Hello!
It’s now traditional that I write a foreword for our games and tell you a bit about the hopes and aspirations we had when we set out creating them. In Divinity: Original Sin 2, our ambition was to evolve – to take everything that made Divinity: Original Sin 1 such a fun game and replace the bad bits with better bits. That’s a normal aspiration for a sequel, but when I compare the game we planned with the game we made, the gap is huge. We’ve done so much more with D:OS2 than we originally intended. The reason for that is simple: over 100,000 Kickstarter backers and Early Access players gave us the confidence to abandon all prudence, to race forward without looking, and to embrace all kinds of new ideas, trusting that we’d figure out a way to make it all work. And by the Seven, we did.
I’m playing an interim build of Divinity: Original Sin 2 and can’t shake the feeling that this game is very different to any other CRPG I’ve played. Whether that’s a good thing or not is for you to decide – but personally I think it’s awesome. The things I probably appreciate the most are the freedom I’m given to explore and the amount and type of choices I get to make. There are so many and they all impact my gameplay – exactly the kind of thing I look for when I’m playing an RPG.
Take the make-up of your party. Each origin character can be either played as an avatar or recruited as a companion, and the way these origin characters play is very different if a human (one of up to 4!) is controlling them. On top of that, each player can decide to co-operate or compete with other players. The amount of permutations is insane and they all lead to different experience.
Or take the ability to play as an undead. When raised from the dead, you’ll get to make unique choices. But the same applies if you’re a dwarf! Or an elf! Race and background have a big impact on how you’re treated in Rivellon and you’ll find there’s a lot of hidden gameplay when you switch races (should you be lucky enough to find a Mask of the Shapeshifter!)
Or take the ability to talk to ghosts. You’ll quickly find that if you decide to kill everyone in the game (a valid way of playing) there will be plenty of ghosts whom you can talk to.
Or take the skills and spells you’ll learn. There are well over two hundred skills in the game, and others you can craft. Countless combinations are waiting to be discovered, and that, together with all the combat innovations we’ve introduced (like height advantage, for example) along with a much better AI and the ability to bless or curse surfaces and clouds, means that each fight will feel different from the previous one.
The list goes on – as you’ll discover for yourself – and it’s quite impressive. It’s a testimonial to the incredible hard work, skill and passion of my team that they managed to pull it all off at such a high standard. I’m very, very proud of them.
And I didn’t even talk about all the extras! There’s Game Master Mode – which I seriously advise you to try one evening with a couple of friends; an arena – in which you can try to end those friendships; and a modding tool – with the same editor we used to make the game.
So why are you still reading this? A beautiful adventure full of surprises is waiting for you, and I wish you (and whoever you’ll play the game with) loads of fun! Be sure to share your stories with us!
Warm regards,
~ Swen Vincke
