In a gaming world full of handholding, uninspired battle systems, and just sheer crap, Divinity is a shining diamond in the rough.

Graphics - 9/10:
Loot-based, dungeon-crawling RPGs are never known for their graphics so I will rate it on a level equivalent to similar games like Torchlight 2 and Diablo 3. I'm going to put this simply - Divinity is ****ing gorgeous. The art direction is spot on, the colors are bright and bring the world to life, and the character designs are great too. You won't feel like you're trudging through the same damn dungeon or cave for the 50th time in a row. Everywhere feels unique. You'll traverse vast forests of green, blistering cold mountain tops, firey fields of skeletons and so much more. It's a well-imagined world that makes the game worth of a 9/10 score in the graphics department.

Sound - 8/10:
So don't expect full voice overs or anything like that. There will be spoken dialogue from time to time- particularly from your main characters, but for the most part NPCs' dialogue is all written (but very well written mind you). So why am I giving it an 8 for sound? Because the music is some of the best I've heard in a video game...EVER!

Story - 8/10:
You're a Source Hunter (yeah I know...just another cliche name for a hero that's received his title and known for aboloshing evil magic and foes from the land). But don't let that make you overlook what's an otherwise pretty good story as far as loot-based RPGs go. You start out by coming to town to solve a murder. I think this mystery-style beginning really helps drive the games gameplay. Divinity: OS expects you to listen to NPCs, pick up on subtle hints found in text and side character dialogue, and really just discover, discover, discover to unravel the story and new missions.

It's worth noting that some may as a result get really frustrated by this lack of handholding; I on the other hand think it's great and really helps add to the game's charm.

Gameplay - 11/10:
This is where the game shines. All aspects of this game are fun. As stated earlier, the clue-finding and unravelling of the story are fun. You'll be posed with hints, clues, and puzzles which will lead to scratching your head, yet always persistant on unlocking the next series of quests.

Beyond this, the interactions amongst your party's characters and NPCs is fun. Divinity includes a rock-paper-scissors style mini-game to determine the outcome of conversations. I know it sounds weird, but it's actually really fun. If an NPC is not particularly interested in giving up information to you, then you can try to beat him at a game of RPS.

Where this game truly shines though is in the battle system. Everything is action point and turn-based driven. Depending on speed and initiative, an order to character turns will be determined at the beginning of the fight (similar to FFX). Character's can obviously use special skills and spells to influence their turn postions. You also have action points for each turn which again is stat-driven based on a characters constitution among other things. Obviously different skills and spells take different amount of points to cast depending on their power and your overall skill level.

So far I'm sure this sounds like a pretty standard turn-based battle system. BUT WAIT - THERE's MORE. Truly the best part about Divinity is the unique use of elemental environments. Characters can cast spells, blow up barrles, and manipulate the environment in all sorts of ways to overcome foes.

Group of enemies standing in a puddle of water? Shoot an electric bolt to make them all stunned for 3 turns. No puddle of water? No problem- cast a rain spell first across the battlefield to create your own puddles then shock it.

Of course that's a simplistic approach that you'll learn how to do in the first 10 minutes of the game. I won't mention the other awesome environmental elements you can manipulate 'cause I think Divinity is one of those games where part or if its spirit is the unknown. There's A LOT to learn in this game. There is, for instance, both crafting and blacksmithing skills in the game, that is so deep and complex, that after 40 hours of playing, I haven't even begun to scratch the surface yet.

Overall 10/10: It's one of the best RPGs I've ever played - hands down. You're really not doing yourself any favors by passing on this game. In fact, I'd call you a fool if you did. This game should be played by every and any person that considers themselves a gamer.

-Lacked the money to buy a minor heal spell for my knight.
-Infurated, began to murder every npc in town
-Their blood now serves as a healing source for my leeching talent

11/10

-----
Edit (since people actually took the time to read this)

I play this game along with my girlfriend in co-op mode. While i wouldn't consider myself new to this type of games, i was soon reminded of how hard RPGs can be.

For people that are new to the genre, this game can prove to be quite frightening, especially at the beginning, even in normal difficulty. The lack of direction given, or... the freedom of choice you have... makes the game quite confusing at first, which is why its highly recommended to always read the dialogue carefully. The game even gives you the option to read again the whole conversation through the conversation log tab.

Co-op mode adds to the fun of the game. The fact that you can play the entire game along with a friend makes it the more enjoyable to go through. While people can argue that co-op can make any game look better, Divinity: Original Sin, gives a further meaning to play with your friend, having the NPCs actually acknowledging your companion and not just simply having it there for the sake of having someone around. You can get to talk with your allies at any time, getting to know them more. At certain times, depending on your actions, you will even get short interactions with whoever is in your party that can boost certain traits based on the answer given. There is a meaning for your friend to be there, is not like other games where your co-op companion is just another clone of yourself.

The gameplay is fun. Turn-base combat system based on AP (Action points) is self explanatory, the more AP's you have, the more actions you can make in your turn. Each character has its own APs that are boosted by their attributes and gear.

