Divinity: Original Sin II

Overview

Divinity: Original Sin II is the sequel to Divinity: Original Sin. It is a role-playing game in the style of older computerized role-playing games with an isometric perspective and a more open ended narrative. As with the first game, Original Sin II allows for co-op, this time increasing the number of players from two to four. Players are additionally allowed to play a more competitive experience, completing differing and potentially opposing quest lines from each other.

Gameplay

Players are completely free to craft their own characters at the start, choosing to be a human, elf, dwarf, lizard, or undead. Further than that, players are allowed to choose from an origin story for their character. Players are also granted the option of choosing from six pre-made characters with far more fleshed out origin stories that will tie into the story as they explore further into the game.

Combat is similar to the original game, consisting of a turn-based action point system with a large variety of skills to use. This time around, Larian has revamped the action point system, introduced many new skills, conferred terrain advantages like height, and many more enhancements, such as improving the AI and expanding the elemental interactions.

Elemental combos are a key part of combat, whether utilizing them or just being aware of them and trying to mitigate. A magic user casting a rain spell will not cause every object and creature caught in it to become wet, but create a large pool of water on the ground around them all. At this point another spell can be cast that causes electricity damage on the pool itself, causing everything touching the pool of water to be violently shocked, and take increased damage if they're previously wet. Water can also put out burning ground at the cost of creating steam that obscures vision and lowers hit chances. Even blood is treated as an element as it pools on the ground, and, with a specific character perk, characters can walk across the blood and absorb it, healing themselves in the process.

The world also features a physical interactivity only seen in previous Divinity games. Almost any object, from crates and barrels to swords and apples can be picked up and freely dragged around the environment. A common way to stop a poison gas trap is to physically move a large crate or barrel over the vent releasing it. Many hidden switches and objects require the player to actively move objects in the environment to search for them. This strategy can even be used offensively by dropping a very heavy barrel full of water or oil on top of an enemy for massive physical damage in addition to spilling the barrel's contents all over the ground to be used in an elemental combo.

In pursuing freedom closer to traditional pen & paper RPGs, Larian has attempted to grant the players as much freedom as they could think of. Players are free to murder any NPC they choose, as well as talk to any animal or ghost they encounter, provided they have the requisite traits. If encountered with a locked door or chest while lacking the key or lockpicks, players are free to try and destroy the obstacle instead. Objects out of reach could possibly be teleported to the caster, or the caster to it. A guarded and locked gate could be bypassed by talking the guard into opening it for the party, killing him and taking the key, stealing the key, picking the lock, or potentially even teleporting past the gate altogether.

Divinity: Original Sin II also features a PvP arena mode, in which players can select from pre-made heroes to take into specifically crafted multiplayer arenas and fight using the various skills and tactics the turn-based combat allows.

Story

Centuries after the first game, the world of Rivellon is in turmoil after the death of Lucian, who had used his Source powers given to him by the Seven Gods to maintain the Veil holding back the monsters of the Void. With the Veil weakened, monsters, seemingly drawn to Source power, have invaded Rivellon. In response, an organization called the Divine Order is created to hunt down and prosecute Sourcerors, believing that this will solve the crisis. The player character is one such Sourcerer, and the game begins with their capture and transport to the Fort Joy prison on the island of Reaper's Eye.

Game Master Mode

Similar to older titles like Neverwinter Nights or Sword Coast Legends, Divinity: Original Sin II will feature a Game Master mode, in which one player becomes the game master and crafts a world and encounters for other players to adventure through. This can be done in real-time while players are all connected to each other, allowing for improvisation similar to tabletop pen & paper RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons.

Development

Like its predecessor, Divinity: Original Sin II had a very successful Kickstarter campaign (this time for additional funding only), garnering more than $2,000,000 (out of a $500,000 goal) from over 42,000 backers that ended on September 30th, 2015.

Console Versions

On April 5th, 2018, Larian Studios announced that they will be porting the game to the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, with publishing support by Bandai Namco. These console versions are due to release in August 2018.