Divinity: Original Sin is an experience that is a throwback to old school RPG’s while still firmly being entrenched in modern-day advancements. You will take part in a large world that reacts to your actions and feels more alive than most games of late have (even in this Beta). The combat isn’t the point-and-click Diablo style gameplay we are more accustomed to, instead it’s firmly turn-based, something that I can get behind.
Divinity: Original Sin focuses on a two-party system and because of this, allows for integrated multiplayer co-op. It also features co-operative dialog for more in-depth roleplaying during single player play as well, but it also comes into play during in co-op situations. You can agree or disagree with your fellow player during dialogue segments, but these back and forths aren’t just there to fill time as they will influence your relationship and other aspects of the game and world. The narrative isn’t stuck strictly with the main story, so you can explore beyond its confines and still be treated to a great deal of dialogue while doing so. In fact, going your own way becomes a rewarding experience, one that doesn’t fall prey to the tedium that befalls many such games.
Like stated above, combat is turn based and requires you to spend action points between turn. Each character has their own pool of points that can be used to move and attack, but don’t think that you can just run around willy nilly. Enemies have an “Opportunity of Attack,” meaning that if you pass near them in certain instances they can attack, even during your turn and end your movement in its tracks.
You can also sneak just like you can in many games, but Divinity: Original Sin takes the Metal Gear approach and infuses a touch of humor. When you enter sneak mode by pressing “C” the screen will shift to black and white and your character will take the shape of a large rock with legs. It’s hilarious every time I see it. Moreover, when you sneak it shifts from auto controlling both members of you party to only the selected character. It’s a good way to scout ahead and not have your other party member cause problems for you, unless of course you choose to initiate sneaking for both parties, then you get two rocks rolling around.
On the party note, you are not restricted to having both members tag along at all times. You can break up the party by simply dragging their portraits apart on the top left of the screen. When the two portraits are connected by a linked chain on the screen your party will move as one, likewise when you break the chain by pulling the portraits apart they will move free of one another setting up the possibility for more strategic encounters and puzzle solving elements. To bring them back just re-attach the chain by sliding the portraits together and the party will reform from wherever they are on the map.
You can manipulate certain objects in-game by pulling and pushing, depending on your strength thus saving your weapons from the damage it would acquire from destroying them. This can also come in handy if you want to set something alight and make it interact with the environment, making things easier in certain situation, or just to watch things burn and make a childish mess. It gives the player multiple ways of dealing with a problem; run right through like a madman, clear the area of the problem, cover a poison sewing vent, destory a water barrel near flames, light oil ablaze under enemies feet, electrify a puddle of water, and on and on. Combining the environment around you with magic and scrolls can make for an incredibly deep amount of ways to tackle situations with different characters.
This is a loot heavy game, so having the ability to simply hold down the ALT key to display all available times for pickup makes what could have been a frustratingly troublesome task and makes it as simple as possible. Of course you are going to be doing a lot of selling and bartering as well in game and Divinity: Original Sin allows you to barter with almost every single character you meet while playing.
Magic and the elements play a large role in the game, more so if you are running a heavy magic user as one of your characters. You can put out burning items with water spells, disperse poison with fire arrows and spells; the list goes on. This gives the game a great amount of depth, not only with what you can do in the world around you, but with the games mechanics as well. Crafting becomes an important and fun experience. All too many times is crafting just thrown into a game simply because it can be and offering little to the experience. With Divinity: Original Sin, it becomes essential to making you playthoughs more enjoyable.
Most everything that you would expect to be destructible in the game is. This means you can brute force many vases and chests if you wish, but you must weigh that against the fact that your weapons will take damage. It’s quite easy to go around smashing everything in your path only to have your only sword shatter and you be left to fist a cuffs.
This being a cooperative game, even in single player, the characters will engage in very normal and causal conversation though out the course of play. They may banter back and forth about trivial matters, or even make comments about the current location you are exploring. This simple addition adds an incredible layer of narrative depth to the game, helping to pull you better into the world and story around you.
There is a lot to see and do even at this stage of the Beta. Many people have been reporting upwards of 20 hours before even venturing into the main city, or tackling the first quest. Divinity: Original Sin is the sort of RPG that will rob hours of your life without you even knowing it.
Divinity is an impressive game that will no doubt give RPG fans hours upon hours of enjoyment. It’s a nice meddling of classic isometric games of days gone by and the more modern RPG’s that we see today. The game look great and plays well. This is one to definitely keep on the radar.
Another thing to note is that during our extended play sessions we found the in-game chat to be extremely friendly and helpful. Players were quick to help each other in tackling tasks or giving advice on the best course of action in certain segments. We ran a quick impromptu poll while in-chat and asked what players, some of which had played for well over 20 hours, what they thought of Divinity: Original Sin and this is what a few of them said:
Forsaken: …It’s like Baldurs Gate on Steroids
Wirtavenger: I like the game a lot so far. I would like easier management of inventory
Dreadalus: I fear for my loot hoarding obsession…
gibonez: Get it when it’s out!
DMGAME309: It’s really hard to see dialogs sometimes with the white color font.
Sanctae: Enemy AI could use a little work – they mindlessly prioritize summons
Divinity: Original Sin drops June 30th for the PC.
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