DIVINITY: ORIGINAL SIN 2
RELEASED 2017
Robin: I love that Divinity: Original Sin II applies the same sense of choice and freedom that you find in its sprawling, branching story to its systems-driven combat. Interweaving elemental effects – expanded hugely from the already ambitious first game – turn every fight into an exercise in controlled chaos.
Teleport that oil barrel onto an enemy’s head to crack it open, then set it alight with a fire spell. Curse the fire to make it unextinguishable. Summon rain to create puddles across the battlefield, then a chill wind to freeze them – or electrify them with lightning. Then heat it back up to turn it into a line-of-sight blocking steam cloud to protect your back line, before your warrior leaps over to cause havoc.
Combat is its own sandbox, with endless opportunities to experiment and prove how clever you are – or for things to go spectacularly wrong in the most hilarious fashion. It doesn’t feel like just something you do between conversations, or a way to show off your latest stat upgrade. It’s a seamless continuation of the game’s anarchic philosophy, and just a fantastically fun tactical challenge in its own right, too.
Fraser: I dig it so much that I’ve started a new game even though Baldur’s GateIII is coming soon, at least to Early Access. And why not? Playing with different characters and builds means I get to experience all the best bits again from a different perspective. Now I’m a dickhead lizard who keeps demanding people make me some lunch. And I’ve got a new friend, a squirrel riding a cat skeleton, along with a bunch of other additions and official mods that have sprouted since its launch. It’s still a brilliant, free-wheeling RPG, and sports one of the all-time best combat systems – and after a slew of updates it’s currently the best it’s ever been.
Jacob: That every single character in a 120+ hour RPG has been fully voiced by an actor should be proof enough that Divinity: Original Sin II is worth your time. The level of detail in this game, and the willingness to let the player enjoy it as they see fit, far surpasses anything else I’ve experienced. Tyler: There’s a sad quest about dogs that you can only do if you know how to speak to animals. You can rip off people’s faces and wear them to disguise the fact that you’re a skeleton. You can accidentally finish quests before an NPC explains them to you, just because you stumbled onto them. Divinity: Original Sin II feels much more like playing with a creative and clever DM than most modern RPGs, especially the sort that lays much of its choice in rude or nice dialogue options.
And as has been mentioned, the turn-based combat is great, in part just because it’s turn-based, as it should be. (Sorry if you like it, but real-time-withpause can bite me. I’m very thankful that Larian is developing Baldur’s GateIII, because it means I might actually enjoy a D&D game for once.)