You are given several classes to pick from though you are not prohibit from learning other classes abiilties. For example, my knight can use water-based skills which are the ones that can grant healing spells along with other water/ice abilities. As for character customization, its not really deep, in fact, i believe it might be one weak point of the game.

Overall, the game is incredibly addicting and fun. While the early levels might discourage newcomers, this game sure is one big reminder that classic-style RPGs are not dead and can show up at any time to surprise us and remind just how fun and frustrating they used to be. I was lucky enough to encounter no bugs so far, which is something i am grateful for seeing how i read some bugs around that can make progress quite more painful than what it should.

I would hate myself if i had to give a real numeric value to the game, so i will say this: "If you are curious about the game, buy it, you will simply not regret it"

One last thing, save often. F5 will be one of your strongest allies. (Not kidding, really, save often)

I spent several dozen hours in this game, so why do I, insanely enough, do not recommend it?
First of, I gave up on it. Haven't finished it and cannot bring myself to try. It's not that it's too hard, the game is pleasantly challenging but not inherenty difficult.
What's the problem is 2/3 of that time had nothing to do with moving ahead in the game, or even doing side things that are fun. Not even on getting to understand the game. Rather just dicking about, trying to figure out what the developers had in mind.

It's a real shame, because for the first dozen hours, everthing is perfect. It's what everyone who desire a Baldur's Gate 3 wanted. Unfortunately, the developers tripped it up on a very fundamental level.

One, they showed all their cards at the very beggining. After the first 10 hours, I've already seen everything the game had to offer, the other 70 or so I just levelled up. Sure there's some plot or something like that, but past maybe 20 hours it doesn't hold any real mystery either. After I decided that I don't feel like playing anymore, I checked just in case what was still ahead and turns out I was right - if the game went straight to the final confrontation, I would have missed almost nothing.

Secondly, Larian wanted to make a game that doesn't lead you by the hand, but rather forces you to think and analyze in an open environment. It went sour at the part where the solutions to the problems are hardly logical. Or rather, you as the player can logically deduce them, but the game won't let you follow up on that. That is because some of them still depend on a single item (hidden in an incospicious or even purposefully obscure place) fireing the script or putting a pointer on the map (that you would not be able to pinpoint in any other concievable way). The reason why this killed the game for me is because those are the key points of the game that progress the story. And because of the open world, otherwise plentiful dialogue solutions and criminal lack of hints, it's easy to think something will present itself at some point, you just need to explore more. What it turns out to be is just one missed mundane container/hidden mound/hidden trapdoor that held the crucial piece.

To give a good example, in the very first part of the game, just a few hours in, you need to find a villan's hideout. It's crucial because it's a story moment, it ends the first main story quest. I already figured that out at the time, without having to refer to walkthroughs. The game hinted as much. I had a spell that would reveal it, I just didn't know where it was.
Thinking it might be an overarching storyline, that someone somewhere along the line would give me an actual hint, I merrily went through more than half the game. It's open world, there was no clue whatsoever that I was NOT supposed to do that. Sure, some things didn't make as much sense, like new names being dropped and old one never mentioned again for no good reason, but it all just added to the mystery.
At some point later in the game, I randomly got an amulet that would lower a force field on an area that (which I know now, but didn't know at the time) is suppose to follow up right after the villian lair. I went to lower the force field and that's where things got funny. When I entered a conversation with a character found there, another character chimed in. The problem is, I broke the game sequence. The character that chimed in wasn't actually there. He wasn't there, because I didn't visit the villain lair. At that point I sensed something is wrong and looked online. Turns out I could have completed the quest from the get-go, I simply missed one inconspucious shelf that had a journal. Up to that point, it's characters pointing you to important places in corversation. I didn't even imagine that the designers would step down to something as trivial as a map pointer, something that went against everything they tried to establish until then. Nevertheless, the journal put a pointer on the map. Entering the lair fired scripts, fireing the scripts put the characters in their correct places, finishing the quest. No overarching, no subtle clues, just bad design.

The problem is, there are multiple exaples of that. Or of the game not even giving journal with a point but leaving you to stumble around. Multible times I rustled around just digging up every mound and looking through every container, taught by the above example. And that's the un-fun 2/3 of gameplay I talked about. Exploration is fun when there's interesting new things to discover. Here it's akin to pixel hunting because otherwise the game doesn't progress. I just had to find out if it was just me being stupid or the game having a weaker moment. Turns out that from that point on, that was the whole game. Almost everyone had this problem, the only difference was some defending it as "hardcore RPG gameplay".

And that's Divinity: OS past the first dozen hours of gameplay - pixel hunting to level up to fend of monsters while pixelhunting some more, hoping to god you didn't just waste a whole afternoon because you missed something vital ten hours ago. And there will be wasted afternoons.

And that's why I cannot reccomend it with a clear conscience.

