Divinity: Original Sin II Review

In recent years, western RPGs have seemed eager to embrace the action RPG format, favoring faster, primarily reflex-driven combat. In the face of this trend, Divinity: Original Sin II by Belgian developer Larian Studios shows that modern RPGs don’t have to abandon their old-school roots. The latest installment of the long-running Divinity series, Original Sin II is a turn-based tactical RPG that supports two-to-four player local and online co-op.

Characters

Players have the option to choose one of six Origin characters or create a new custom avatar. Each preset character comes with a short introductory cutscene explaining their backstory and setting up their personal questline. While the name, race, and gender of Origin characters are fixed, extensive customization options are available to the player. Players can even select different musical cues for each character. It’s a feature I didn’t know I wanted until I got it.

Origin characters have access to unique dialogue options in conversations. NPCs have different responses depending on which character speaks to them. Creating a custom character opens some additional cosmetic options. However, as fun as being an undead female lizard sounds, it comes at the cost of story content.

Story

Speaking of story, the writing on display is solid. It’s somewhat reminiscent of Fable II in tone, combining a serious story with witty and humorous text and dialogue. The six leads are a mixed bag and a few lean more heavily on archetypes than is ideal. But, all are reasonably well-rounded. I ended up choosing the possessed bard Lohse as my protagonist, a decision I stand by. She and the undead scholar Fane have a habit of taking the scene and running with it.

Players take the role of the Godwoken, magically gifted adventurers in the land of Revellion. Hopefully, one of them will ascend to godhood and save the land from the encroaching horde of demonic Voidwoken.

That is eventually the plot, anyway. The first act revolves around escaping the island of Fort Joy, a prison colony run by the fanatical Magisters of the Divine Order. This creates a minor pacing issue: the first 15-to-20 hours end up feeling like a prologue to the main story. But, as far as prologues go, it’s a good one.