REVIEW – There was no big hype before release. Since it was a Kickstarter project, there was also no huge million dollar marketing campaign. Even without these massive marketing hypes the game’s success was unquestionable. Divinity Original Sin Enchanted Edition is one of those small budget games that we will remember for years to come.

Larian Studios is not an amateur team, as they did develop Original Sin’s previous entries the Divinity series. Now a new game marks their success. We only have to lay back and give ourselves to the game entirely. Even if you do not like this type of genre, it will suck you in.

I am not a fan of isometric camera type of RPG games, but this one was able to grab me and has not let go of me ever since then. It is a phenomenal what these guys have produced. Every frame of it is like a painting. Of course, they had the money to do so, as the original founding amount was overachieved. The people loved it, and the new Enchanted Edition is something that us PlayStation owners love.

Love at first sight

After carefully selecting, and creating them, our heroes a dropped off into the world of Rivellon. Currently, the use of magic is banned because according to a prophecy it will cause the end of the world. As usual, some people just do not care about some fancy prophecy and do what they want.

These are the people that we as Source hunters will have to convince to think otherwise. We do not have to wait for too much for them as in our first moments of our hundreds of hours of quests we bump into a few mages that unleash their creations upon us. The combat system is pure turn-based combat, something that I have been waiting for a long time. At first, we will have an easy task, but later we will have to be strategic as the battles become harder.

Here I would like to make a few comments about the controls while they are not too difficult; it takes the time to get used to them. Later we won’t even notice the issues with it because we’ll be used to it. The camera handling could have been refined a bit more, as a few annoying bugs come out when in combat.

Also, get ready, as there’s going to be lots of dialogues. We’ll need to think through exactly who do we reply with what, as an awkward banter can end up costing us a lot later down the line. Let’s say we give a wrong answer. After this during combat, you’ll run out of action points to continue the fight. You can keep fighting without them, but it won’t be easy. So my advice is, talk a lot and always save before a conversation.

A wildland

There is explorable land in abundance. Catacombs abandoned for thousands of years that are full of traps and puzzles. The first dungeon for example that I played forced me to divide my team to open the doors. Empty barrels had to be placed in a particular location to progress. Fire traps are blocking are a way that have to be destroyed by water elemental spells, or you can bust a few barrels that are filled with water.

There are an enormous number of side-quests waiting for our adventurers, that should be done if you want to get better loot and more experience. Everything can be picked up, and looted. We can even keep empty boxes. Beware you cannot steal, but it is still fun to try it out just to see what happens. There will be consequences, though, as our characters will be known as thieves who will influence some decisions later down the line.

The game is not revolutionary regarding graphics, but the developers still created a beautiful world. Every step of the way it is filled with breathtaking visuals. The landscape, the places are all as if they were from a painting. The color palette is combined very well, and the explosions are pretty, the spells are even better regarding visual representation. I could not write anything bad about it even if I wanted to.

The visuals are enhanced thanks to the great music that we hear during the game, which was created by the since then passed away Kirill Pokrovsky. When you are at home and resting, you’ll listen to the music of Divinity and feel as if you are somewhere in Rebellion.

How could I live without you?

There is nothing more fun when with a friend (or friends) start on a grand adventure. I loved that when we could not decide with my partner that option should be chosen. In such cases a rock, paper, scissors option was provided. Of course, you can join other people’s adventure if they do not set their party options to private. Same goes for us, as other people can join our adventure.

It’s also worth talking about the crafting system. Using the system is not mandatory, but it is worth using.  Not every profession has its particular route, so if the recipe was selected does not require an individual item or location we can just create them in our inventory.

Our food, medicine and mage book will be complete in such instances. Luckily this part was not overcomplicated but still has enough depth in it. Since we do not get gold by the millions, it is worth using the crafting system in the long run.

I will not let you go

Is a must have for RPG fans? Even those should give the game a spin if they’re just getting introduced to the genre, or have not heard of it. There can be a lot more written about how complete and expansive the game is, but I suggest that you experience it for yourself.

In today’s world where the developers usually just “loot” the player’s cash but do not give back anything valuable, it seems that Larian Studios provide an experience that a few other companies should have provided. They show us how it can be done, and everyone got something great out of it.

                                                                                                                                                                                                              – Parzifal –

Publisher: Larian Studios

Developer: Larian Studios

Genre: RPG

Release date: 2015.10.27