Divinity: Original Sin 2 is a remarkable RPG.
It proudly trumpets freedom in ways that matter.
Stories, both big and small,
consistently have multiple and equally interesting ways of reaching the end,
rewarding creativity and often requiring carefully considered decisions.
Original Sin 2 isn't afraid of a stiff challenge, either.
Here, the strongest monsters and villains live up to their billing,
many times being just as powerful if not more so than your own group.
The result is that the massive fantasy land of Rivellon has a real bite
and plenty of life coursing through it.
You start your journey in Divinity as a lowly captive aboard a vessel
filled with similarly unfortunate souls sailing to a prison known as Fort Joy.
From there, you'll need to figure out a way of escaping and ultimately how to wrestle with a destiny
involving an extraordinary ascent to power.
Along the way, you're forced to deal with otherworldly creatures,
an oppressive order known as the magisters,
and a fanatical group who call themselves the Black Ring.
Original Sin 2's story is primarily concerned with a giant power struggle,
and it's up to you to define your role within it
as well as how to deal with the individual factions desperately vying for that power.
It's an intentionally open-ended narrative served by equally open progression.
You'll typically have one overarching goal,
such as removing the power-limiting collars around your party's necks,
finding someone who can awaken your full potential, or
uncovering a way to get into an important place known as The Academy.
The game tries, as much as it can, to ensure that there are plenty of paths forward.
More importantly, these various paths inevitably lead to other stories.
Sometimes these stories tie into the broader goal and other times they stand on their own.
The point is that however the player chooses to move forward, there's always plenty to do.
Of course, quality trumps quantity and it’s an adage that Divinity takes to heart.
There's an impressive amount of diversity to be found in the game's innumerable quests.
Whether that quest is darkly humorous or gravely serious,
the game is equally adept at handling the various moods.
As it regularly refuses to accept the mundane,
plenty of the optional moments are refreshingly creative.
One has players dealing with a violent demon chicken and the bird’s equally curious father.
It's a poultry tale of murder and mystery that gets increasingly weird as it goes on.
Such a story can only be experienced if you have the appropriate Pet Pal talent, which
allows you to talk to animals,
incentivizing you to expand your characters in ways
that might not occur to you otherwise.
Regardless of which quests you choose to participate in, they're almost all notably interesting,
partly because the voice acting does such a commendable job of selling even the smallest character.
Whether it's an overly enthusiastic salesman or a pompous commander,
there's a believability to nearly everyone that makes it far easier to sink in and enjoy the world.
The character you create has substantial impact on conversations
as well as basic interactions within the world.
It's possible to create a custom character or inhabit the role of a known character
such as The Beast, a hearty dwarf and tyrant of the high seas.
What you pick may result in unique dialogue when appropriate.
There are gameplay ramifications as well.
Choosing a lizard, for instance, means you can dig without the need of a shovel.
Undead characters are dramatically different.
They can't be healed by conventional potions but can be healed by poison.
It's also possible to pick locks with your bony finger
or assume the identity of other races by stealing their faces,
which in turn gives you access to their race-specific dialogue and skills.
The game goes out of its way to not only make character creation interesting at the outset, but
to also make you feel good about your decision
by regularly providing options that reward whatever character was chosen.
The same sort of sentiment is true regarding the companions brought along for the ride.
Since players can only recruit a maximum of three additional characters,
a few will get left behind.
Considering how intricate some of the companion storylines are, it's a reasonably tough decision.
Helping the smug yet loveable Red Prince reclaim his kingdom
or assisting the smolderingly mysterious Ifan Ben-Mezd with his quest for vengeance
are some of the game’s most satisfying moments overall.
Because companions leave such an impression,
it's disappointing that they don't chime in during other quests more often.
Outside of their own stories, they do chirp up here and there,
but it's not nearly as often as you may expect.
Although there's enough cause to seek out optional stories simply because of how intriguing they are,
the game provides plenty of more practical reasons as well.
Many quests reward you with powerful and sometimes even unique gear.
Figuring out what exactly to do with the gear is a careful yet enjoyably obsessive balancing act.
Equipping one piece over another can mean sacrificing certain skill
or stat bumps for the sake of defense or vice versa.
The reason you'll be eagerly chasing after every possible advantage
is because of how unforgivingly brutal combat can be.
At the most basic level, things are easy to understand.
Movement, skills, and basic attacks all share the same pool of points.
After expending these points, that character's turn ends.
Positioning is crucial during these fights for several reasons.
It's possible to do extra damage from high ground.
Many skills and spells are devastating attacks
that can stun, knock down, poison,
or inflict any number of terrible conditions on a group caught bunched together.
Oil can be flung at enemies to slow them down
and it can be lit on fire to create enormous blazing areas
that opponents must either navigate around or pass through at the cost of significant damage.
Equally dangerous hazards can be made by combining water and lightning
or by splattering poison across the ground.
Utilizing these tactics isn't merely suggested but essentially required.
Refusing to impair enemies or use the terrain to your advantage
can result in swift death.
In other games, it's possible to find something that works and stick with it,
utilizing only a small percentage of what's available.
In Divinity, such a mindset is much harder to adhere to.
The more you learn and understand, the better,
making it exceptionally gratifying to progress as a player.
Leveling up and putting points into attributes and talents carries an extra level of agony.
The same is true of what you choose to purchase as well.
Do you spend coin on skill books or a shiny new piece of armor?
All of these choices carry a significant amount of weight,
more than in comparable RPGs, because of how much the game pushes you.
For as good at turning the screws as Divinity is, there are occasionally times
when it feels as though it turns them a bit too far or a bit too recklessly.
There are fights where the enemy transforms out of nowhere, where you'll get ambushed suddenly, or
where you’ll be tasked with protecting someone who has seemingly little interest in staying alive.
It's in these moments where the feeling can go from engagingly challenging to gruelingly tiresome.
Thankfully, it is possible to save and lower the difficulty at any time, even right in the middle of combat.
If things ever become too unbearable, you are given the tools to get through it.
The problem is that you may find yourself wanting some sort of middle ground.
Bumping it down may make things too easy,
but keeping things where they are is overwhelming.
For the most part, though, the difficulty is appropriate,
and the ability to change it when needed is extremely useful.
As enjoyable as the game is solo, it's made even better with the addition of friends.
It's possible to play cooperatively through the entire game which, as expected, changes the flow of things.
While someone converses with a character, the others can listen in,
or they can go off on their own.
Being able to cover a lot of ground simultaneously
is a huge benefit.
Plus, getting through a tough battle by the skin of your teeth feels fantastic by yourself
but is made even more momentous with a friend in tow.
Going even a step further, it's possible to create, play, and share your own adventures
via the Game Master mode.
Meant to simulate pen-and-paper role-playing,
the greatest aspect of the mode is how simple it is to use.
Whether it's creating levels, encounters, or bits of story,
all of it can be done quickly in a way that's encouragingly intuitive.
If you want a simple get together with little preparation
or instead want to spend time agonizing over little details,
it feels as though there's plenty of space to do both.
If Divinity: Original Sin 2 had only been an enormous single-player RPG,
it would still be far better than most of what you could compare it to.
The fact that it has such well-implemented co-op and a user-friendly game master mode
gives it a tremendous amount of value at a time where such a thing can feel like a rarity.
Even if you never touch all of its various components,
you'll still be left with a role-playing game that exemplifies the best aspects of its genre.
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