Divinity: Original Sin

Okay, this game truly came as a surprise to me. I'd heard of the Divinity series, but never played any of the games and wasn't even aware this was coming out. Then I saw the first minutes of this on UPF and I knew immediately I had to get it. And oh boy what a good decision that was, because this game is just amazing.

Let's start this off with the game's world and combat system.

The world is huge (even though it may not look like it at the start) and gorgeous and there's a lot of hidden stuff everywhere. The ability to mark and write stuff on the map should be in absolutely every game ever (from the start and not being added in by fan mods).

Enemies don't auto-level along with you, so there is a, let's call it "suggested" route through the game, but you really don't have to follow it, if you feel up to the challenges of some very tough enemies that is.

At the outset the game can be pretty harsh, but as soon as you recognize some of the tricks and synergies in the pretty much perfect combat system you feel like you can do anything (and kill everything). Nothing like casting a rain spell on fire demons to weaken them and then hit them with chain lightning to stun them or casting a fireball on a poison cloud and watch everything explode.

Combat takes place turn-based, featuring action points, range of movement and so forth. Think X-Com and you'll have a pretty good idea of what's going on. There's also some D&D mechanics in the mix, with a good example being attacks of opportunity if you try to run from enemies that you are too close to.

There's a ton of different and useful spells and abilities for all the available classes (there's pre-made classes, but also an option to customise everything yourself) and there's a Fallout like perk system that adds some nice variety.

Of course, this game being an old school RPG, this also features a crafting system. There's various materials to be found all over the world, by harvesting plants, mining or killing stuff, which can be made into all kinds of more or less useful items. It's a solid system but nothing special.

Oh and have I already mentioned that the game's sneaking system would even make Solid Snake proud? Here we have characters tiptoeing around hidden in barrels or bushes. It's ridiculous and fun.

Another thing that's cool is that the game is built to be played in co-op right from the start, but is just as great if you play it alone. There's dialogue options between your two main characters (that change some stats in a morality like system, that has an impact on other stats and perks) and decisions in quests are made through a fun little rock, paper & scissors mini game, so it doesn't even matter if you and your co-op partner don't see eye to eye at all times.

For people concerned about a game's length: I personally finished the game for the first time, doing every quest I could find and killing everything and everyone, at about 105 hours. So like I said, there's a lot of meat there and it's fun replaying the game with other class combinations and making different quest choices.

So the combat is brilliant and the world is amazing. Now what about quest design, characters and story?

Well, the quests are another thing that's great about the game, since there's just a lot do, with some cool, if ultimately meaningless, decision making involved. The general writing and dialogue in quests is outstanding and full of quirky humour. There's also quiet a lot of variety here, with quests ranging from solving a murder mystery, searching for a weresheep to playing a town full of orcs and mages, so the start killing each other.

The NPCs, through the bank, are pretty great also. As an example: There are two talking wishing well brothers, who are named Walter and Wiliam Mc Wishing Well, who got tricked into fulfilling the wrong person's wishes. What more do you need to know?

Of course there are some flaws also. The story about resurrecting ancient evils/the coming void (which is essentially the end of the universe)/the main characters past isn't great (even though there's some potential and it's enjoyable enough overall) and at times seems to build on some of the lore established in previous Divinity games. Never having played those I didn't feel like I missed out on anything though.

Another annoying thing is that sadly there are only two named NPCs who can become companions (there's a lot of unnamed ones, if you don't care about the story components), seriously limiting your class choices for the two main characters if you want to plan ahead, but at least their respective backgrounds are interesting.

The game also had some technical hiccups right after release, but has since been patched to a way stabler state, so I don't feel it's worth going into detail about this.

Ultimately all the "bad things" are really minor nitpickings in a game that shines in every other aspect. Go and play this, right now!