Divinity: Original Sin 2 Now On Steam Early Access
The first act
Divinity: Original Sin 2 [official site] launched into early access today, less than a year after wrapping up its Kickstarter. The fantasy RPG's initial release is quite small, and waiting for the full version before even thinking about touching it is certainly a reasonable idea but, y'know, maybe Adam's raving has got you pumped. Original Sin 2 "improves almost every area" of the original, he said - and it was no slouch.
2014's Divinity: Original Sin is a fantasy RPG about wizards and warriors and all that, which tends to have a pleasing number of potential solutions to problems (or to simply get up to a spot of japes). It also has all sorts of antics with elemental powers combining, explosions and poison and zapping all over the place, which will be hugely expanded with spell crafting in this here sequel. Original Sin 2 also brings four-player co-op, up from two, and a bit of PvP multiplayer.
Some more words from Adam after he played a preview version:
"If the foundation of Original Sin's design philosophy was to provide freedom but ensure that the game could be completed no matter how much the player diverged from the 'correct' path, Original Sin 2 explores the idea that the party can always succeed, but that individual members can fail. That central idea sits alongside much-improved combat (there’s a multiplayer arena mode and it is excellent), a superb spell-crafting system and a world that's more convincing and beautiful than anything Larian have produced before."
The initial early access release is far from the full game, mind. Here's what's in:
- Act 1 of the campaign, with approximately 8-12 hours of gameplay.
- Online co-op for up to four players.
- Four playable races: Human, Elf, Dwarf, and Lizard.
- Four optional Origin Stories with unique quests and interactions.
- Eight schools of skills and spells.
- PvP Arena mode with select maps.
Larian plan to release the full game in 2017, and point out that (obviously) this isn't full and polished. They say, "It only makes sense to play an Early Access game if, for instance, you want to support the development of the game, you want to help development with your feedback or if you want to get a taste of things to come."
Divinity: Original Sin 2 is out for Windows on Steam Early Access at £29.99/$44.99. Larian say it'll be on GOG's equivalent 'Games in Development' doodad "soon".