The Spiv character replaces the Merchant Gargoyles from the first game.
• Start-of-Area Saving: As some levels in the game are made-up of more than one area, Winston the Ghost will offer you the chance to save inside a new area (after a load sequence), which often occurs before boss fights, using the phrase "Alright Dan, you've come a long way. I'd save if I was you!"
• Falling Damage: Unlike in the previous game, when falling from a height Dan will now receive damage. Dan will either lose health or die instantly, depending on the height from which he falls.

Synopsis

Setting

The events of MediEvil 2 are set in Victorian era London. The passage of time has transformed the world into an unfamiliar place for Sir Dan. However, the issues it is facing are still the same.

Characters​

• Sir Daniel Fortesque - The protagonist of the game. Hailing from the lost land of Gallowmere, Sir Dan was killed in a battle against Zarok, an insane wizard, way back in the 13th Century. Some time after Dan's death, Zarok discovered a book of Black Magic and used an ancient spell to make the dead rise from their graves to form a legion of zombie warriors. A side effect of this was that Dan also returned from his "eternal rest". Quickly realising that something was wrong, Dan embarked on a quest to destroy Zarok once and for all. Having put everything right again, Dan returned to his crypt and died. 500 years later, however, the book falls into the hands of another megalomaniac and Dan finds himself once more in the land of the living.
• Professor Hamilton Kift - A nervous, fast-talking professor in the laboratory near an unused underground rail station. He's a somewhat short man with mechanical hands and a large head. He is skilled in different forms of science, philosophy, the occult and has a knack for creating inventions. Collecting the Chalice in each level provides him the materials to create a new weapon.
• Princess Kiya - A soft spoken mummy who has been dead inside her tomb for thousands of years and enunciates every word she says carefully. She is blue in skin color and wears bandages. She knows embalming techniques and is grateful to Sir Dan for having rescued her from her eternal prison.
• Winston Chapelmount - A cheery young ghost with large eyes. His name is a play on Winston Churchill. His history creates a spectral shadow, upon which he can be called to provide help for Dan. He teaches Dan how to find and use ancient magic. He also provides save points on long levels and on a few occasions relays Dan's earned weapon to him when he is unable to access the Professor's Lab.
• Lord Palethorn - The villain of the game. His motive is to find all the lost pages of Zarok's spellbook so he can gain control of London. He was once an acquaintance of the Professor and was the one responsible for damaging his hands before being banished from the cult. He is voiced by Steven Blum.
• Mander and Dogman - Lord Palethorn's henchmen, who turned into monsters as a side-effect of their master's spell.

Plot

In 1886, 500 years after Sir Daniel Fortesque's climactic battle against the evil sorcerer Zarok, Lord Palethorn discovers some of the pages of Zarok's spell book and casts the Spell of Eternal Darkness over the city of London. However, Palethorn needs the final pages of the spell book to fully control the monsters he has spawned. The spell Palethorn casts once again brings Sir Dan, who was resting at a nearby museum, back to life. He is recruited by a professor named Hamilton Kift and his ghostly sidekick Winston to recover the missing pages of Zarok's spellbook and put a stop to Palethorn's plans. Along the way, they end up being joined by an ancient mummy princess named Kiya, whom Dan falls in love with.

When Kiya goes to Whitechapel alone to investigate psychic disturbances there, she is killed by Jack the Ripper. Broken-hearted, Dan abandons the quest against Palethorn and wanders into London's sewers, where he encounters the Mullocks, who worship him as a God, and discovers a time machine that Kift had built years earlier. Collecting the parts to rebuild the time machine, Dan travels back in time to defeat Jack and save Kiya. Jack pleads with Dan to be spared, but he mercilessly shoots him dead. Dan then merges with his past self to resolve the paradox and gains Super Armour, and returns to the battle. Dan collects the final page of the spell book and confronts Palethorn, who steals the page from him and offers Dan the choice of joining him, which Dan refuses. Palethorn then assigns his two assistants, Mander and Dogman, to stop Dan from following him, but both are killed. Dan then goes after Palethorn. Palethorn uses the spell book to summon a large blue demon. Dan manages to turn the demon against Palethorn, putting a stop to both of them. With his last breath, Palethorn drops a time bomb in a last-ditch effort to kill Dan, destroying his lair in the process.