EDIT:
I love how people have a fit and need to call me "kid" as if it was baby's first RPG, yet have trouble telling the difference between "can't be ♥♥♥♥♥ to read dialogue, wants hand held" and "did read, but the design is bad enough to be unhelpful at best, completely misleading at worst".

So I'll make a TL;DR version for all you attention deficit "oldschool" tryglodites.

I think this game sucks because it PROMISED not to hold my hand, and then went ahead and DID ANYWAY.

I got stuck because I was running around trying to interrogate everyone to get directions. By, you know, READING. I expected that because I thought it was the intended design. So I went on thinking that and the GAME BROKE. Not only out of sequence, but actual code. NPC in cutscenes didn't just talk about stuff that hasn't happened, they DIDN'T APPEAR IN THE CUT SCENE. Just their voice.

What it turns out, I missed an item that gives me a MAP POINTER. The quintessential hand-holding cliche.

The game broke becuase it tried to hold my hand and I didn't let it.

Capisce?

I hope this is written simply enough for you to be able to comprehend it.

Divinity: Original Sin hails from the golden days of classic-RPG gaming. It takes portions of what were great about past CRPGs like the Baldur's Gate series, Fallout, Icewind Dale, and the like, and stirs it into one big pot and offers you Divinity: Original Sin.

While the Divinity series is not new to some of us, if you can recall their other RPGs like Divine Divinity, Larian Studios pays great attention to detail and it shows. Almost everything you do in D:OS has a consequence. All the careful planning by Larian went into every little detail in Divinity's world.

Original Sin is text-heavy, so do not dive in expecting complete voiceover work for every main character and NPCs. There are the occasional voiceover work, but they are few compared to the text dialogue. This does not spoil the great writing though, but it gives it a very "right at home" feeling for those that enjoy classic RPGs. The dialogue is wonderful, well-written, and full of humor. Even dark humor which is not easy to pull off.

Divinity: Original Sin is a challenging game, but it is fair. Right from the start, it does not hold your hand, but it begs you to search every corner of its vast world. Every battle, not just boss fights, requires careful planning, strategy, and good tactics. Your party could be wiped by a small group of common mobs. But do not be discouraged. Original Sin is not unfair and cheap against the player. It simply means, you cannot just lay back and push a few buttons to win a fight so easily. Allow me to give you one example where I was fighting this one boss, and I was down to my last party member with low health and the boss was also at low health (one hit away from death), and I managed to get off one last shot with my bow, killing it. At the same time, there was joy, and relief. You should also know that you can sometimes take on enemies that are 2-3 levels higher than your characters, but it requires great strategy.

One of the gameplay mechanics that really stood out for me was the ability to create different effects by applying magic and ability effects to your surroundings. For instance, if an enemy is standing in a puddle of water, you can target the water with an electric-type spell and stun your enemy for a number of turns. Strategically speaking, you can also place oil barrels in position before battle in your enemy's path and strike it with a fireball spell, or an explosive arrow. This gameplay mechanic fosters dynamic gameplay on the battlefield, and it rewards players that plan out their strategy.

The presentation in Divinity: Original Sin has been well executed. The menus are easy to navigate, without all the clutter and needless micro-management. The user interface is slick, clean, and simple yet complex in good ways. I did not notice input lag.

The controls felt very intuitive for the most part, but not without a small learning curve. Those that have played CRPGs before will feel right at home. Those that have not played CRPGs before will get used to the controls within an hour or less. The controls are very responsive, smooth, and it does not have input lag. Mouse and keyboard work great. I have not tried it with a controller. Moving your party members in the levels feel responsive and fluid.

While Divinity: Original Sin does many things right, the ending was very anti-climatic. Without spoiling it for you, I will just say this: Try not to think of the end and enjoy the journey. D:OS is all about the journey, the gameplay, and the rich detail.

Divinity: Original Sin was one of those games that took me by surprise. It was a refreshing new release in 2014 that blew me away by its shear depth and classic feel. In a sea of videogames that tend to hold your hand, Original Sin was the complete opposite of that. It required motivation in thinking; planning out your strategy and tactics to win battles. The reward was satisfaction from battles where you did not always know going in if you will win. The tide turns, and you do not know if you will be the victor. It allows for dynamic gameplay, unlike static gameplay that just lets you hit the "win button." Larian Studios designed a game that respects the player, with a high risk, reward system that works.

- My pick: Game of the Year 2014
- Tons of Charm
- Humoristic - includes dark humor, as well as light and funny humor
- Classic-RPG done right in modern times
- Most-improved developer of 2014
- Continued Customer Support
- Highly responsive to customer's needs with technical issues and difficulties
- Developer/Community Manager responds to posters
- Amazing graphics and a beautiful game engine
- Optimization is well done - D:OS runs smooth at 80fps+ on maxed settings at 1080p (as of this review, GTX 670, i5-2500k CPU)
- Several display and graphics options
- There is a NO-DRM version from other suppliers like GOG if you choose not to buy it from Steam. More options is good.
You really owe it to yourself to play this RPG.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

The Golden Age of the RPG

There are so many outstanding titles out there at the moment, Wasteland 2 and Shadowrun: Dragonfall DC are out, there are new Witcher and Dragon Age titles on the horizon.
It's a good time to be an RPG fan, but where does Divinity Original Sin fit into this hall of RPG fame?
Let's fire it up, build a character or two and find out!


