Divinity: Original Sin Reviews
A potent, frustrating, demanding, amusing, tedious, exhilarating world unto itself.
But that's really the only big downside of the game. Divintiy: Original Sin shows for the rest that the pure computer role-playing games are alive again and that we can actually uncork the champagne for that fact.
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Overall Larian has produced a real gem with Original Sin and a fitting addition to the Divinity franchise.
An incredibly deep and engaging RPG, Larian have delivered one of the finest RPGs of the last decade in a paean to player choice and freedom, all presented with the knowing smile and cheeky wink we've come to expect from them. Divinity: Original Sin might prove a little overwhelming for some, but old-school RPG fans will absolutely adore this.
Freeform, creative and compelling, despite the odd rough edge
Boasting a huge open world to explore, over one hundred hours of gameplay and not even the slightest suggestion how it should be tackled, Divinity: Original Sin is remarkable. Will you be the stalwart hero or rob everybody blind and sell their stuff to merchants? There are so many different ways to do so many different things, from how to solve a particular quest to how to best tackle a group of enemies.
Divinity: Original Sin provides endless opportunities for you to play the game how you want. You can spend hours doing nothing but talking to NPCs, or you can venture off into the wildness slaughtering every beast you come across. The inclusion of cooperative play allows for you and a friend to go on an adventure together. At first I was overwhelmed by the complete freedom in the game, as many games tend to handhold players for the first few hours. Expect to spend well over 50 hours with your characters, and that's even without doing everything the game offers.
Divinity: Original Sin is a western RPG that dives head first into the nostalgia pool; while it doesn't exactly reinvent the contents, it manages to make its own ripples.
Divinity: Original Sin is a modern take on the old school RPG mechanics, offering a level of freedom that many of us had long since forgotten. Fans of the genre should consider this a must-play.
When I play Divinity: Original Sin, I'm back in my parents' study, gleefully skipping homework as I explore the vast city of Athkatla. I'm overstaying my welcome at a friend's house, chatting to Lord British. And it's not because the game is buying me with nostalgia, but because it's able to evoke the same feelings: that delight from doing something crazy and watching it work, the surprise when an inanimate object starts talking to me and sends me on a portal-hopping quest across the world. There's whimsy and excitement, and those things have become rare commodities. Yet Divinity: Original Sin is full of them.
Fans of old-school PC RPGs that don't hold the player's hand and focus on depth and freedom will adore this game. Audiences without that experience will also find something to love in Divinity: Original Sin, because depth and player freedom never become dated.
The excellent Divinity: Original Sin isn't a look into the history of role-playing games, but instead a look into their future.
Plan to lose hours of your life thanks to great character customization, stellar combat, random loot, puzzles, bosses, and mysteries.
Outstanding tactical combat and engaging quests make Divinity: Original Sin one of the most rewarding RPGs in years.
Certainly, I have no hesitation in recommending Original Sin to RPG fans old and new, provided that you're up for a challenge from very early on and don't expect to romp through, Diablo-style. While Skyrim is obviously more freeform and immersive, and the likes of Mass Effect are more cinematic, Divinity: Original Sin is hands down the best classic-style RPG in years.
Divinity: Original Sin's propensity for the old isn't a simple case of wistful nostalgia. It's a conscious decision on Larian's part to resurrect tried-and-true threads that run deep into the bones of the CRPG genre. It's a culmination of those efforts and an unapologetic celebration of battle-tested concepts backed by solid co-op. Most of all, it comes together as a grand adventure that hearkens back to sleepless nights buoyed by the roll of a die and a pad of grid paper shared between fellow dungeon crawlers.
This is a game everyone with interest in RPGs should have a look at. Inspired by P&P games with a really intelligent combat system and some truly engaging stories, hardly anyone who loves the genre won't enjoy this game, and the Enhanced Edition is even better than the original release.
Suffice it to say, there's absolutely nothing arousing about this game and yet it made me stop surfing for porn – for a bit. I'd call that one hell of an achievement.
It might have its limitations, but it's still probably the best modern rendition of a classic PC role-playing game, one that is born out of love, and one that will surely stoke long-dormant passions for the genre, as well as spark some new ones.
If I was Swen Vincke, I'd make sure to work on this engine and release a few more games using the same exact gameplay scheme. What he has here is the basis for a very lucrative new (old?) breed of CRPG and it would be criminal to not take advantage of it. Original Sin is his masterpiece, and with it he has filled a void that a lot of old school RPGers came to Kickstarter looking for. Congratulations Larian, you did the impossible. Now make more.