Following the launch event for Divinity: Original Sin in Outpost Antwerp, Zetta dived into this powerful Old School Roleplaying game and came up with the following review.
"Role-playing games are the kind of deep games you rarely see any more in the West. If you're an old school gamer, you may be in the mood for the depth that these games provide, but you might also find the current market for these games lacking. We certainly were ready for some hardcore dungeoneering and Outpost Antwerp gave us the perfect setting from which to dive into the world of the Divinity: Original Sin.
Divinity is a series that most Belgian gamers should be familiar with considering it's Belgium's best known gaming franchise. Made by the good people from Larian Studios in Ghent, the Divinity series started in 2002 and currently spans five games in total featuring various genres in the world of Rivellon. While their previous game Dragon Commander was mostly a strategy game, Original Sin is a return to their roleplaying game roots. The game is already showing great success as it was funded by Kickstarter and it is currently their fastest-selling game to date... but is this success warranted or merely hype?
The first thing we need to do when playing Original Sin is throwing expectations out the window. Yes, the game was funded by Kickstarter, but it is nothing close to the average indie we've come to expect from the site. Larian knows how to make powerful games and the game oozes quality from its pores. Starting up the game, we can already tell this isn't going to be your average nor cheap PC RPG.
The story of Original Sin takes us, as the name implies, to Rivellon before the first game. The Orcs of Rivellon have gotten a bit uppity, as they often do in these high fantasy settings, and they've managed to get their hands on some powerful magic. While tracking a group of mages, our two main characters get mixed up in a plot that will lead them to uncovering the how and why of this new Orcish menace and saving Rivellon from their threatening breath and foul odour. Wait, two?
One of the interesting features in Original Sin is the fact that it has two main characters. Not only does this enable co-op play for gamers who are into that kind of thing, but it adds more options for the story to work with. The two main characters also gives you a basis to work with while building your party and you had better put a lot of thought into this. This is an isometric RPG that harkens back to the times of Icewind Dale, Planescape Torment and the big classic Baldur's Gate. The game takes itself very seriously in the combat department and will mercilessly destroy if you don't do the same. Only hardcore RPG enthusiasts willing to devote time and energy learning the mechanics and those with a keen strategic insight should apply. The AI doesn't hold back and will often react to your position and usage of abilities with their own strategies. The environment also often plays a large role in the combat and could make the difference between life and death. Mostly death.
This very same environment lends the game its charm and character. While the graphics aren't the most cutting-edge we've seen, Original Sin makes up for it in the aesthetics department. The visuals flow together nicely and the art style gives the world its own feeling, much like World of Warcraft has its own aesthetic going. The world feels alive with detail and objects that also react during combat. If you're going to set off explosions in a room, you can bet that the room is gonna look way worse at the end of the fight. It's those little things that really compensate for the lack of visual muscle.
Depth can not only be found in the combat en environment, but also in the amount of options presented within the role-playing part of this RPG. Not only is the character creation very robust and the progression from wimp to hero very customizable, but the amount of detail in the narrative for quests is very impressive. We were often presented with quests that gave us several ways to complete them depending on our skills and on how we role-played our two protagonists. This is meant to evoke the feel of a Dungeons And Dragons session as one character might have a more useful skills to deal with the situation than the other or might have a different opinion on how to deal with the situation. This especially comes into play during co-op, leading to a very unique experience overall.
Divinity: Original Sin is a powerful entry in the Divinity franchise that not only takes Larian Studios back to their RPG roots, but will also take many gamers back on a trip to the glory days of the western RPG with powerful narrative writing and deep mechanics that will both test and bewilder them in order to lead them to a satisfying ending. That said, the game also boasts the same problems these older RPG's had such as a difficult to master camera and a steep learning curve for the mechanics. RPG Fans who are in for a challenge should really give this title a go. They will be rewarded by an old school adventure worth every penny they paid for."
You can try out Divinity Original Sin in all Outposts. You can buy the game through Steam or in your local Gamemania store.
Andreeas Firoiu - aka Zetta
Gaming for the glory days of the NES and analysing games even before he graduated high school, Andreeas has been playing and writing about games for most of his life. With a vast collection of games, more hours spent in game than in real life and the experience to dissect a game to its core, he'll provide you with an entertaining, but in-depth opinion of any game you'll let him play long enough for him to beat.
Andreeas has over eight years of experience as a gaming journalist and reviewer. Not only has he written pieces for over five different gaming websites, but his work has also been published several times in two gaming magazines. With over a hundred written reviews all over the internet, you can be certain he'll give every game the fair and just analysis it deserves.