A game with a lot of character

For a crunchy RPG the character creation doesn't feel as daunting as you might expect.
It's certainly not as initially intimidating as the also excellent Wasteland 2's character creation screen, that's not to say that character creation here is shallow, far from it.

You'll get to create two characters from the start (unless you pick the "lone wolf trait" which will give you some extra perks at the expense of your customised travelling companion.)

Experienced RPG'ers should be right at home here, pick a character class as your starting point, Knight, Wizard, Ranger etc, then tweak your attributes, skills and spells until you've got your perfect novice source hunter, ready to go out into the world and hunt some serious source!


Serious Sauce

A great power called the source exists in the world of Rivellon, a power once wielded for good but no longer.
The Wheel of Time turned and a great darkness invaded the land leaving the source forever tainted, its users driven to madness and destruction. Now only a brave few stand between Rivellon and this dark power which threatens to destroy it.
That's where you come in.


Murder She Wrote

In Divinity original sin you take on the mantle of a novice source hunter (well two novice source hunters, but who's counting).
You've been tasked with investigating the murder of a councillor in the town of Cyseal, It's suspected the source was involved and now, like a sword and magic wielding Jessica Fletcher, It's time to figure out "who dunnit"


There's your trouble!

As the game opens, you'll find yourself being unceremoniously dropped off on the sunny shores of Cyseal.
It seems a murder isn't the only problem the town is facing. The undead are at the walls and the Orcs are attacking from the coast.
Cyseal is a town with more troubles than you could shake a level 10 elemental staff at.


You Go First!

The game doesn't pull any punches, even before you make it into the town of Cyseal proper, you'll have your first tactical encounter which introduces you to the turn based combat mechanics.

Action points are the order of the day here, each character in your group (up to a maximum of four at any one time) will have a specific number of action points dependent on their stats and equipment. You'll spend these points moving, hacking, slashing and casting your way through these turn based encounters.

Combat in D:OS is a meaty and very satisfying experience, but it's not just about sorcery and swordplay, your surroundings can play a huge part in these battles too.


An Inconvenient Truth

Environmental destruction is par for the course here, and at first, you will probably do as much damage to your own group as you do to the enemy via environmental effects, that is, until you've figured a few things out.

Is the floor covered in oil? then you might want to be careful of stray sparks, a misguided fireball could send the whole lot up in flames, if you happen to be standing in the oil yourself, don't expect the environment to be forgiving, you'll burn along with all the rest.

The game can be punishing at times but you'll learn to use the environment to your advantage as you progress and after a short tutorial battle and dungeon crawl, you'll progress into the town of Cyseal.

It's here that the hunt begins.


The Great Hunt

When you make it into the town, you'll be greeted by a wealth of varied and interesting NPC's. A whistle stop tour of the dock front will start to open up various side quests quicker than you can say "That ships on fire!" and "Do I look like a recruitment agency?"

Don't worry, the in game journal does an excellent job of keeping the ever-growing quest details in order, a feature which I've found invaluable as a memory aid following those frequent occasions where the real world dares to interfere with my investigations.


Eye of the Beholder

The graphics do a fine job of enhancing the atmosphere of the game, from dark oppressive dungeons and gloomy rain soaked woodland to bright sunny beaches and the vibrant town of Cyseal itself, everything on screen adds something to the isometric glory.


Ear of the... Earholder

Whilst some NPC's are voiced, most are not. However, there are enough lines of dialogue scattered around to give the game flavour, most of which are so full of character and voiced with such vigour you can't help but smile.

Lines like "I wouldn't let an orc within 500 yards of my loving nature" and "No one has as many friends as the man with many cheeses!" are great examples of the wonderfully written and often funny dialogue that awaits you here.


Schizophrenic Encouragement

The writing is sharp and witty and the interaction between your characters can be hilarious, you can even get into arguments with yourself!
A good example of this happened to me early on in my play through when I wanted to dig up a body to follow a lead in my investigation.
I was just about to start wielding my trusty shovel when my comrade in arms objected.

In situations like this, you can find yourself choosing the dialogue options for both sides of the argument.

I couldn't help but get on my high horse about the sanctity of the grave and disturbing the dead with my second character, whilst my first glared on, shovel in hand quipping about short sighted sensitivity derailing the investigation.
If arguments like this reach an impasse then your comrades will resort to a quick game of rock, paper scissors to resolve the conflict.

This is amazing fun and can lead to alternate paths you might not have considered previously as part of your investigation.


