Divinity: Original Sin 2 is one of the most beautiful looking isometric RPGs and that hasn’t changed.
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Of the number of positive changes introduced in the Definitive Edition by developer Larian Studios, most will likely go unnoticed unless you’ve invested dozens of hours into the original. Things like fleshed out character stories and interactions, a no-pressure story mode, reworked and brand new fights, character pacing, a new comprehensive arena mode and more round out this Definitive Edition, and I’m most excited to see the largely rewritten third act when I finally get back to it.
Quality Control
But the make-it-or-break-it element of the Definitive Edition on consoles is jamming an entire keyboard’s-worth of features onto the limited buttons of a controller. Fortunately, Divinity: Original Sin 2 on a gamepad is impressively intuitive. Through a series of radial and drop-down menus you’re only ever a few button presses away from doing whatever you want. While there are some few rough edges you don’t find on the PC, I’m still surprised by just how seamless traditionally complex mechanics like dividing your party, organizing your inventory, or managing your action bar perform on Larian’s controller layout, with the area search feature for easy looting being my favorite consideration.However, as expected, cursor precision on the controller isn’t as spot-on as with a mouse. Larian has included settings to cope – like a tactical camera and character highlights to help differentiate friend from foe – but I still occasionally found myself accidently attacking the ground or buffing an enemy instead of my character. But these one-off inconveniences are the exception to the rule – Divinity Original Sin 2 Definitive Edition works brilliantly on a gamepad.
Fantasy Friend and Foe
That intuitive translation extends to the two-player local, and four-player online cooperative modes as well. Locally, the screens seamlessly split and rejoin based on proximity, and swapping ownership of characters is a breeze. And though I spent over 100 hours playing Divinity 2’s original release all by my lonesome, I can definitely see myself easily making the transition to re-discovering Divinity: Original Sin 2 with good friends in a cooperative setting.Finally, the new arena is what an armchair strategist like me has been wanting. Divinity Original Sin 2 has one of the best isometric-RPG tactical fighting systems, possibly ever, and it’s a consistent joy to see what kind of explosive or sly strategies you can employ. The arena mode – supporting one-to-four teams of one-to-four characters – is an endless pool of that fun as you craft strategies from the 16 playable characters pulled from Divinity lore. Facing other players online or locally, or just testing my mettle against the AI in increasingly hopeless odds is something I still haven’t grown tired of over a dozen matches later.
Verdict
Divinity: Original Sin 2 Definitive Edition is a new way to play one of the absolute best RPGs in years. And whether you’re diving back in on PC, or booting it up on the console for the first time, it’s flexibility, personality, and charm make for an amazing adventure.