Divinity: Original Sin II is not a game for everyone but still deserves some love. It is a turn-based roleplay game made by Larian Studios released in 2017 and music composed by Borislav Slavov, the same studio and composer who brought Baldur’s Gate 3 to life.
The game came onto my radar after the announcement of Divinity, the seventh installation in the series, being announced at the last Game of the Year Awards ceremony following a departure from the Baldur’s Gate franchise.
The trailer for the new game is very graphic, as is some of the gameplay in Divinity: Original Sin II, so audiences need to be aware of this before watching or playing. However, while the story has a plethora of dark elements throughout, it is still a diverse story with an even wider range of choices for the player. While having a mature rating can limit your audience, it opens a whole new array of topics to explore in the story that could not if less mature audiences were being targeted.
One wonderful thing about Divinity: Original Sin II, is that not only can you play single player fine, but you can also play multiplayer just as well. Not only that, but the game was released to a variety of gaming systems, so both console and PC players could enjoy it.
While the game itself has a cool layout and good mechanics, the story it is trying to tell is captivating to see unfold. Some of the topics seen in the story are graphic and violent but add to the story in unexpected ways. One of the big ones you become increasingly familiar with if you choose the companion character Sebille, is that elves are cannibals.
This alone is such a unique take on elves that it sets this world apart from all others I have seen. Elves are tall and have the signature long elf ears but have borderline gangly limbs that truly set them apart from all other creatures in the game. Not only this, but when they eat flesh of others, they can see that creature’s memories, experience what they felt, and even gain new abilities or spells from it.
Waking up on a slave ship with a collar around their neck, the player is in a precarious situation. After waking up, you are taken through the tutorial of how to move, do all sorts of actions, the usual kind of opening to a game. The opening cutscene tells of a witch hunt started because horrible monsters called Voidwoken emerged and began attacking people who used Source, attracted to it.
From then on, all creatures ranging from elves, humans, dwarves, lizards, undead, and even animals who had a trace of Source, which is essentially soul magic in this game; they are rounded up and shipped off to a faraway island. People who can manipulate this energy are called Sorcerers. The ship you wake up on is full of captured Sorcerers, all with collars to make sure they cannot use it. After meeting all the available companion characters, investigating a murder, and encountering an old woman who is partially responsible for the Sorcerer witch hunt, the ship is attacked and sinks. Landing on the ship’s intended destination of Fort Joy, you need to figure out what is happening to the Sorcerers who are taken away by the Magisters and find a way off the island. And that is just Act 1. Each act has a different piece of the story set in a different place.
The player has the choice between 14 classes, and while that choice shapes the kinds of things you will excel at, nothing is set in stone. You could choose a magic heavy class, but with the right tweaks to your skills, weapons, play style, and choice of skills, you can create something tailored to you. The game is not easy to start on, but if you put in the time to learn what everything does, then you will do great.
If you have played both this game and Baldur’s Gate 3, then you may be familiar with the companion system. While it was frustrating that each player could not have a full team of companions each when playing multiplayer, being only limited to one companion character to control and develop alongside my own character was kind of nice as a first-time player of the franchise. I hope to see the option of having more open up in the new game.
Overall, the game is a 5/5 for me, and I have been recommending it to anyone I can with the following advice. Make sure to read the content warnings beforehand, otherwise you might be a bit surprised. Almost everything you can see or touch is lootable, so do not skimp on your strength stats or your thievery skill if you need to steal something. Stealing can be a little broken in the game but helps when you need a ton of skill books but do not have the money for it in the early game, even more so in the later game as things get more expensive, so load up on as much gold as you can before leaving the island.