The road is long

Divinity is long game.
If you're the obsessive type and feel the need to complete every side quest on offer then you can expect to spend nigh on 100 hours in Rivellon, so you'll definitely get your monies worth with regards to content................... (snip)


( To view the full review (and others) please take the time to visit www.review-well.com/ )

It's been a while since I've fallen in love with a game as hard as I have with Divinity: Original Sin. It is a game with many glaring flaws, and those flaws are part of the reason I've come to love it. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but those who can stomach its initial few sluggish hours will find a meaty turn-based RPG that pays thorough respect to its CRPG predecessors like Baldur's Gate.

Those familiar with pen & paper RPGs, as well as roguelike elements, will feel right at home here. Combat is tough and involved. The game uses mechanics familiar to paper players while being relatively accessible to modern gamers (none of that THAC0 nonsense!). Larian has developed a smart, stern RPG that offers its charm in its unforgivingly old-school game design with absolutely zero handholding. Very few map markers. No quest arrows. Why am I surrounded by level 15 invincible enemies at level 10?!

If you like Dungeons & Dragons or TBRPGs in similar veins like Shadowrun Returns, you owe it to yourself to play Divinity: Original Sin. Best enjoyed with a friend who will antagonize you.

I've got so many pros to say about this game, that I have to make a tl;dr for the tl;dr!!! If you ever were a fan of Baldur's Gate Series, Icewind Dale, or other rpgs like them, this is a MUST-PLAY (only this one is a turn-based and not a real-time pause)!
I also recommend it for PnP (pen 'n' paper) players (as I am one). The thing I love about games with this concept, is that they aren't typical dungeon crawling and boring games. Your characters develop with almost every click you make. Many options in dialogs, and you are free to do almost anything you want inside the game's borders.

(DUAL WIELD)
Just a comment for the dual wielding, as many seemed disapointed that there isn't that feat-skill in the game. I know it would be cool to have a 2*1h character, which can attack multiple times, but as it seems the developers didn't implemented it. Was it difficult to make changes in the code they had so far? Was it because they thought 1h is easier than 2*1h to handle (as the offhand has to have some penalties)? Was it because of the game's balance? Either way, with a rogue and a dagger at level 3, you can make 8 backstabs in a single turn. This overflows the gap for me, and makes me laugh.

Thank you for your time reading my review.
Sincerely,
eThi.

Divinity: Original Sin is far better than anyone could have reasonably expected. While its excellent world interactivity and in-depth crafting system were things which were talked about and demonstrated before the release, and the typical Larian humour in quests and writing could be expected, its sheer level of quality in other regards is simply off the scale.

The battle system may be the best in any computer role playing game ever created. The combination of a full set of modern features, including attacks of opportunity, with an initiative / action point system, free movement and a highly polished user interface is a joy to play and strategize with.

However, what truly sets the game apart is the versatility in terms of player agency which it offers. Ideas which you might never even consider in other games, or which might not even be possible to attempt, are not only possible to execute but actually work. This level of interactivity, combined with the very well developed system of elemental area effects and their interaction, allows for an almost infinite number of possibilities for solving situations, both in battles and during exploration.

I highly recommend this game to anyone who likes using their head while playing.

I zapped a dog who was standing in a puddle. I didn't notice my entire group was also standing in the puddle. We all got stunned for 2 turns. Since I was stunned I couldn't even hit ESC to reload my game. I was forced to watch as the computer killed all my group.
10/10

Having not put as nearly enough hours as I'm going to be putting in, i have nothing but great things to say about this game. I did not play any of the other divinity titles, so this is my first hand experience. If you've read any of my other reviews, i don't really like to waffle on, but merely state all the points i either like or dislike about a certain game - so that if you choose to read my opinion you have further more information to add to your own, and make descision of whether or not to purchase.

- One of the best games (in my opinion) to ever come out of early access
- Great Design decisions
- A Charming and fantastic looking topdown
- An addictive and enthralling turned based combart system
- Great Interactive questing system (especially co-op)
- Big Open Areas with much to explore
- A belly chuckling sneak/covering mechanic
- Not too shabby voice acting
- A wide range of classes and abilities
- Satisfying skills and particle effects
- AI is smart (And i've had no problems with it)
- Great Dialog to infuse with
- Great Crafting/Trading
- An Amazing SOUNDTRACK
- A two-player co-operative experience not to miss!
- All round amazing RPG experience

One of the best titles I've played on PC to date, an honest 10/10 for me.

Complexity. It’s an old RPG trait largely forgotten by a lot of gamers and ignored by most developers. If you like your RPG’s action-oriented and filled with commodities such as quest markers, move right along. Divinity: Original Sin from Belgian developer Larian assumes you’re prepared to actually figure out quite a bit all on your own. It provides a large game world and simply lets you wander around in it. Areas aren’t closed off, all quests can be finished in at least two different ways and you won’t be punished for playing your own way. It brings about the kind of design philosophy that really should exist in every RPG, regardless of its style, combat system or any other differentiating feature.

