Larian Reveals Divinity: Original Sin

The long-dormant Divinity RPG series is making a comeback.

All the way back in 2002, Belgian developer Larian Studios released the oddly-named isometric action-RPG Divine Divinity, a sort of Diablo-Baldur’s Gate hybrid that, weird handle notwithstanding, was actually a very good game. Two years later, Larian followed up with a “spinoff,” Beyond Divinity, a very similar game that had the added bonus of one of the worst voice-acting performances of all time. Another game, Divinity 2: Ego Draconis, came out in late 2009, but eschewed the isometric view and conventional Divinity gameplay in favor of a more console-style third-person perspective, presumably to attract a more mainstream audience.

I don’t know how successful that venture actually was, but the fact that the newly-announced Divinity: Original Sin is returning to the top-down style of its older predecessors speaks volumes. To further emphasize the connection, the ending of Original Sin will lead directly into the events of Divine Divinity, making it a prequel rather than an actual sequel. The new game will “address frustrations with Divine Divinity,” according to Larian chief Sven Vincke, although how anyone could possibly still be sore about the game, or even remember those frustrations with any sort of clarity, is beyond me.

One feature it will share with Beyond Divinity is a two-player approach. Original Sin will feature two lead characters, a woman resurrected from the dead with no apparent memory of the world around her, and a man described as “a hulking mass of muscle once consigned to a life of eternal torture.” The game is actually designed to be played by two people simultaneously, so how it will go down with just one person at the wheel remains to be seen.

Divine Divinity was a really good game, undercut somewhat by a goofy title and the near-complete anonymity of Larian, but Beyond Divinity was less than memorable (aside from that remarkably bad voice acting) and Ego Draconis wandered a little too far off the ranch to really satisfy as a Divinity game, so the idea of a return to the original style, “prettified” and taking advantage of the great improvements in technology, is an exciting one indeed. No word on release target or platforms, but we’ll definitely keep you posted.

Source: PC Gamer