Divinity: Original Sin II is in Early Access, so my time with the game on the PAX East show floor wasn’t so much about learning something new, but about seeing the polish that the game has before its impending release. And oh boy, is it looking like something special.
For those playing the game in Early Access, the PAX East hands-on won’t tell you much new. It’s still gorgeous, it’s still focused on managing a team, and it still lets us make important choices to guide our story. But it’s also damn fun.
The demo begins just after a shipwreck, where our adventurers are separated from each other on an island. We control our singular character, and must traverse around the land to find our team. Scattered throughout the lush environment are ruins, depicting the passage of time since the first game. Sin 2 is set hundreds of years after the events of the original, so there are direct ties to what we see. Giant statues litter the landscape, which we get a better view of them when we rotate around the screen. Wheeeee!
Along the way to collecting our friends, we’re attacked by enemies — monsters, fighters, demons — and rarely talk our way out of battle. As the demo is designed to show us the new abilities, we felt it best to really put them to the test. Polymorphs (transformations) and Summoning (totems) are just two of them, but they’re the ones we focus on most. Transformations add timed abilities and effects to our characters that can cause massive damage to our enemies or change the way we interact with them. Totems are environment-based, and summoning them in different areas (dirt, fire, oil, water) leads to unique results. Placing a totem in oil will slow everyone down, and one in fire will slowly burn away HP. The totems can be destroyed though, so placing them can provide an advantage as an extra attackable target. After playing around with both new abilities, I found myself falling in love with turning my enemies into chickens.
We make our way through thickets and brush to a beach, forcing short tactical turn-based battles along the way. Once boarding a ship with our now decent team, we engage in a considerable battle on multiple levels. I move around with the intent of picking off enemies one, but the AI is smart enough to prepare, clustering characters when needed and dividing us when we’re least ready. It’s like Mike Krzyzewski is coaching a college all-star team against a scrappy high school squad.
I try to manage my team, but I’m unable to keep up, panicking along the way and using up my attacks far too early. I’m slaughtered. It’s chaos, really.
But it’s also glorious chaos.
The game is far enough along now that the refinements over the original are clearly visible. It has a new character creation process, giving us five classes complete with origin stories that affect how other characters interact with us. It has dynamic music based on those characters, and a co-op system in which our origins will drive specific goals. The Red Prince is one of the special characters/origins that can be selected. As one of the Lizard People tribe, it’s interesting to see how culture and music affect their actions. It’s a polished, spotless experience. It feels deep and complex, and I imagine that like the first, Sin 2 could have its hooks in me for a long time.
Divinity: Original Sin II is scheduled for release this year.
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