The story follows two main protagonists who start out as Source Hunters trying to figure out a local murder mystery. Naturally, soon they find themselves involved in something much bigger including an orc invasion, undead uprising, mad kings in a frozen land inhabited by elementals and they’ll even visit other dimensions and take to the heavens. Unfortunately, this is the weakest part of the game as the writing isn’t particularly compelling and the characterization is awfully shallow, especially regarding the playable characters. Speaking of which, apart from the two main characters, you’ll be able to recruit more people along the way. However, you’ll only be able to keep up to four in your party. Any others will await for your call in a place called the Hall of Heroes if you get the urge to switch them up a bit.

The only real reason to switch characters is to try out different classes and tactics. The character upgrade system is extremely deep and customizable, each class is extremely different with a load of unique traits, abilities and spells. And it’s extremely flexible as well. Just because you committed to a certain class at the beginning doesn’t mean you’re stuck with it if you change your mind. On the contrary, you can mix things up and create something like a rogue specialized in fire spells. You can customize all characters further with weapons and equipment you find along the way. And there’s a ton of loot in this game. Upgrading and customizing your character as well as constantly finding new loot is a huge source of addiction and probably the biggest motivation to continue playing.

Original Sin has a turn-based combat system which is awesome because it’s not an under-the-hood system with pause, but with actual turns akin to a regular turn-based strategy game. Apart from being able to witness the myriad of different combat styles, the combat shines thanks to its fantastic convergence of elemental powers. For example, summoning rain will create puddles on the ground and will make your enemies wet. Throwing a lightning bolt onto one enemy will fry him, but will also zap anyone standing in a puddle nearby. Then you can throw a fireball which will dry out the puddles and create mist that will cause enemies to have limited sight. Frozen surfaces will make characters slip and fall, spilled poison can be ignited for additional damage, the possibilities are nearly endless. Naturally, considering that everything you cast on the battlefield will affect your party as well, you have to be careful what you’re doing at all times. It’s just a superb system that never gets old.

Divinity: Original Sin is a fantastic looking game, however the art style isn’t particularly distinctive and falls under usual fantasy tropes a bit too often. The same can be said about the soundtrack, it’s definitely pleasing and appropriate, but just doesn’t really stand out in any way. My biggest complaint about the game is that it can be incredibly obtuse at times, particularly regarding the puzzle design. You will actually get hints from books and other sources, but I honestly don’t know what frame of mind you have to be in to figure some of this stuff out. This can get especially frustrating due to how big the world is and considering that a lot of quests span across multiple huge areas.

Divinity: Original Sin is one of the big Kickstarter success stories – a rewarding, addictive and unapologetic hardcore RPG brimming with complexity, gameplay depth and content breadth. If only it had a more motivating story, more interesting characters and a more unique game world, it would have been a masterpiece. Still, a few design quibbles aside, this is a great game that will delight anyone looking for a true RPG that brings back cherished genre values and wraps them up in a modern package.

8 OUT OF 10 (GREAT)

For me, games is good if :
1. Make me think HARDER
2. Make me FEAR
3. Make me MAD
4. Make me forget about LIFE

It's what i call FUN!
This game is one of those games that made me not regret having bought it, that's RARE..:)

I made a guy bleed his own blood and then electrified the pool of blood he was standing in to stun him, and then dropped a boulder on him. A poisonous boulder. And then I froze some blood and made enemies slip around on it. It's basically Magical ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥s: The Game. GOTY 2014

A decent old school RPG featuring an isometric view, turn base combat, party based play that come from the 90's CRPG. If you are a big fan of oldie-RPGs like Baldurs Gate, this is Must buy and Must play.

Takes a bit to get used to, there is a lot to learn. Once you do, you are in for one of the most amazing experiences. This could be the deepest game I've played. Your imagination is the limit, huge amounts of customization, great exploration, epic battles and loot. This is everything you ever wanted in an RPG.

At first I was in love with this game. The combat system seemed impressive. The world grand and immersive. But as the game goes on it sadly becomes monotonous.

To start there is way too much walking. I'm pretty sure I've lost hours just going from point A to point B within the first town. Even so, I soon became disappointed by the shrinking size of the towns to follow.

The fighting became repetitive and unchallenging. Instead of being easy to learn and difficult to master its more of a grace period of learning skills and their crowd controlling effects. Then rinse, wash, repeat. Regrettably the most important feature of the combat system is the ability to quicksave and quickload. Which you will be doing quite frequently.

The drop system is flawed. For awhile I wasn't sure belts even existed in this game. Because I hadn't seen one drop in the first 15 or so hours of play. You best option soon becomes saving before opening a chest and then reloading until you finally get a beneficial drop. The inventory management system is tedious. Managing which item is being held in which characters inventory is a task that's spreadsheet worthy.

The quest can be quite vague at times. Your going to have to read every bit of dialog to find out the next quest and that's okay. It's a refreshing change from skip, skip, skip, check the map for a quest marker or look for the guy with the yellow exclamation point over his head type of game play. But even doing so can still leave you clueless as to what to do next. Having to google it, something I do only last resort, is a game breaking feature.

