Divinity: Original Sin Reviews

We have rounded up our first batch of reviews for Larian’s Divinity: Original Sin, the developer’s partially Kickstarter-funded turn-based RPG. If these first scores are anything to go by, aiming for a highly interactive world in the vein of Ultima VII paid off quite nicely for the Belgian RPG studio.

GameInformer, 9/10.

The experience is not without a few minor quibbles, such as disastrous misclicks that can occur from enemy/camera positioning and the inability to always have items show up on the ground. The complete freeform gameplay in Divinity: Original Sin can be quite daunting and frustrating, especially as a player navigates the minefield of the early game without any real direction. Embrace the lack of handholding and complete freedom, and you have an incredible title that provides many hours of entertainment.

Strategy Informer, 8.5/10.

While in my opinion it has a few flaws that hold it back from true all-time-classic status Divinity: Original Sin is an excellent, beautifully designed and engaging RPG that absolutely never gets boring. The main story could be better told, companions could be more interesting (and just more), and while refreshingly free it could at least offer some better directions for important things or highlight crucial items. Nevertheless the inventive and always unique combat, the witty and humorous writing, the two player characters, the thoroughly engaging world and the sense that you’re allowed to do whatever you want to keep Original Sin in the realms of must-play territory. It’s also absolutely huge: it took me 23 hours just to discover the next area of the map (and I hadn’t even finished exploring half of the surrounding area of Cyseal)! Whether playing single-player or co-op it’s utterly great, and while not quite RPG of 2014 (South Park: The Stick of Truth is already a little better in my view, and that’s before we get the likes of Dragon Age: Inquisition, Wasteland 2 and Pillars of Eternity) any self-respecting RPG gamer absolutely has to buy this game. There’s a She-Orc Librarian who talks like an upper-class British school mistress for god’s sake…

Softpedia, 9.5/10.

Divinity: Original Sin is not perfect by any means, but it attempts to reach perfection nonetheless and offers one of the most complex role-playing game experiences currently available. Developer Larian still has a lot of work ahead, primarily in the form of patches that iron out its various kinks, mainly of technical nature, but it’s definitely a very polished experience as it stands.

Anything Geeky Reviewed, 9.3/10.

Overall, Divinity: Original Sin is a massive RPG in scope which takes on our usual tendencies for RPG’s and smashes them high and wide. The combat is a massive breath of fresh air, the story is enjoyable and expansive, the music is fantastic while the length of play is large. If you enjoy RPG’s of any kind, you’ll love Divinity: Original Sin.

Co-Optimus, 5/5 (4/5 for the co-op experience).

Divinity: Original Sin is all about the experience of the game. That experience can be done alone where you craft and shape each of the Source Hunters into the kind of people you feel they should be while at the same time devising your own strategies for how to overcome the myriad of foes that await you. Or, that experience can be cooperative, with each player expressing their own thoughts and feelings onto the Source Hunters. That cooperative aspect is what’s helped to make Dungeons & Dragons such a popular game over the years. What better way to tackle incredible enemies than with a friend?

Twinfinite, 5/5.

Overall, Divinity Original Sin is a fantastic game. There is variety in weapons and abilities, and choices in the ways you solve your problems. The world is full of life: Every corner of the world has treasure, or curiosities like a bull that can tell your fortune, or even a severed head that still speaks. The combat is fun, with elemental effects turning large battles into sort of a puzzle, with your spells and abilities being just half of the pieces. The story isn’t as engaging as say, Baldur’s Gate II, but it’s still serviceable in support of such fantastic gameplay hooks.

Pixel Perfect Gaming, 5/5.

Divinity: Original Sin is an outstanding game that does the series justice. It maintains all the beauty of the previous releases without compromising their integrity, and it delivers the type of gameplay that strategy gamers crave.

AGPNation, 8.5/10.

Over all, I actually had a lot of fun playing Divinity: Original Sin. I think that this rpg has a lot to offer gamers who are fans of oldschool western rpgs like Baldur’s Gate or Diablo and those who are fans of the mod community, especially Steam users. I give this title a solid 8 out of 10.

eXplosion, 7.9/10.

Divinity: Original Sin has a lot of good ideas and mechanics which serve a specific audience. For players who like to interact with everything, explore everywhere, and speak with everyone, you are going to find a crazy amount of content to indulge in. Not all of the content is well-explained or interesting, but when the roadblocks of Original Sin rear their ugly head, you can usually find help from the vibrant community which has flocked to the Divinity’s hardcore RPG systems. There are tricky puzzles, annoying difficulty spikes, and unexplained mechanics, but devout fans of fantasy RPGs will likely find something to love in Original Sin.

Mouse N Joypad, 92%.

Divinity: Original Sin is already a contender for the title of the RPG of the year. It’s the indie RPG that could. A definitive recommendation to everybody who appreciates a good role-playing game, including those who yearn for the likes of Baldur’s Gate. You just might be nicely surprised by what’s waiting for you in this package. As if that’s not enough, we’ll have complete access to mod tools and Steam Workshop in a couple of weeks, plus additional party members and some more fluff to go with the usual array of patches that are bound to fix the few bugs the game currently sports around. Perhaps the prolonged loading screens will be looked upon, too.