Endings

• All chalices not collected: Sir Dan and Kiya return to the museum where they decide to re-enter their eternal rest.

• All chalices collected: Sir Dan and Kiya go for a ride on the time machine, which takes them back in time to Zarok's Lair, but also to an alternative timeline, where Palethorn had used the spell book to travel back and rewrite time to replace Zarok with himself.

Development

After the success of the first MediEvil, Sony Computer Entertainment commissioned SCEE Cambridge to develop a sequel that would be released before the end of the PlayStation's lifespan. Work on the game began as early as October 1998. Chris Sorrell, who previously served as the director of the first game, chose to focus on developing a new title for the PlayStation 2 instead, so the project was handed over to James Shepherd. Sorrell had a few meetings with Shepherd where he passed on some of his ideas for the game, such as setting the game in the Victorian era and using Sir Henry Fortesque, a more recently deceased descendant of Sir Dan's, as the game's protagonist. Shepherd used some of Sorrell's ideas while replacing others with his own.

According to Jason Wilson, the game's lead artist, an early draft of the game's plot had previous antagonist Zarok being held prisoner in the Tower of London. Sir Daniel Fortesque's objective would have been to free him. The two of them would have had to work together in an uneasy alliance against an evil cult who would be using Zarok's spell book to resurrect the dead.

During development, the Cambridge studio re-coded a majority of its core technology to ensure the sequel was "as good as possible," which Shepherd considered arguably similar to "starting from scratch." Various features that were not implemented into the first game were added into MediEvil 2, like additional playable characters created by utilising Dan's skeletal form.

Soundtrack

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Promotion

Pre-release promotion

The BeliEve trailer.

MediEvil 2 was officially unveiled at the 1999 European Computer Trade Show with a press release and a trailer. Not long after, a Platinum re-release of the original game was released, which featured a promotional poster for MediEvil 2. An additional press release was published on November 1, 1999 and interviews with the development team were published online and in magazines beginning in December 1999.

Several demo versions and an additional trailer were created and published before the game's release in early 2000. Television and print advertisements, such as "Bored with the Same Old Horror?" and "Monsters" were also used to promote the game. The game's official European website ran a competition to win promotional T-shirts and paperweights.

Post-release promotion

MediEvil II Strategy Tip Card.

In the United Kingdom, an in-universe newspaper called "Medievil Times" was sent out to members of the PlayStation database some two weeks after the game's release. In the United States, as part of a partnership between SONY and Hershey Foods Corporation, people in the US could send four proof-of-purchase labels from various Hershey's products to SONY during the 2000 autumn period, and receive free strategy tip cards for MediEvil II. Tips were also available on the Hershey's website.

Release

MediEvil 2 was released on April 21, 2000 in Europe and May 9, 2000 in North America. It retailed at £19.99 in the United Kingdom, being amongst the first PlayStation titles released at this lower price point.

Versions

PAL region

Due to disc size limitations, Phase Alternating Line (PAL) region language versions of the game received two standalone releases, one for English, French, and German, and another for Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. Besides localisation, there are virtually no differences between the two versions.

NTSC region

NTSC region cover art.

Due to the higher refresh rate of the NTSC analog television standard, the game speed in this version is much faster than in the PAL region versions. The other primary difference in this version is the game logo, which retains the typeface of the first game's logo. The "2" in the title is also stylised as a red "II" in this version.

PAL region	NTSC region

Russian version

A standalone Russian release was also produced.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	79.47%
Review scores
Publication	Score
Absolute PlayStation	79%
Electronic Gaming Monthly	6.8/10
Game Informer	7.75/10
Game Revolution	B+
GameSpot	7.6/10
Hyper	8.5/10
IGN	8.4/10
Official PlayStation Magazine (US)	3.5/5

The game received good reviews from critics, with an 79.47% aggregate rating at Game Rankings. The game was criticized by reviewers for its bad camera angles at points, difficulty and for sometimes being confusing, but was praised for its humor and approachability, among other things. IGN gave the game a score of 8.4, stating that the game "is clever, sick, and funny" and better than the first. Gamespot gave it a 7.6, praising the content and features while criticising the camera.

