Have A Half Hour Of Dragon Commander

Hooray for the person who decided that dragons can have jetpacks. I get the impression that the from that moment on, Divinity: Dragon Commander was set on a path to Sillyville. Any further questions about lore were probably answered by the lead developer pointing to artwork of a dragon blasting jets out from his backpack and then a shrug. It's a decision that ends at the inevitable cul-de-sac of an overly verbose and racist lizard man trying to get out of having a party with an imp, as is shown in this video. I'd imagined this offshoot of the Divinity series to be a lot less personable, but there's plenty of of political maneuvering in 30 minute play through, as well as a pile of characters to talk to and make plans with before the Dragons are released.

Most of this video is about dialogue trees, menus and cards, and all the bits of dragon commanding that people always forget. It's about 18 minutes in before the player utters the magic words "I'm going to turn into a dragon and assist my units", at which point the fighting starts. There's not a lot of tactical use of the dragon on the battlefield (to my eyes): he just seems to press a button to dragon, then spam flames onto the enemy troops. It does have a resource cost, and I'd imagine it suits people who play those games but who also want the opportunity to have an immediate impact, and there's nothing quite as immediate as a fireball to the face. I do worry that those skilled with the dragon might have an overwhelming advantage.

The release date is TBA August 6.