Environment will play a more significant role this time around. Height does factor into battle strategy, making the decision to initiate battle from a cliff overlooking your enemies or from a rooftop an advantageous decision, though be warned the battlefield position benefits do work both ways. Areas of the battlefield can receive a blessing or curse, effecting all who enter the area. The ground may be frozen, energized, or set ablaze, making a path to an enemy or ally inaccessible without sustaining damage. The number of available skills and spells have been greatly expanded, and as a Sorcerer the player will have access to spells with unimaginable power, demonstrating why this potent magic has been banned. The action point system has been revamped making planning the next move in battle a more calculated decision. Lastly, if you think you have mastered the battle system, the option to put your money where your mouth is available in the new PvP arena where you can test your combat prowess against another player.

The player's character is a Sourcerer who has been captured by this organization and on a ship traveling to the island prison, Fort Joy. A humongous Voidwoken Kraken attacks, and then sinks the ship. The player survives and must now discover what destiny has in store for them by seeking out the Divine Or

The player is free to create a custom original character to fit their own design as was the case in its predecessor, but the option of selection a premade character with an origin story is available. These characters come with their own unique background that are closely linked to the main narrative. Origin story characters not selected by the player can still be encountered as NPCs and possible join the character's party. The origin story will be an evolving element of the character that is shaped through completion of origin story quests. The specific origin stories will influence how the inhabitant of Rivellon react to the player and will provide additional dialog options. There are currently four origin stories available in the Early Access with the plan to add more as the game continues to develop. To give an example of what makes origin stories unique, the character Lohse has an entity that communicates with her, something akin to demonic possession mixed with schizophrenia. It is possible for Lohse to enter a state of temporary insanity if she fails to win a challenge against this thing that dwells within her.

Original Sin II is an isometric PC RPG that plays beautifully with mouse and keyboard but also offers full controller support. Perhaps this was a result of how well the controller worked for Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition on console or maybe just a preemptive move with plans for this to go to console, but either choice for control input works well. The music is beautifully composed and accompanies this fantasy setting splendidly, along with the impressive voice acting, and having this title be fully voiced was no small feat. The graphics will not push higher end graphics cards to the limit, but the design of characters, environments and monsters look great as do the cutscenes that possess a painting-like quality. The overall tone of Divinity: Original Sin II is dark and serious, but somehow manages to maintain an element of lighthearted fun and levity. There are a few humorous, sarcastic quip dialog options that pop up quite a bit and the Pet Pal talent can lead to a lot of interesting side quests and humorous dialog. The greatest moment of silliness is when the player enters stealth mode and assumes the form of a shrubbery walking around. While one probably wouldn't file this title under the humor section, it's clear the development team had a sense of humor while creating this.

Several weeks ago I was fortunate enough to get some hands on time with Divinity: Original Sin II at PAX . That experience only gave a brief glimpse into what is offered in this build and I imagine I will feel the same way about the Early Access build when the complete game is released. The predecessor was a massive choice-driven RPG that was in the vein of classic computer RPGs. The bar was set high by Divinity: Original Sin and everything that made that title so great returns here and then some. Making any definite declaration about a Slg Game News's quality prior to its final release is impossible and I do not want to over hype this title to the point of having expectations it can not reach, but anyone who enjoyed its predecessor needs to keep this one on their radar, regardless of whether they want to wait for the final version to come out or if they want to dive into the early build right away.

There are many treasures and interesting hidden encounters on the island and a good portion will be missed if the player is fixated on only solving the quest that is supposed to lead to the escape from Fort Joy. Original Sin II gives the player a lot of freedom in regards to their play style and how they want to interact with NPCs, but remember that every action carries its own consequence. During the review play through, Fane started peaceful and diplomatic with all magisters and other NPCs lurking about Fort Joy and always sought a non violent solution for each encounter, that is until one particular incident happened. A cat had decided to follow us, and even thought with the Pet Pal talent he didn't speak very much he was a friendly companion. During some exploration of Fort Joy Fane and his companions came near a locked gate, they weren't causing any trouble and guards told us to step away. As we started to take our leave a guard shot an arrow at the cat without provocation killing it instantly. These guards then saw a display of poison and fire that left their charred, broken corpses arranged in a display that would make John Wick proud. A well timed autosave from not even five minutes prior allowed for a load where the feline companion was back good as new, but this time Fane was getting on the other side of that gate, and these same guards were preemptively killed again before they could bring any harm to the cat. This had a slight impact in how the magisters viewed us in town, so from this point on the play shifted to a much more aggressive style that was intolerant of magisters.