Divinity: Original Sin 2

Review game Divinity: Original Sin 2, The original Sin 2 packaging demonstrates Larian Studios' mastery of diamond polishing.

As a free update for PC owners of the original, Divinity: Original Sin 2 Definitive Edition now polishes and reworks some of the first game’s less successful elements and brings that fantastic isometric experience to consoles for the first time. And the console version is expertly translated, yielding a near-lossless quality game that is among the best RPGs in recent memory.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 continues to be one of the most exquisitely rendered isometric role-playing games.

Theoretically, Divinity: Original Sin 2 remains one of the most exquisitely rendered isometric role-playing games. The Xbox One X and PS4 Pro have stunning visuals, especially in HDR, but quality does depend on your box’s power. Although the standard Xbox One and PS4 are also not bad, there are occasional jerks when the big fireworks go off in the middle of a battle, and there are noticeable framerate drops in graphically demanding areas. But when everything is taken into account, the Xbox One X is always the sleekest, most powerful console version.

The majority of the beneficial improvements made by developer Larian Studios in the Definitive Edition are probably going to pass you by unless you’ve put in countless hours playing the original. This Definitive Edition has a lot of great features, but my favourite is the heavily altered third act, which I can’t wait to play when I get back to it. Other features include character pacing, reworked and brand-new fights, a no-pressure story mode, and more.

Control of Quality

However, cramming a full keyboard’s worth of functionality onto a controller’s small number of buttons is the make-or-break aspect of the Definitive Edition on consoles. Thankfully, Divinity: Original Sin 2’s gamepad interface is remarkably user-friendly. All it takes to accomplish anything you want is a few button pushes via a sequence of radial and drop-down menus. Even though Larian’s controller layout has a few rough spots that aren’t present in PC games, I’m still amazed at how well-functioning traditionally complex mechanics like party division, inventory management, and action bar management work. My personal favourite feature is the area search function, which makes looting simple.

But as might be expected, the controller’s cursor precision isn’t as accurate as a mouse’s. Even with the settings Larian has included to help distinguish friend from foe, such as a tactical camera and character highlights, I still occasionally found myself unintentionally attacking the ground or buffing an enemy rather than my character. The exception to the rule is that Divinity Original Sin 2 Definitive Edition plays incredibly well on a gamepad, despite these isolated annoyances.

The cooperative two-player local and four-player online modes also benefit from this natural translation. Locally, character ownership swapping is simple and the screens seamlessly split and rejoin based on proximity. Even though I played Divinity 2’s original release for over 100 hours by myself, I can definitely see myself picking up Divinity: Original Sin 2 again in a cooperative setting with close friends.

For me, as an armchair strategist, the new arena is finally what I’ve been waiting for. One of the greatest isometric-RPG tactical fighting systems ever is found in Divinity Original Sin 2, and it’s always entertaining to see what kind of cunning or explosive tactics you can use. Create strategies using the 16 playable characters drawn from Divinity lore in the arena mode, which supports one-to-four teams of one-to-four characters. The fun factor is infinite. More than a dozen matches in, I still don’t get tired of competing against other players—either locally or online—or just trying my luck against the AI in progressively worse situations.

Conclusion

Playing Divinity: Original Sin 2 Definitive Edition is a fresh take on one of the greatest role-playing games in recent memory. And whether you’re starting over on a PC or playing it on a console for the first time, its charm, personality, and adaptability make for an incredible journey.