The non-linear game play isn't exactly non-linear. You can begin the quest in any order you like. But as you soon find out this leads to more confusion then freedom and in a few cases incompleteable quest.

Divinity: Origin Sin is a top-down, turned-based Role-Playing-Game that does without the hand-holding, 'let me guide you through my story and you'll learn to love it' experience. There's a huge emphasis on freedom; genuine freedom, not the kind that lets you do what you want for five minutes before prompting you there's a quest you should be doing. In short, Divinity: Origin Sin raises it's middle finger to the concept of guidance and allows the player to decide what to do and when to do it.

Graphics:

In every aspect, this game is beautiful, and arguablly one of the best looking games, not just within it's genre, but within in all games, ever.

From the huge towns filled with NPC's to the lonely mountain passes, the game world feels alive and genuine; never do you feel like you're following a path, you feel as you should, as if you're exploring this huge, open world with a story behind it, and everyone within.

It's difficult to describe the graphics in this game purely because they're done so well. There is particle effects, high-quality textures, gorgeous lighting and a strong sense of atmosphere everywhere you go. You might be exploring an old celler, in which case it's misty and gloomy, whilst in town centres the sun is pumping pure beauty upon the entire world. The game is simply gorgeous and without doubt, the best looking game within it's genre, by a large margin.

Audio:

From the subtle creeks of floor-boards to the raging torrents that is the mountain pass winds, Divnity: Origin Sin delivers a flawless experience in auditory experience.

The best possible way to explain the quality of audio in this game would be to ask you to think of a game, any game at all that you think has the best audio. You might say Amnesia because it's subtle but terrorfying or perhaps you might say Child of Light for it's amazing soundtracks, and both would be correct, and I'm sure other examples you might have suggested would be too, but most games have one particular aspect within it's audio that's memorable or excels in some aspect. This isn't true for Divinity: Origin Sin. This game excels in every aspect, from voice acting to the empowering shimmers and charges that spark when casting a spell.

It's simply perfect - And that's not a comment I would make lightly.

Gameplay:

Divinity: Origin Sin is a turn-based game, but only within combat. Outside of combat you're free to explore and roam the world in any way you please. You might find yourself engaging enemies that are a few levels higher than you; you might help an old man steal some fish, then report him to the guards and watch him be dragged away to prison or perhaps you simply want to go around the entire world slaying every single living thing that stands in your way. Freedom is what makes Divinity: Origin Sin so immersive and enjoyable, you're never tied down or told what to do, or when.

This game is hardcore, but not in regards to it's difficulty, more in terms of how it presents itself. There are no exclimation marks above NPC's heads to signify importance. There is no charts or tables to show you crafting receipes. There is a lot missing, but it's a very positive aspect of the game that makes it so much more enjoyable and immersive than other Role-Playing-Games. To find out how to craft a weapon, a potion or how to cook a pie, you must find a book, or a note and read it. You won't unlock the receipe, everything is available to craft as long as you know how to do it. Once you find the receipe, you simply need to refer back to it when creating the item. When deciding to complete quests, to find out where to go or what to do, you must talk to NPC's and listen. The information given to you is only useful if you read what was said. There will be no waypoint given or a 'Hey, good job finding that clue, i'll remove all challenge from this game and simply tell you what to do now'. It's challenging, but rewarding.

The combat is much alike what you would expect. Every character involved within the combat scenario will take turns, have a set amount of action points and, if they choose, can reserve points for future turns. The system is very fluid and intuative. What makes the combat, and gameplay so enjoyable however, is the emphasis on environmental interaction. See a group of enemies standing in water? Why not zap them with lightning and fry them? -No? How about we freeze the water and stick them in their place. Perhaps you want to spill some oil and ignite it, or perhaps use a teleport spell to throw an enemy off a cliff. If you can think of it, you can probably do it.

Narrative and Lore:

Now I'll admit, I'm not the kind of person who is likely to sit down and read every piece of lore or material in a game, especially not role-playing-games. I generally don't have the patience nor' interest, so perhaps this next statement will give some meaning to the quality of the writing in this game.

I've played for about 15 hours, at the time of writing this review, and have read every single piece of material I've found, and generally find it annoying when I then switch to co-op, and have my partner skip through it all. The writing in this game is really well written, and because of the nature of the game, enaging and meaningful. I know if I don't read it, I won't know what to do. It's almost like a very intelligent scheme plotted by the developers to discourage skipping through material, and I like that.

Co-op:

The game allows for four characters to be played at any given time, in co-op, you can play alongside another player and control up to two each. There is no limations in co-op, everything you can do it single player, you can do it co-op, but arguablly, it's more enjoyable when played with a friend due to a feature that allows you to argue amongst your characters about what choices to make it quests. Perhaps I want to slay the target, whilst you want to help them. Lets discuss it with in-game dialouge, then argue and see who wins. It's genuinally enjoyable and adds a new layer to the immersion of the games experience.

