Divinity Original Sin 2 is the sequel to Divinity Original Sin. The game is once again being developed and published by Larian Studios and it is expected to be released to Windows PC, Xbox One and PS4 in December of 2016. The game was originally funded through Kickstarter as was it’s predecessor. The funding goal was met in a matter of hours and even hit several stretch goals that brought new additions to the game.
Divinity Original Sin 2 was first announced in August of 2015 and after being officially unveiled it was revealed that the game would be going through the crowdfunding website Kickstarter in order to get the funds necessary for development. The Kickstarter officially went live on August 26 and the game reached its $500,000 goal on Kickstarter in less than 12 hours. Funding came in so quickly for the title, some of the stretch goals were reached before they were even announced. When Larian Studios decided it was time to pull the game off Kickstarter, all of the available stretch goals were met, with over 2 million dollars collected in total.
The popularity of the first game would have allowed the development team to get its funding from a larger company but the firm decided to go this route because they wanted opinions from the community when developing the game, as well as allowing them to further expand the vision they originally had for this game. On September 20, Larian Studios announced they had brought another developer into the fold to work on Divinity: Original Sin 2. Chris Avellone came in thanks in large part to his work in other RPG games that all had a more Western bent. Avellone has worked on Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment, and Pillars of Eternity. On the same day they announced the addition to the development team, Larian also announced there would be a playable demo of sorts at Twitchcon.
When it comes to the number of stretch goals that were met through funding, there was a total of eight different tiers. Among the additions that the stretch goals unlocked were the Love & Hate and the Shapeshifting Mask goals. Other stretch goals included unlocking the Undead as a playable fifth race and a second pick a skill tree option. The other unlocks have mod support, a Hall of Echoes home, Game Master mode,racial skills, and a Strategist mode. Those who have gotten their hands on a playable pre-alpha build of the game say it “has noticeably more ornate graphics and a few new systems—despite using a large amount of placeholder assets from the first game.”
In Divinity: Original Sin 2, Bishop Alexander the Innocent declare all sorcerers to be criminals, so a group of four sorcerers embark on a quest to defeat him. Something similar to the Lone Wolf talent in Divinity: Original Sin, this may allow for smaller parties, or even a single character. The four sorcerers actually begin the game in jail because they have been found out by Bishop Alexander but they are quick to escape their bonds. There are a number of different main characters and classes that will be playable in the game and the backstory of each character and class and race will be help allow the story unfold as the users play. For instance, there is one human character that actually grew up in one of the starting points of the game.
There are certain memories that are tied to this character because of the hometown and the interactions of the rest of the party is also helped determined by the backstory of the main character. Examples of this include something like the human thief is familiar with the legends revering Harrald. The elf calls the man “impressive … for a human.” The dwarf notes that Harrald murdered hundreds of dwarves and was a monster at best, not a hero worthy of praise. The game unfolds like this with the end goal being a way to defeat the Bishop and allow magic to be a part of the world this game and the original have been set.
In this game, like the original, the player will be able to choose their character’s stats, race and origin story. The game can be played by a single person who can recruit up to three companions to assist them. These same companions can become playable characters in multiplayer modes. The dialogue and quests depending on what the player chooses are different, depending on the characters’ backstory. In the original game, there were just two people who could actually play in the cooperative mode, in Divinity Original Sin 2 players will be able to have up to 4 players that can compete or assist each other in multiplayer mode. Not only are the characters and races deeply changeable but the player can also manipulate the environment to their advantage during battle and throughout their quest.
There will be an enhanced skill crafting system (one of the things that was unlocked by hitting certain tiers on Kickstarter. The enhanced skill tree will allow the player the mix and change their skills. This is a first person approach that has turn based combat as well as a cover system that can be used in combat. Another aspect that was unlocked during the funding rounds is a system called “Love & Hate”. It allows players to establish friendship, romantic relationship and hatred towards other characters.
All of the classes and races of the characters in this game are not known, though it is thought that they will be similar to the original game, those classes include:
There is a new race that was unlocked using Kickstarter called the undead. This race’s skills are still largely unknown but there was some talk by the developers that they would start out with 120% health and it would decrease as the player goes along as the undead character decays.
Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game