Divinity 2 starts off like a lot of typical Western RPG's with a seemingly standard introductory storytelling experience. Just when you think the game is being too generic for its own good it suddenly gets epic, it actually takes you by surprise. Welcome to the world of Divinity 2, Larian Studios most ambitious RPG title to date.
Divinity 2 The Dragon Knight Saga is a reworked and updated package to the original Divinity II - Ego Draconis which also includes the full length addon Flames of Vengeance.
The land of Rivellon is a whimsical yet foreboding ecosystem filled with colourful characters and sinister creatures, all of which are surrounded by a gloriously thought out fantasy realm powered by the same Gamebryo engine used in Oblivion. It is a place where talking to obnoxious fruit and getting seduced by lascivious treasure chests is the norm.
This sort of fantastical absurdity makes Divinity 2 all the more engaging and places it in a class above the normal RPG fare.
Let's delve into Divinity's 2 premise:
Live the entire adventures of the Dragon Knight, in a great RPG that includes the complete and re-mastered adventure Ego Draconis, and the brand new adventure Flames of Vengeance!
Explore Rivellon, a fantasy world ravaged by a secular war. As the last heir of the fearsome Dragon Knights, master your new powers to end the threat that lurks in the shadows above the kingdom!
Follow your path through a huge living world; its inhabitants' destiny depends on each one of your choices. Freely create and develop your character, specialize him and learn many powers of destruction to fulfil your destiny!
Divinity 2 is real time action orientated Role playing experience with dense, yet slick old school RPG elements. The character creation process is simple yet effective as your characters progress is shaped through the course of levelling up. Unlike some other games in this genre, enemies do not scale and level with you which is a refreshing change, if you fancy taking on a new area with low experience prepare to get your ass handed to you - you will be slaughtered! This element may initially force you to stay close to home, but it also allows you to flesh out your abilities, strengths and weakness and work towards the goal of combating these high level foes. If you do manage to take out some high level enemies, the XP gained is truely worth the effort.
Throughout the realm there are tonnes of hidden caves, chambers and areas filled with all sorts of loot, all of which will help in your quest. Weapons, garments and armour can also be charmed altering the statistic values based on the type of charms used as well as enhancing your own skills. Levelling up allows you to assign points to various skills, all of which are accompanied with an introductory video on what each skill does in the real world - a great touch.
Later on in the game you get the ability to transform into Dragon and be in command of your very own Battle Tower, I won't go into any spoiler specifics with this but it presents the player with a completely new gaming mechanic in regards to both combat and fast travel. Certain locations can only be accessible in Dragon form and populating your Tower is an excellent well thought addition to an already astounding RPG.
Pop culture references feature throughout Divinity 2 in humorous abundance adding to its charm and appeal. NPC voice acting is fantastic, breathing life into a densely populated land. The characters you meet all have there own motivations and needs which you can manipulate to your advantage with the Dragon Slayer power of Mindread - with often hilarious results.
Both Divinity 2 and the sequel Flames of Vengeance are excellent examples of the RPG genre that are definitely not dumbed down for the masses and will provide a richly rewarding experience for any player willing to invest some time in the land of Rivellon.
I can definitely recommend Divinity 2: The Dragon Knight Saga if you want an in-depth, charming and highly playable action RPG, I grabbed it on sale off Steam a while ago and have put well over 100hours into this game. Divinity 2 has all the popular RPG staples such as lore, books, thousands of weapons, items that can be "charmed" and presents itself with golden age RPG sensibilities with no constant hand holding.
- Fantastic characters and voice acting.
- Enemies do not level up with you unlike oblivion which I love.
- Tons of hidden stuff.
- Great humour and pop culture references.
- No hand holding.
- Difficult choices are required to be made.
The only real negatives I could find with this game is probably the slow start which could turn off some players and the fact the sequel is not as open ended as the first instalment - minor yet something to be aware of.
If you do buy this game on Steam, make sure you get the remastered version with the expansion Flames of Vengeance included as all versions can be bought. The link to the Steam Store in the info box at the top of this review is the correct version.