Chris Sorrell, the director of the first game, had this to say about the game: "Overall I liked most of what they came up with for M2, although I disliked the squeaky voiced helper ghost, and definitely in places the game's humour crossed a line for me from the silly/bawdy tone we had in M1 to something a little too puerile for my liking! I would also have definitely kept the Hall of Heroes since I always thought that was one of the more distinctive presentational mechanics we created in M1, oh and Dan's voice was *horrible* - incoherent mumbling was a far better way to go!"

Accolades

On October 26, 2000, the game won the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Award for Best Console Game.

Re-releases

Platinum

Platinum re-release cover art.

Due to the game's success in Europe, it was re-released as a Platinum range title in 2001.^{[better source needed]}

PlayStation Network

Years later, on January 21, 2025, the game saw a PSN re-release made specifically for the PS4 and PS5 consoles. This version was prepared by the company Implicit Conversions, and was enhanced with up-rendering, rewind, quick save, custom video filters and trophy support.

Credits

Producer:	Andrew Kennedy
Studio Director:	Simon Gardner
Creative Director:	James Shepherd
Lead Programmer:	Julian Rex
Main Programming:	James Busby, Paul Donovan, Martin Hamilton Kift, Alan McCarthy, Steven Tattersall, Iain Brown, Gavin Clarke, Gavin Bell
Additional Programming:	Will Bell, David Nicolier
Mapping:	Gareth 'Royston' Hughes, Dave 'Dazzler' Holloway, Katie Lea, Jon Double
Art Design:	Jason Wilson
Art Management:	Nina Kristensen
Technical Artist:	Jason Evans
Lead Enviroment Artist:	Pete Giles
Lead Rendering Artist:	Jason Riley
Assistant Art Design:	Leavon Archer
Rendered Sequences:	Jason Riley, Phil Lukasz, Kelly Scott, Justin Summers
Presentation Visuals:	Jason Riley, Iwan Scheer
Character Animation:	Matt Bagshaw, Justin Summers, Jason Evans, Phil Lukasz, Kelly Scott, Mike Philbin, Mitch Phillips
Enviroment Art:	Pete Giles, Ben Levitt, Jason Evans, Theo Pantazi, Jesus Cobo, Leavon Archer
Character Art:	Matt Bagshaw, Jason Evans, Justin Summers, Leavon Archer
AV Management:	John Meegan
Original Soundtrack:	Andrew Barnabas, Paul Arnold
Sound Effects:	Paul Arnold, Andrew Barnabas
Video Post-Production:	Andrew Barnabas, Alex Sulman
Speech Post-Production:	Paul Arnold
Sound Effect Programming:	Gary Richards, Gavin Bell
Technologies Programming:	Chris Sorrell, Andrew Ostler, Julian Rex, Dean Ashton, Simon Brown, Mike Froggatt, Iain Brown
QA Manager (Cambridge):	Alex Sulman
QA Team (Cambridge):	Simon Brace, Robert King, Kieran MacDonald, Neal Radcliffe
QA Manager:	Geoff Rens
Internal Testing Manager:	Chris Rowley
QA Co-Ordinator:	Jim McCabe
Lead Testers:	Matt Ekins, Phil Green
Testers:	Carl McKane, Richard Bunn, Anthony Gill, Darren Perkins, John Cassidy, Miguel Sanchez
Copywriter:	Jim Sangster
Script:	James Shepherd
Additional Script:	Jim Sangster
Voice Actors:	Melanie Hudson, Marc Silk, Ben Stephens

Gallery

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Trivia

• According to a BBC News report from April 2000, Sony PlayStation commissioned a study about the effectiveness of teenagers learning using video games rather than books. The study was carried out by psychologist Dr David Lewis who used MediEvil 2 to test the children. The results found that more than three-quarters absorbed facts contained in a historical video game as opposed to just more than half who were presented with the same information in written form.

External links

• Official Website
• MediEvil 2 on TCRF.
• MediEvil 2 on the UVL.
• MediEvil 2 at Wikipedia.