There is also a mod, for those interested, that allows the game to be played four-player co-op, so if that's of interest, good news for you!

Mods and Editors:

That game supports workshop, mods and even comes with the developer tools to create your own custom campaigns. I've toyed around with this a little, and not being a guru of game development software, I can say it's actually pretty easy to use. There is some script-writing to do when creating dialouges, cutscenes or combat sequences, but there are plenty of easy-to-understand tutorials that can be found within the discussion pages of the Steam community hub as well as on media sites such as YouTube to help guide beginners in creating their own mods.

Whilst I'm unlikely to spend much time using these features myself, it's a great addition to have and ultimately means there's a huge pool of endless content to play with once you've completed the main game. That's never a bad thing.

Overall:

Divinity: Origin Sin is a beautifully crafted RPG that was obviously created by developers who genuinally cared about their product. Every aspect of the game feels polished once, and once again. The game runs perfectly at maximum settings on my GTX 760 and AMD FX-8350 at more than 120FPS solid, without hiccups. The gameplay is hugely enjoyable, the lore is engaging and the hardcore approach to giving the player complete freedom makes this one of the best turn-based role-playing-games, ever.

No game is without it's flaws ~ I just can't single out anything I dislike, honestly it's near perfect.

It's a masterpiece, a genuine must buy for any RPG fan.
~One of the most enjoyable and engaging experiences to be found within gaming.

Fantastic RPG game. One of the best in years.

PROS

-No fetch quests
-No grinding
-Great leveling system that rewards you for exploration, fighting, and arguing with npcs
-Enormous amounts of skills and freedom to build you're own party (up to 4 people) any way you want
-Fun story with lots of depth.
-Perfect soundtrack to catch the feel of the fantasy world
-Amazing turn based combat with a lot of emphasis on the surrounding environment. Gameplay is superb
-One of the best AI in a long time. They can do to you anything you can do to them in combat. Very unpredictable
-Fun and smart sandbox elements that can only be rivaled by Bethesda games.
-Challenging puzzles that will take you back in time when those old Resident Evil games picked your brain
-Co-op


CONS


......


No cons. Game is a masterpiece. People nitpick small things like inventory being cumbersome or lack of hand holding. But none of those things are big enough to be worthy of a con. This game is too good. 5-10 years from now it will be even better because people will realize how much better it is than most other game released in todays industry. Its one of those things thats gotta slowly sink in. The first couple hours of the game can be very overwhelming. But once you get past that inital learning curve you will be sucked into an amazing fantasy world. One of the most addicting games I have ever played.

10 out of 10. Would fall for trap again. INTRUDER SPIED!!!!!

I'd write a review, but its been difficult enough manipulating the keyboard to type this brief sentence with my massive erection in the way. 10/10

Beat the game last night... My overall thoughts:

Pros:
- It's a classic RPG style game in our modern day of gaming. Yay!
- Decent enough graphics for what it is.
- Good length to the game - doesn't end 6 hours after purchase like so many titles do nowadays.
- Interesting changes in terrain and level design.
- Interesting use of elemental interaction for spells.
- Love the allowance of coop play. It's nice to have an RPG I can play with my partner.

Cons:
- Dialogue/story is overly verbose and unnecessarily convoluted. Everyone has countless paragraphs to babble on through when the message is often very simple. I get that it's meant to be old-timey fantasy speech, but plenty of other RPGs succeeded in that feel without dragging on text forever.
- Lot of game crashing bugs still. I'm running 64-bit Windows 7 on a top end custom built computer, so I truly believe there are no issues on my end (heck, I run everything else just fine on ultra settings).
- Lot of bugs and glitches in general, actually.
- NPCs dialogue spam (particularly in Cyseal) is just obnoxious.
- If my partner is initiating dialogue, why can't I just read it with him? I can get past this using the Journal or whatever, but why can't I just flipping see it like in any other game if I'm standing RIGHT THERE? Stupid. Oh, and aforementioned NPC spam does not help this issue.
- Combat seems to become repetitive upon reaching higher levels. You end up using the same tactics against enemies, and none of them really pose a challenge once you have your resistances set up. Seems mostly a game of "Who can stun lock who the longest?!"
- Crafting and inventory system could use several improvements.
- Really bad loot system.
- Broken achievements.
- And my least favorite thing of this game - Rock paper scissors to determine winner when it came to dialogue debates (intimidate, charm, reason) as opposed to rolling checks like DnD style based on stats. Made me nerdrage to the max having to go through that crap over and over and over again.

... and so on and so forth. I could make a bigger list or go into further detail, but I think this gives a good summary of my beef with it.

I'm disappointed. Divinity: Original Sin could have been a great game. In fact, it's style of play is one of my favorites in gaming, and yet it falls short due to all its bugs and game design choices. I have no idea how the developers could have even remotely seen some of their decisions as good.

I ultimately rate this title around a C- due to my lack of enjoyment in story, end game combat, and due to the amount of game breaking bugs.