Ten years have passed since the immortal wizard Modo tried to destroy the earth to finally be free of his prison. After his plan was successfully foiled by the player character with Modo ending up dead, peace was finally possible. Now Evil once again takes possession of the earth. Legions of Shadows cover the planet with terror and agony. Again it is up to the player to travel through the labyrinths of world, find the reason for the invasion and save the planet from his horrific destiny.
As its predecessor Dawn of Magic, the game is an action RPG with a big focus on magic. To that end twelve different schools of magic including fire, water and such with over 100 spells are not only available but can also be combined to bring even more variety. The player can define a primary and a secondary spell for example using the ball of ice as the primary spell with fire control as a secondary. That way both ice and fire damage can be dealt at the same time. Of course many different weapons can also be found and used in melee or ranged combat. The player even has the ability to craft his own or enchant his weapons with runes and rune words. The player can also apply tattoos and change his appearance to gain additional bonuses to talents.
To make use of all those possibilities, the player has to choose from one of four different characters at the start of the game and also decide on which alignment (neutral, good and evil) he has. The latter has great influence on how the multiple choice dialogues, some quests as well as the way the ending plays out. As in every RPG the player character earns experience points by completing quests and killing the hordes of enemies ultimately gaining a level up. But contrary to most other RPGs the game features intermediate levels. Each completed level consists of three intermediate levels (e.g. 1, 1+, 1,++, 1+++, 2). Once the player reaches an intermediate level, he gains an talent and a spell point. Additionally, at full levels he gains a skill point to level up his main attributes intelligence, strength and energy.
The game features a multiplayer mode with five game modes for up to 16 players. Available are Free for All, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Survival and Market. The latter features no combat at all, Instead the map is populated by traders and trading between players is encouraged.